Casting Call for the 2018 edition

International Intercultural Lab for Research and Theatrical Creation

“In search of the Ancient Actor for a Modern Theatre”

Video document of 2017 edition

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDB-8NqFzhY
To whom and what
It is open to actors, dancers and singers; to directors and playwright; to musicians who are
interested composing for theatre and/or playing live for the scene.

It proposes ten days of full immersion in the practice of Theatre Art studied from different points
of view.

A meeting in privileged conditions of group work where to give place to bold reflections,
uncomfortable ones, about the ethic, the discipline and the real sense of a cognitive function that
theatre is called to fulfil, in this convulsive present time, as an open door to the invisible.
A moment of artistic and professional growth then, meant to satisfy deeper needs, even of spiritual
nature, arising from more and more urgent uneasiness about the sense of one’s art in Italy (and in
the world) today, beyond the established logic of the theatrical market and the mechanisms of
cultural policies.

International and intercultural character

A key distinctive feature of this experience will be the nature of the cast of its participants.

To the group of Italian and foreign artist coming from different parts of the
world, will join others selected among artists that have arrived in Italy or in
Europe as immigrants, from Africa and Asia
When and where
The Lab will take place from August 21 to August 31 of 2018 in Guardiagrele, a charming Italian
town of pre-roman origins in the Abruzzi region, placed at the foot of the Maiella mountain range
and at a few kilometres from the sea.

Introduction
What does it mean today to propose a theatrical activity aimed at the community outside the normal
practices that limit its use to a few "enthusiasts", to "insiders" or to the "large public" of commercial
productions? What does artistic practice need today to speak in a lively, impartial, profound,
understandable, beautiful and delightful way to the spectator's heart and mind?

Teatro Simurgh carries on a program of theatrical activities of a necessarily intercultural nature,

based on an artistic route that Fiore Zulli has called "In Search of the Ancient Actor for a Modern
Theatre".

In search of that Ancient Actor able to reconnect with the universal traditions which are depository
of the archetypal and mythical cores of ancestral knowledge.

For a Modern Theatre beyond any definition ("political", "social", "avant-garde", etc.), essentially
interested in observing different aspects of human life in the present and expressing this observation
through a living art equipped with a layered language. That is a language in which every person
regardless of cultural level, class, origin, religion, etc. can find an understandable code with which it
is possible to establish a creative relationship.

A modern theatre that must therefore go out to meet the reality of our communities in
transformation, bringing an entertainment made of beauty, intelligence, action, non-violence,
attention and stimulus to reflection.

The International Intercultural Lab for Research and Theatrical Creation

The purpose of the workshop is to create a forge in which different traditions come together to give
life to a new tradition "hic et nunc", to new traditional languages understood in the etymological
sense of Tradition: from the Latin Tradere, that is to transmit an experience of living knowledge of
the reality lived and shared in the present moment.

It is in this Tradition of Here and Now that that Ancient Actor is incarnated.
“The ancient actor, whom we aspire to, is the one who has a conscious relationship with his own
body. This mastery gives him a special quality of the presence that make him able to reach the
audience through physical actions that live in each movement, word, and even in each one of his
thoughts on the scene. Such an actor knows what he says and what he does, in the sense that he
grasps profoundly its meaning, but he remains open with every part of himself to a constant
listening to physically rediscover, every time he play, what his mind has already perfectly
assimilated.
This actor feels the rhythm, each time different, of the audience in front of him, takes it by the hand
and leads it gently to the journey that the play proposes and evokes to the imagination. He never
speaks directly to the spectator's mind, but knowledgeably uses every vibration of the body, to
which the audience respond organically. So he communicates before and beyond the "said" word,
that’s why he can capture our attention.
The ancient actor can sing well, dance and often play at least one musical instrument. He is open to
all influences, he constantly search and nourish himself of the most diverse traditions, and extends
his study in various fields of knowledge.”
Fiore Zulli

Research lines
The workshop proposes a way to open up concretely and in the present moment to questions about
universal and immutable principles that invite the artist to walk a personal path towards a deeper
understanding of stage art, going back to its ritual origins to actualize them in the life of our time,
always starting from the artist’s cultural identity and biographical experience.

The matter is to make the participants meet on a non-explored ground where, guided by the
common need to seek the root of their presence, could be possible to create an environment where
the seeking of Life on stage can take place through exercises of different nature.

Taking care to avoid any temptation to look for premeditated formal results, we will work to let the
players feel free to risk, giving up the security of all that in them is "already known" to be open to
what instead is actually unknown.

The exercises and scenic improvisations that will take place, will be fed by the effort that the
players will have to do to go over the limits of their ordinary expressiveness and search deeper and
deeper for that essential force that lives hidden in the physical, mental and cultural postures that
make up our personality.

General plan for the exercises

- Explore the empty space as a container and metaphor of the acting body
- The intention behind the physical action.
- The presence of the body that does listen, remember, see and tell.
- The conscious movement that becomes dance
- The vocal action and the music of the text.
- The origin of singing as art of storytelling.
- The improvisation and the montage.

In the exercises and scenic improvisations will be present elements of dance.

Traditional masks from Asia, Africa And South America will be used as understanding tools of
codification of the evocative gesture.

We’ll work also with songs and music from different cultures of the world.
Fragments of texts by classical and modern authors of the four continents, will be used for the
dramaturgical structure of the final show.

The final show

In the evening of the tenth day, in the ancient village square, there’ll be a public sharing of the
materials of texts, dance, singing, masks and music created during the Lab and assembled in form
of a show as an offering and a meeting with the community.

It will be the tangible result of an artistic work that, although facing universal and current themes,
will also reflect in some way the conditions and the atmosphere of the group and of the environment
that produced it.

The presence on stage of a human group consisting of people of different skin colours, languages,
nationalities, cultures, religions, artistic disciplines, etc. will make sure (as we’ve already proven in
previous experiences) that an audience composed for the most part by people not accustomed to "go
to the theatre" in the official ways and places, lose in this case that mechanical impulse that leads to
judge, more or less intimately, human diversity. This is because the quality of the work that will be
faced will make them simply perceive a single group of artists able to entertain them through
images, live music, dance and texts by great universal authors with whom they would hardly come
into contact in their everyday life.

Casting
The 2018 workshop in Guardiagrele will also be an opportunity to select a group of 8 artists up to
30 years of age, which from September 24 to October 8, Fiore Zulli will take to Madrid,
Spain, to attend an international meeting of Theatre Research and Creation together with various
groups of young artists led by other directors from different European countries. The event, which
also includes a final performance for the public, is organized by the Spanish company "Residui
Teatro", of Madrid www.residuiteatro.com and is financed by the European Community through the
"Erasmus Plus" Fund.

The whole project in general is also a work in progress of Teatro Simurgh to get to the production
of a choral show with a fully intercultural cast of actors, dancers and musicians, selected through
direct experience made in these Research and Creation laboratories.

Artistic requirements
The only artistic requirement to enrol the call is to be able to sing. It’s not required “a curriculum
as a singer”, but rather the simply capacity of singing tuned. In other words, the candidate must be
able to reproduce exactly and not hesitating with his voice, the same note or fragment of a melody
that he listen to. For actors this requirement is conditio sine qua non. On the other hand, dancers
or musicians who are not tuned in singing should mention it explicitly in their application material.

Economic costs and logistics

For all the artists that will be cast, the Lab is free.

Transport: Participants will have to pay the travel costs of round-trip ticket (airplanes, trains,
buses, etc.) from the respective countries/cities of origin.

Accommodation: Participants will be accommodated in comfortable houses in the historic center.

Food: The organization will provide a good breakfast, while lunch and dinner will be at the
expense of the participants. However, in Guardiagrele there is a wide choice of restaurants, inns,
pizzerias and groceries that offer food of all kinds and for all budgets. Participants, if they wish, can
also organize themselves to buy together the ingredients and prepare meals at home. For
immigrant artists coming from reception centers in Italian or European cities and for artists
coming directly from Africa, Asia or South America, the organization will also provide lunch
and dinner.

How to enrol the casting

Send to [email protected]
 A brief letter explaining the motivation why you wish to participate in this Lab.
 Two recent photograph, close-up and full body.
 The curriculum.
 A link to video material (if available) of the artist’s work

All candidates will receive an email upon receipt of the submitted material.

Applications will be received until July 31 and the result of the selection will be announced by
August 7.

A maximum number of 26 (twenty-six) participants will be selected.

The artists who won’t be cast will soon receive a collective e-mail to inform and thank all of them.

The artists who will be cast will receive personal mails with instructions about logistic matters and
any materials to read or prepare for the work in the lab. They will also have to send within two days
after the notification an email confirming their participation.

Schedule
From 09:00 to 12:30 – Lab. (exercises)
From 16:00 to 19:30 – Lab. (improvisations and montage)

In search of the Ancient Actor for a Modern Theatre is conducted by Fiore Zulli with the general
coordination of Carla Robertson.

It is realized under the patronage of:

With the economic contribution of the Guardiagrele Town Councillorship of Culture as well
as a group of local entrepreneurs interested in promoting cultural development in their
territory.

Associazione Culturale Teatro Simurgh – Via San Donato 3 – 66016 Guardiagrele (CH) – C. Fisc. 93053360694 / P. IVA 02525180697
Tel. 331-7270427 / 331-7142412 – E-mail: [email protected] – Web: www.teatrosimurgh.com – Facebook: @Simurgh.TEATRO