followed by a lunch with cappelletti made by the volunteers of Teatro Socjale - reservation on the same day, before the beginning of the performance
The project was born with the aim of recounting the extraordinary life of Asja Lacis, director, educator and revolutionary of the twentieth century. A fundamental figure who has been neglected by official history for too long, Asja emerges in all her power, intertwining her destiny with that of Walter Benjamin, with whom she shared an intense intellectual exchange, a liaison dangereuse and a passion for revolution.
From her difficult childhood in Latvia, to her youth in St. Petersburg, to her participation in the Russian Revolution and the creation of the Proletarian Children’s Theatre, Asja challenged artistic and social conventions, proposing theatre as an instrument of change. Her strength, courage and independence are portrayed through a mosaic of encounters and places, highlighting her relationships with men such as Benjamin, Brecht and Mejerchol’d.
The show is presented as an act of resistance and reflection on history and theatre, broadening perspectives and multiplying points of view. Her life is inextricably linked to her artistic practice and avant-garde pedagogy, and her experience has left an indelible mark on 20th-century culture, challenging conventions and redefining the boundaries between art and politics. This work pays tribute to a pioneer who was able to transform her commitment into a beacon of change, even at the cost of her own life and freedom.
The creative process draws inspiration from the Proletarian Manifesto of Street Children, written by Walter Benjamin following his conversations with Asja in Capri in 1924. The show invites us to enter into this creative game, inheriting from Asja’s work a method that is at once research, play and freedom, a jam session in which each component contributes to a collective vision. Her vision of theatre as an instrument of transformation and resistance finds new life in a synthesis of fragments, letters and sounds, giving voice to a woman who, through the Russian Revolution, was able to make theatre a place of struggle, change and experimentation.
by and with Cristiana Minasi
viola, voice, electronics Irida Gjergji
dramaturgy Silvia Bragonzi
direction consultant Giuseppe Carullo
scientific consultant Alessio Bergamo
production Carullo-Minasi
collaboration Pim Off Milano, Atcl Spazio Rossellini, Teatri di Vetro
duration 60′
The Carullo-Minasi company was founded in 2011 following an artistic encounter between Cristiana Minasi and Giuseppe Carullo. It develops an essential, poetic and philosophical form of theatre, capable of combining irony, rigour and proximity to the audience. The group works across theatres, urban spaces and unconventional contexts, building a scenic relationship that involves communities and territories.
Over the years, it has received numerous awards, including the “Premio Scenario per Ustica 2011”, the “Premio In-Box 2012”, the “Premio Internazionale Teresa Pomodoro 2013”, the “Teatri del Sacro 2013 and 2015”, the “Premio Forever Young 2016”, the “Premio dell’Associazione Nazionale Critici di Teatro ANCT 2017”, the “Premio Adolfo Celi 2018” and the “Premio del Pubblico Voci dell’Anima 2024”.
The company’s repertoire includes the titles ‘Due passi sono’ (Two Steps Away), ‘T/Empio, critica della ragion giusta’ (T/Empio, Critique of Right Reason), ‘Conferenza tragicheffimera’ (Tragic-Ephemeral Conference), ‘De revolutionibus – sulla miseria del genere umano’ (On the Misery of Mankind), ‘Delirio bizzarro’ (Bizarre Delirium), ‘Marionette che passione!’ (What a Passion for Marionettes!), ‘Patruni e Sutta, peripezie della libertà’ (Patruni and Sutta, the vicissitudes of freedom), ‘Umanità nuova, cronaca di una mancata rivoluzione’ (New humanity, chronicle of a failed revolution). At the same time, the company carries out site-specific projects and community theatre initiatives such as ‘Deliverytheater’, ‘Tramonti Festival’, ‘La scuola del teatro’, ‘Il paesaggio del teatro’ and ‘Essere paesaggio, rifondare il mondo a partire dall’immaginazione’. The company continues to explore the dialogue between art and community, building shared spaces for thought and imagination. The theoretical research of Cristiana Minasi, PhD in Cognitive Sciences, with a work dedicated to the relationship between actor, spectator and environment, structurally nourishes the company’s poetics.
In 2025, musician and composer Irida Gjergji will join the show on ‘Asja Lacis.’ Her training in Albania and Italy and her work in Balkan repertoire, contemporary music, and stage creation contribute to integrating a new sound dimension deeply connected to the creative process.
Within the company’s work, stage writing takes on a lively and shared dimension. This is where Silvia Bragonzi comes in. As a witness to the creative process of a real jam session, she recovers the actors’ improvisations and reinterprets them, transforming them into a dramaturgical text.