The final performance of the 2024-2025 workshop of Project Young, one of the main educational initiatives linked to the Prose Season and Other Paths of the Teatro Donizetti Foundation, is titled If We Were Shadows. The show, which will involve the young participants of the training course for young actors under the direction of Fabio Comana, will take place on Saturday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8 in the spaces of the Teatro Sociale at the following times: Saturday, June 7 at 4:00 PM, 6:00 PM, 8:00 PM; Sunday, June 8 – 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 5:00 PM.
If We Were Shadows is an itinerant performance, a walk through the corridors, rooms, and other usually hidden corners of the Teatro Sociale inspired by the ancient history of the place and the desire to engage in creating a sort of theatrical collage, representing brief original fragments that refer to characters from different eras and situations. It all stems from a suggestion: when the audience leaves the theater, when even the “last staff member closes the door behind them and the hall plunges into” darkness, someone inside the theater begins to breathe. These are the characters from the many stories that theater has seen performed coming to life. Freed from the constraints of the stage, but imprisoned in the space and time that the authors have decided for them, these characters are eager to meet and express themselves freely, sometimes to rebel. The show requires reaching some spaces via stairs.
The performance, reserved for small groups of spectators at a time, aims to offer the young participants of Project Young, 15 individuals between 21 and 28 years old selected from 30 candidates, the opportunity to put into practice the training course that began last October. During this course, they were able to meet various stage professionals, guests of the Prose Season and Other Paths, as well as young newly-professional ex-Young participants. Actors involved: Francesco Baldin, Sofia Bolchi, Martina Citroni, Martina Di Caro, Leila Gervasoni, Beatrice Gotti, Carolina Grossi, Clara Marchesi, Matteo Masolini, Elisa Mercurio, Giulia Pizzaballa, Marta Salvi, Letizia Sanchioni, Valeria Spertini, Daniela Tasca.
Maria Graia Panigada, Artistic Director of the Prose Season and Other Paths, emphasizes the educational value of the “initiative she conceived: ‘The young people of Project Young inhabit the rehearsal room of the Teatro Donizetti guided by Fabio Comana. Their journey is one of searching for a true theater, in which to let themselves be represented and, for some of them, in which to seek their life’s profession. Following their artistic and human journey is for me a source of encouragement for everything I accomplish within’ the Teatro Donizetti Foundation: these young people give me a sense of future, of possibility, of vitality for our theater”.
“Last year, with the intense experience lived by the students of Project Young under the inspiration of a master like Cesar Brie, a three-year journey concluded during which I had the opportunity to see the technical preparation and motivation of the group grow, to the point that several of them are currently engaged in the Academy or have already started a professional path in theater,” recounts Fabio Comana, “This year we started from scratch, with 15 new participants in whom I could observe in particular two attitudes that struck me: their need to form a group, to recognize themselves in the collective, overcoming any rivalry or character difference in the name of team spirit; a predisposition that I myself have favored, convinced as I am of the importance that theater is first and foremost a team game, based on mutual respect and complicity.” “But there is also another aspect that I could notice and that could be a sign of the times we live in: uncertainty in motivation and awareness of the precariousness that awaits them in work. Many of them dream of being able to realize themselves in theater, obviously, but they are at the same time aware of the uncertainty of their future, not only individually but as a society, as a ‘world’. A sentiment also present in the choices that led to the composition of the show. Fortunately, enthusiasm has never been lacking and it is the main strength of this group. I am sure that with time and experience, their motivations will grow in intensity and they will know how to find their place in culture, in entertainment, or even just in human society. And, if they wish, they can always count on our presence and experience,” the director continues.
