Our vision for the
BLOOM Collective
Exploring the world of mask
The Bloom Collective is an international group of four women artists exploring the transformative power of the mask. Coming from France, Italy, Germany, and Lebanon and with backgrounds in theatre, clowning, sculpture, and social practice, we bring together diverse tools to create a shared language of play and presence.
Through masked performance, we dive into the world of archetypes, gestures, and the unsaid. The mask becomes a partner, a mirror, a doorway—guiding us toward complex, absurd, poetic, and strangely familiar characters.
Our creative process is rooted in experimentation, improvisation, and collective research.
We are four women artists, united through the language of masked theatre and enriched by our diverse paths.
Through our work, we seek to open space for play, transformation, and connection across borders, disciplines, and audiences.
MEET THE BLOOMING TEAM
Chiara Castiglioni
Actress and co-founder of the Bloom Collective
Since 2009 she has been exploring theatre as a sensory and poetic experience. Her work
blurs the boundaries between the physical and the imaginary, where gesture becomes story and the mask transforms into landscape.
Her practice is rooted in emotional truth and artistic craftsmanship, seeking to create theatre that is inhabited, not performed—where the body, the material, and the imagination all play a vital role in storytelling.
As a performer, she has worked on both the Italian and Swiss stages, including collaboration with Swiss national TV for docu-fiction and reenactments. She is also the co-creator of I like it! (Freya Theater), selected for the In-Box Verde 2023 national platform.
Selected works include: I’d Rather Not (ATIR, dir. Serena Sinigaglia), The Turkey (dir. Luca Cairati), and Fragments of Ordinary Femininity (Compagnia Lupe).
Bloom, the collective she co-founded, was born from the poetic and physical intensity of the Atelier Mask Movement Theatre (Toscany), where shared creation and play meet at
the crossroads of vision and craftsmanship.
Angela Khalil
Actress and co-founder of the Bloom Collective
She is a Lebanese multidisciplinary artist. Known for her work in the discipline of theater in
Lebanon, she is also a writer and photographer.
A theater graduate with a master’s degree in actor training, she has been a trainer since 2017 having worked with marginalized groups like adults who suffers from down syndrome, teens with family problems, refugees and women suffering from domestic violence. She is also a university instructor teaching courses of theater and performance. As an actor, she has been on stage in several plays done in Lebanon. She has completed three intensive months of Mask and movement at the Atelier mask and movement in Tuscany, 2025.
A seeker of truth with a sensitive vision for the unsaid, she combines in her writings subjects of mental health, growing out of your comfort zone and strength in vulnerability. She has already published one novel in Arabic and a poetry booklet in English. She is currently writing a novel called “Room 147” which explores AI, the essence of humanity and the end of the world.
As a photographer, her main target is to share stories of people and captures truth in a frame, whereas also she aims to show the surreal beauty of the world, she has held three exhibitions hitherto titled “I want the part of you the you refuse to give”, “story behind my lens” and “women and fairytales”.
Co-founder of Bloom house, a creative space located in Lebanon aiming to create a community,connecting people through artistic events.
Different tools, one language: The human.
Anne Knaus
Actress and co-founder of the Bloom Collective
Curious and fascinated by stories and their impact on humans, Anne discovered theatre in
her youth as a magical tool to be in contact with other people, the world around, and to
build bridges. Performing theatre and puppetry she is also trained as a sculptor, always interested in bringing to life what she builds. Constantly learning through teaching, playing, building and creating she found an incredibly enriching path in mask work which she is now
pursuing with great enthusiasm.
Having experience in performing theatre and puppetry, she is also trained as a sculptor and working as a theatre youth worker. In her artistic practice she seeks to unit building, performing, teaching and learning together.
She understands intercultural theatre work as a main tool for overcoming borders, learning new perspectives and building strong relationships through working together on stage.
Important stations: TheaterTotal (Bochum, Germany), Intercultural Theatre Projects with students from Palestine and Germany, Theater der Nacht (Northeim, Germany), Co-Directing Mimenspiel (at Staatsschauspiel Dresden).
Oriane Paralté
Actress and co-founder of the Bloom Collective
She is a comedian, clown, and actress who views the performing arts as a powerful tool for sharing and social inclusion. At the core of her work: laughter, poetry, improvisation, and the joy of creating art that’s both accessible and meaningful.
Her projects reflect this approach. In Eye Net (2021-2023), a European participatory project questioning the public space with Théâtre du Grand Rond in Toulouse, she collaborated on collective creation, stage writing, and performing across seven countries, including Italy, Serbia, and Slovenia. The aim was to create a show that researches what young people go through in our society and creates a space for them to express their experiences and ideas.
In Montreal QC, she meets with clown and dives into improvisation theater at Théâtre St Catherine (2023-2025), performing in various improv, sketch, stand-up comedy, and storytelling shows. She also gives improv workshops for children in rural areas (Saint-Alphonse-de-Rodriguez - 2024).
Through her training at the Atelier Mask and Movement by Matteo Destro, she explores how mask-making and the study of movement can offer a fresh perspective for making popular and human theater.