Ecole des Maîtres 2020-2021
Special edition

ECOLE DES MAÎTRES Special edition 2020-2021
XXIX edition - for playwrights
master: Davide Carnevali
workshop: The word and the absent body - Dramaturgy workshop in a state of exception

participants: Francesco Alberici, Liv Ferracchiati (Italy); Brune Bazin, Cecile Hupin (Belgium); Jean D'Amérique, Adèle Gascuel (France); Mariana Ferreira, Raquel S. (Portugal)

Slide Ecole 16022021-ENG.jpg

project partners and art direction
 CSS Teatro stabile di innovazione del Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy), CREPA - Centre de Recherche et d’Expérimentation en Pédagogie Artistique (CFWB/Belgium), Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, TAGV - Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente (Portugal), La Comédie, Centre dramatique national de Reims, Comédie de Caen -  Centre Dramatique National de Normandie (France)

with the support of Ministero della Cultura - Direzione Generale Spettacolo, Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia - Direzione centrale cultura, sport e solidarietà, Fondazione Friuli (Italy)
with the participation of Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica "Silvio d’Amico", Short Theatre, Teatro di Roma, ERPAC - Ente Regionale Patrimonio Culturale Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy); Théâtre de Liège – Centre européen de création théâtrale et chorégraphique, Centre des Arts scéniques, Ministère de la Communauté française – Service général des Arts de la scène, Wallonie-Bruxelles International (CFWB/Belgium); Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (France); Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal)

Ecole des Maîtres is an international touring theatre master class created by Franco Quadri in 1990. The project is aimed at young actors who are already working professionally. Through itinerant workshops, it creates an opportunity to compare experiences, discuss ideas and exchange skills on staging methods and practices, starting from a range of different scripts, languages and artistic approaches.
Due to the health emergency caused by Covid 19, the European partners of the Ecole des Maîtres have taken the decision to cancel the 2020 edition of the Course, which would have involved professional actors under 35 from Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal, led by the Argentine playwright, director and actor Claudio Tolcachir. The master class will be postponed to a later date, yet to be confirmed.
The artistic direction of the Ecole des Maîtres has decided to promote a special 2020 edition for playwrights taught by a master of theatrical writing. The Italian playwright Davide Carnevali will share his skills with 8 young playwrights from the partner countries. The course will be taught remotely, for a whole year, starting from July 2020.
Over the course of the year, each of the 8 young playwrights will work on the creation of their own theatrical text, developed in a dialogue with the tutor and the group of participants. Their work will then be presented publicly through stage readings in the different partner countries of the Ecole des Maîtres, translated into Italian, French and Portuguese.
The project devised by Davide Carnevali for this special edition of the Ecole des Maîtres is entitled:

The word and the absent body
Dramaturgy workshop in a state of exception

"This year's edition is an exception in exceptional times” - explains the playwright.
"For the first time in its history, Ecole des Maîtres will be dedicated not to young actors, but to young playwrights.
However, this does not mean shifting our attention from stage practice – far from it. Instead we will take this opportunity to reflect on the relationship between script and staging and between writing and life, but we will do this from a different point of view: that of playwrights.
Playwrights do not write theatre, they write for the theatre. Their work can crystallize into a wonderful document of theatrical literature, but it will not be theatre until its words are embodied. By saying that the textual aspect is dependent on the performance aspect does not in any way imply a renunciation of writing; rather it forces us to rethink it. Only by becoming aware of its shortcomings, its being dependent on something else, something unknown and not yet actualised, does language fully become a "theatrical language". A poetic and poietic language. Dramaturgy can then be seen as the trigger that detonates a very powerful device: imagination. Giving access to a kind of theatre that does not imitate, but rather invents realities".

THE STAGES OF THE 29th EDITION OF THE ECOLE DES MAITRES
The course will mainly be held via on-going remote interaction (online conference calls and texting platforms) and started on Monday 27 July.
The study plan includes:
2 meetings per month every first and third Monday of the month dedicated respectively to:
meeting and collective debate
personal tutoring, on request for those who need it.
An in-person meeting is also planned for the following dates:
16, 17, 18 October 2020

On March 1, 2021, participants will deliver a first complete, but not final, version of the text.
The work of writing and online meetings with Davide Carnevali will continue until June 14, 2021 when the 8 young playwrights will deliver the final draft of their text.
The completed texts will be translated into Italian, French and Portuguese and will subsequently be presented in the various countries of the Ecole des Maîtres partnership.

stage 2020/2021
27 July 2020 - 14 June 2021 online
16-17-18 October 2020, Italia, Udine - Villa Manin

Public presentations
15, 16, 17 July 2021, Villeneuve lez Avignon, La Chartreuse
12 September 2021, Roma, Short Theatre, Teatro India > program
18 September 2021, Caen, Comédie de Caen, Théâtre du 32 rue des Cordes
24, 25 September 2021, Reims, Comedie de Reims, Atelier de la Comédie
5, 6, 7, 8 October 2021, Liège, Théâtre de Liège, Salle de la Grande Main
23, 24 October 2021, Lisbon, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II (Salão Nobre Ageas, Sala do Rei)
23, 24 October 2021, Coimbra, Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente

Images