I volti dell'arte performativa

"The Faces of Performing Arts" is a project to promote theater and performing arts that can convey the sense of a polycentric and inclusive city in the Jubilee year. It is presented by the La Capriola-Abraxa Teatro company, under the artistic direction of Emilio Genazzini, with the special presence of Eugenio Barba and the entire Odin Teatret group who will present "The Clouds of Hamlet" dedicated to Hamnet and young people without a future, for the first time in Rome.

The project, promoted by Roma Capitale - Department of Culture, has won the Public Notice "Artes et Iubilaeum - 2025," funded by the European Union Next Generation EU for major tourist events under the PNRR on measure M1C3 – Investment 4.3 - Caput Mundi.

With Odin Teatret (Denmark) also supported by the Barba Varley Foundation (Italy), the program includes performances and shows by twelve theater, music, and dance companies.

"With the intention of fully responding to the Artes et Iubilaeum Call for Proposals," explained Emilio Genazzini, "I conceived an event that was not closed to a particular artistic sector but was instead as open as possible to presenting languages and performing disciplines that gave the image of the faces that Live Performance gradually assumes when it presents itself as Dance, Theater, and Music. I was in Lecce at the conference organized by Eugenio Barba for the 60th anniversary of Odin Teatret, and I took on the task of bringing it to Rome."

"The search for the audience was very important for Odin Teatret, an independent and unfunded company in Norway," explained Eugenio Barba. "For us, the audience became a person who could not be anonymous, but a person we knew. We met them in gyms, churches, empty warehouses where we went to perform. When we moved from Oslo to Holstebro in Denmark, this relationship became even more important. We did not speak their language, we had to find new channels of communication. What we find in Rome is an audience that welcomes us. For several years we were hosted by Ferruccio Marotti at La Sapienza University and then by the Teatro di Roma during the time of Mario Martone, later by the Teatro Vascello, but always in connection with Abraxa Teatro which has welcomed us for several years."

The project "The Faces of Performing Arts: Spirituality, Experimentation, Performances and Intercultural Dialogues" revolves around the presence of one of the last great living masters of theater, Eugenio Barba. The director of Odin Teatret has not only innovated twentieth-century theater but has also initiated many activities aimed at fostering dialogue between different cultures. These have been actions aimed at social inclusion and territorial rebalancing, which currently also have a new aspect within the Barba Varley Foundation. This foundation, also named after Julia Varley, a historic actress of Odin Teatret, has goals to protect "nameless" theaters. The Foundation addresses the submerged culture of the "nameless" of the theater. Its aim is to support action centers of disadvantaged subjects in terms of gender, ethnicity, geography, age, way of thinking and acting both inside and outside the theater.

The festival, in Abraxa style, aims to create a network between artists and territories, also sponsored by the Indonesian and Serbian embassies. It will offer, between October, November, and December, a lively and direct relationship between interdisciplinary artistic languages that will engage with both performers and citizens, creating an event with multiple facets capable of attracting heterogeneous audiences and arousing the interest of a new public, while also laying the groundwork for developments, consolidations, and evolutions of new realities, alongside those questioning their role in people's daily lives.

The University Roma Tre, strongly interested in the project, is also launching a program of activities to follow the artistic proposals that will be presented.

In October, the event will open with a street performance curated by Teatro Ebasko in the ancient village of Cesano di Roma, on Via del Borgo di Sopra in the Rome XV Municipality, followed by the important Roman premiere of Eugenio Barba's Odin Teatret and its latest choral show (October 22-26 at Spazio Rossellini).

"The relationship with Abraxa dates back to 1980," recounted Julia Varley. "The theater is not just about performances, but there is a whole way of creating the environment around to set up the show. There will also be many events surrounding live performances here. We will have meetings and workshops. Today we feel a great responsibility towards the audience, which is to give a glimmer of hope. I will host a meeting on women in theater. I chose to have a meeting on beauty as a weapon, to give some small sign of beauty and humanity. Emilio's festival gives us this opportunity, to perform, but also to meet the audience."

In November, several libraries will host theatrical readings of texts chosen for their living spirituality expressed in the pages of authors who lived in very distant parts of the world, all interpreted by Francesca Tranfo of Abraxa Teatro.

In December, three Sundays will be organized, also at Spazio Rossellini, dedicated to "The Faces of Commedia dell'Arte. Stories from the Jubilee: Pilgrims and Social Inclusion" on December 7th with Circomare Teatro, Teatro Origine, La Bottega dei Comici, and TeatrAltro; "The Faces of Intercultural Dialogue. Shows, Ceremonies, and Concerts" on December 14th with the Japanese drum concert of Kigaidaiko, the Teatro Tascabile of Bergamo, and The Pirate Ship, and "The Faces of Performative Experimentation" on December 21st with Ygramul Teatro, Teatro Roget, Ilnaufragarm’èdolce, Abraxa Teatro, and Amorklab.

The project will conclude on December 22nd with another street performance by Teatro Immagini that will take place at Piazza della Colonnetta in Isola Farnese.

From October 21st to December 22nd

THE FACES OF PERFORMING ARTS

a project by Abraxa Teatro

www.abraxateatro.it

FREE ENTRY

Info: abraxateatro@abraxa.it