Rumilly sur Scène — Amateur Theatre Festival

Les Gars de la Rampe: Over 75 Years of Amateur Theatre in Rumilly

The history of Rumilly sur Scène is inseparable from that of Les Gars de la Rampe, an amateur theatre troupe founded in 1949 in Rumilly, a town in the Albanais region of Haute-Savoie. For over seven decades, this association, affiliated with the FNCTA (National Federation of Theatre and Animation Companies), has carried the torch of amateur theatre in this industrial and commercial town located between Annecy and Aix-les-Bains.

In 2017, building on this accumulated experience, the troupe launched an ambitious venture: to create an amateur theatre festival in Rumilly, to provide a showcase for non-professional theatrical creation and to foster a meeting place for troupes, audiences, and performing arts enthusiasts. The first edition, on October 20, 2017, laid the foundations for an event that would continue to grow.

A Demanding Festival, a Rigorous Selection Process

Rumilly sur Scène is not just a gathering of amateur troupes: it is a curated festival, with a genuine artistic selection process. For the 2025 edition, no fewer than 42 applications were reviewed by a selection committee to choose 8 performances presented over two weekends. This rigor in programming guarantees a level of quality that often surprises audiences, demonstrating that amateur theatre can achieve true artistic excellence.

The selected performances cover a wide spectrum of the theatrical repertoire: comedies, dramas, original creations, adaptations of classic or contemporary texts. Each edition is placed under the sponsorship of a personality from the performing arts—an actor, director, or writer—who brings their benevolent and discerning eye to the programming.

Two Weekends of Performances at OSCAR

The festival unfolds over two consecutive weekends in November, at the OSCAR cultural space (Outil de Spectacles, Congrès et d'Animations de Rumilly), a modern and well-equipped performance venue in the heart of the town. Performances take place on Friday evenings, Saturday mornings and evenings, and Sunday mornings, offering a dense and varied program over six festival days.

The atmosphere of Rumilly sur Scène is that of a human-scale festival, where troupes meet, exchange, share their experiences, and attend each other's performances. The audience, composed of regulars, curious newcomers, and amateur theatre enthusiasts, participates in this creative effervescence in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Rumilly, Cultural Heart of the Albanais

Rumilly, a sub-prefecture of Haute-Savoie with approximately 16,000 inhabitants, is the economic and cultural center of the Albanais, a rural and dynamic territory located between Lake Annecy and Lake Bourget. The town boasts a rich cultural life supported by numerous associations, the Quai des Arts media library, the OSCAR space, and an ambitious municipal cultural season. Rumilly sur Scène is part of this dynamic by highlighting amateur theatre, an artistic discipline often overlooked but which engages thousands of practitioners in France.