Theatre at School (Liceo Virgilio)

Theatre as a possibility for growth and transformation

Since 2012, we have been collaborating with the Liceo Virgilio in Milan on extracurricular interclass theatre workshop projects. The paths lead the students to explore themselves, relationships and working with others through theatre and to go through a process leading to the creation of a performance. Over the years, different texts by Shakespeare and contemporary authors have been staged, as well as original texts inspired by the cinema.

SCHOOL YEAR 2022/2023

In the school year 2022/23, after the difficult years of the pandemic, activities will resume with two afternoon workshops led by Mele Ferrarini in collaboration with Camilla Crispino.

a_Discovering the self
The aim is to accompany participants so that they can find within and outside themselves the creative resources to approach the art of theatre, enhancing the abilities and desires of individuals and making them experience a journey of discovery and learning, up to the opening and sharing of this path on the stage of the Oscar Theatre. The title of this new theatrical creation resulting from the young people's elaboration will be: "Fragments from the circle", inspired by the play by Matei Vișniec (Romania, 1956): "Decomposed theatre or the dustbin man".

b_Creative writing/dramaturgy
The aim is for the children to experience new ways of meeting and relating through games and tools typical of the theatre. We then move on to elaborate personal dramaturgies that bring out the children's experiences, dreams and inner worlds while respecting individual times, sensitivities and abilities. The opening performance at the Oscar Theatre is entitled "Deka Zoes" ('ten lives' in modern Greek) and will be a restitution of parts of these works evoked and brought together by the imaginary figure of director Romeo, in a story specially created by the workshop participants.

PREVIOUS YEARS (2012-20):

The theatre project was born in 2012, with the running of a workshop by Carola Maternini. The group, strongly supported by the teachers, began a path aimed at creating moments of integration between classes and with the school community, in order to enhance the expressive and relational specificities of the children, investigate issues dear to them, and explore texts and performance languages that could be their expression. Over the years, the workshop continually seeks collaborations with external networks that can support the project. Thus began the collaboration with Teatro Litta in Milan and the Connections Festival, specifically dedicated to young people, and with the network of experiences of the LAIV project of Fondazione Cariplo. In 2016, more than 40 students joined the workshop. In order to support the work with these large numbers, the same year the association Mirmica entered into the running of the workshop, flanking Carola Maternini with the operator Viola Ghidelli and other experts from the association. This allows the integration of new artistic languages (e.g., the production of videos as an integral part of the final performances) and the expansion of the territorial network to create opportunities for exchange with the outside world. In the 2019-2020 school year, Mirmica kicks off a second in-school workshop with a specific focus on authorship and dramaturgy.

Here is a video made by the students during the workshop in the 2017 - 2019 school year:

During the pandemic emergency period in 2020, the project was partly supported in its readjustment phase by the Lets GO! grant from Fondazione Cariplo.