Ecole des Maîtres 2025

AMIR REZA KOOHESTANI IS THE MASTER OF ECOLE 2025
International Touring Theatre Master class
XXXIII edition: 26 August – 3 October 2025
workshop: Daily Life as Performance: Crafting Narratives from Everyday Experiences

trainees:  Monica Buzoianu, Pouria Jashn Tirgan, Ilaria Marchianò, Francesco Maruccia (Italy); Michele de Luca, Farbod Fathinejadfard, Ophélie Honoré, Alice Johny Valinducq (Belgium); Barbara Chanut, Zacharie Feron, Alexia Hébrard, Zaïna Yalioua (France); Luka Grbić, Nika Korenjak, Lucija Ostan Vejrup, Lovro Zafred (Slovenia); Vasco Barroso, Rafael Gomes, Nuna, Roberto Terra (Portugal)

project partners and art direction
CSS Teatro stabile di innovazione del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d’Europa (Italy), Théâtre de Liège - Théâtre d'Europe (CFWB / Belgium) with the collaboration of CREPA - Centre de Recherche et d'Expérimentation en Pédagogie Artistique, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, TAGV - Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente (Portugal), Le Quai Centre Dramatique National Angers, Comédie, Centre dramatique national de Reims (France) 

with the support of MiC Ministero della cultura - Direzione Generale Spettacolo, Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia - Direzione centrale cultura e sport / Io Sono Friuli Venezia Giulia, Fondazione Friuli (Italy),
European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia


in collaboration with Mini teater Ljubljana

with the participation of ERPAC - Ente Regionale Patrimonio Culturale Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy), Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles - Service général de la Création artistique, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, La Loterie Nationale (CFWB/Belgium), Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (France), Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal)

The Ecole des Maîtres is an advanced theatre training project conceived by Franco Quadri in 1990.
The training objective of the Ecole des Maîtres is to initiate a relationship between young actresses and actors, trained at drama academies and theatre schools in Europe and already working as professionals, and renowned directors of the international scene, in order to give life to a work experience strongly aimed at comparing and exchanging skills on staging methods and practices, starting from different texts, languages and artistic languages, during itinerant ateliers.

Amir Reza Koohestani is the Iranian director and playwright who has been invited to lead the XXXIII Ecole des Maîtres.
His workshop is entitled Daily Life as Performance: Crafting Narratives from Everyday Experiences.
In this workshop, Amir Reza Koohestani invites the artists to explore the performative potential of daily life. By transforming ordinary events into compelling dramatic narratives, the workshop emphasizes the power of personal experience as raw material for theatrical creation. Participants will reflect on their daily routines, environments, and interactions to uncover their dramatic possibilities.
A key part of the workshop focuses on journal entries written by participants, capturing the details of a single day. These journals, written in the first person and simple past tense, will serve as the foundation for creating narratives. To enrich their storytelling, participants are encouraged to bring a physical object connected to the day described in their journal—anything from a household item to a meaningful artifact.
The workshop process includes:
Journals as Monologues: Participants will share their journal entries as intimate monologues, fostering a connection between the storyteller and the group.
Developing Dramatic Texts: Through collaborative exercises, these personal narratives will be transformed into theatrical texts and performances.
Object-Based Storytelling: Objects brought by participants will help ground the narratives, adding a tangible and visual element to the storytelling process.
This workshop offers a unique approach to theater-making, encouraging participants to view their daily lives as an artistic canvas and to experiment with innovative forms of storytelling.

THE WORK STAGES OF THE XXXIII EDITION OF ECOLE DES MAÎTRES

The course will start in Liège on 26 August and will continue with work stages and public presentations in the different European venues of the project.
It will be in Lisbon from 31 August to 5 September, in Coimbra from 6 to 11 September, in Milan from 12 to 16 September, in Udine from 17 to 26 September and in Angers from 27 September to 3 October. 

This year there will be sixteen participants selected, four from each Ecole des Maîtres partner country, to which will be added some participants from the 2025 guest country, Slovenia, as part of the initiatives of the Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia for the program GO! 2025 European Capital of Culture 2025 Nova Gorica - Gorizia.
The group will be as diverse as possible in terms of gender, origin, culture.

Course Calendar
26/08 – 30/08 Liège, Belgium
31/08 – 05/09 Lisbon, Portugal
06/09 – 11/09 Coimbra, Portugal
12/09 – 16/09 Milan, Italy
17/09 – 26/09 Villa Manin di Passariano, Udine, Italy
27/09 – 03/10 Angers, France

Public presentations
30/08 Salle de l’oeil ver, Liège, Belgium
05/09 Sala Estúdio Valentim de Barros, Lisbon, Portugal
11/09 Teatro Academico Gil Vicente, Coimbra, Portugal
16/09 Teatro Strehler, Milan, Italy
21/09 Auditorium della Cultura Friulana, Gorizia, Italy
03/10 Le Quai Theatre 400, Angers, France