“Theater is justified only if it is the paradigm of the demolition of economic and cultural differences, if it has the power to transform itself and others, without lowering its own art,” wrote Leo de Berardinis, some 20 years ago, trying to shape his own idea of popular theater of research.
In this second edition of POLIS Teatro Festival, it is his words that serve as a beacon for us in nurture collaborations and participatory activities to rediscover the meaning of theatrical art in the relationship with its fundamental element: the spectator, an active citizen of our ideal polis. But how? By involving the citizenry through a public call to POLITAI (the festival’s volunteers); by activating a SUSPENDED TICKETS project to allow everyone access to theatrical culture; by launching a crowdfunding campaign to support the festival and its participatory projects; by organizing LO SGUARDO IN OPERA, a critical and creative writing workshop for students of the Ravenna campus; and by reintroducing PARTECI-POLIS, the project that last year stimulated hundreds of audience members to share their thoughts on the scheduled performances and the festival in general.
Emblem of this edition is a woman fighter, a brigandess, who chose brigandage as an extreme form of protest, just as we choose theater as a form of cultural resistance. Like her, we believe it is time to arm ourselves to the teeth, but with culture.
And then there is the program we have prepared for you. Once again unafraid to mix genres and generations, both of artists and spectators.
Agata Tomsic and Davide Sacco / ErosAntEros
