Theatres on the border: journal of a project 2014-2015
Lampedusa Mirrors is a theatre coproduction between Eclosion d’artistes (Tunis) and Teatro dell’Argine (Bologna) that was conceived in the framework of our Tandem Shaml. In 2015, young theatre makers from Tunisia and Italy developed a gripping performance which reflects on life at the island of Lampedusa as a symbolic site of the ongoing migration crisis. You can now read this publication journaling the project.
Foreword
Two workshops with theatre professionals and teenagers in the two Countries, to sound out the effectiveness of theatre as a tool for dialogue among ages, cultures, generations, skills.
Two exchange workshops on artistic, cultural and organizational methods, skills and working tools among European and Arab artists and cultural workers.
Two communities mirroring one another through the Mediterranean and dialoguing through their artists at the time of crisis and springs.
An investigation performed with theatre toolsinside different communities – Lampedusa citizens, teens from Tunisian suburbs and Bolognese schools, professional artists at different levels – to understand what “Lampedusa” means outside mass-media oversimplification and from two perspectives facing one another.
A documentary about this investigation and the whole journey, collecting images of rehearsals and performances in the two Countries and the protagonists’ words: teenagers, artists, educators on the two shores of the Mediterranean, and young aged 10 to 30, who personally went through the experience of sea crossing, or dream to do it.
Lampedusa Mirrors is a path, along which “Us” meets “Them” and the word “Stranger” has new meanings thanks to theatre and the unexpected. A path narrated in episodes as a journal thanks to Il Girovago (Edizioni Nuova S1), collecting and telling stories on the border between travelling, art and interculture.
Lampedusa Mirrors is a project by Teatro dell’Argine and Eclosion d’Artistes in collaboration with Institut Supérieur D’Art Dramatique and Association L’Art Vivant (Tunis) and with ITC Teatro and San Lazzaro di Savena Municipality (Bologna) in the frame of programme Tandem Shaml – Cultural Managers Exchange, an initiative of European Cultural Foundation (Netherlands), MitOst (Germany), Al Mawred Al Thaqafy (Egypt) and Anadolu Kültür (Turkey), with support from Robert Bosch Stiftung (Germany), DOEN Foundation (Netherlands) and Mimeta (Norway).
About the authors
Micaela Casalboni is actress, teacher, responsible for international and intercultural projects, co-art director and founding member of Company Teatro dell’Argine. She took part to many projects in Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Tunisia, Denmark, Lebanon, Belgium.
Giulia Franzaresi is actress, teacher and member of Teatro dell’Argine Board of Directors. She took part to many projects in Italy, United Kingdom, Palestine, Belgium, Tunisia, Turkey.