41888 - Perfoming Arts

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student knows the history of social theater and its influences in education and rehabilitation; knows the theatrical experiences organized in places of social marginality; knows some laboratory instruments

Course contents

The course explores the relationship between theatre, trauma and care within the framework of medical humanities, investigating how performance practices contribute to the working-through of individual and collective wounds and to the transformation of relationships in public space.

It will start from the foundations of educational and social theatre, sharing insights and questions from research that has highlighted the theatre workshop as a process capable of “bringing back to unity” fragments of personal stories (Pontremoli). The course will focus on some key principles of narrative medicine, on autobiography as a “truce”, and on pathways that aim to “befriend the body”, in dialogue with trauma studies and with theatre of the real.

A few historical notes on Italian theatre experiences will lead to an in-depth exploration of the work of Giuliano Scabia (1935–2021), in synergy with the processes of deinstitutionalisation promoted by Franco Basaglia (1924–1980).

These research horizons will be accompanied by workshop-based activities drawing on principles of autobiographical writing, group narration and dramatisation, together with focused discussions on Psychodrama and Theatre of the Oppressed.

Finally, two theoretical-practical seminars will guide students in a dialogue with practitioners and artists working in theatre and care (the final schedule, included within class hours, will be available at the beginning of the course).

Readings/Bibliography

The examination bibliography consists of a compulsory general monograph and some articles on the work of Giuliano Scabia.

In the course of the lectures, in-depth materials will be presented that will make up a course handout to accompany and support the lectures, recommended for those attending and compulsory for those not attending, who will also be provided with additional texts from the list below.

Book
Francesca Fava, Il teatro come metodo educativo. Una guida per educatori e professionisti sociosanitari, Roma, Carocci Faber, 2018

Essays
Giuliano Scabia, Marco Cavallo. Una esperienza di animazione teatrale in un ospedale psichiatrico, Turin, Giulio Einaudi Editore, 1978 (pp. 5-8; 11-21; 32-35; 65-73; 123-134, available in the handout).

Massimo Marino, Il poeta d'oro. Il gran teatro immaginario di Giuliano Scabia, Florence, La casa usher, 2023 (chapter Marco Cavallo lotta per gli esclusi, pp. 62-87, available in the lecture notes).

Handout (recommended)

Course reader (recommended; compulsory for non-attending students)
Lorenzo Donati (ed.), Teatri fra arte e cura, course reader available on Virtuale from the first day of class.

The materials included in the reader are drawn from the following bibliography (not compulsory; from this list a specific additional reading programme will be indicated for non-attending students):

• Franco Basaglia (ed.), L’istituzione negata. Rapporto da un ospedale psichiatrico, Einaudi, Milano, 1968
• Claudio Bernardi, Teatro sociale. L'arte tra disagio e cura, Carrocci editore, Roma, 2004
• Cecilia Carponi, Andrea Porcheddu (eds.), La malattia che cura il teatro. Esperienza e teoria nel rapporto tra scena e società, Dino Audino Editore, Roma, 2020
• Stefano Calabrese, Valentina Conti, Chiara Fioretti, Che cos'è la medicina narrativa, Carocci, Roma, 2022
• Rita Charon, Medicina narrativa. Onorare le storie dei pazienti, Raffaello Cortina, Milano, 2019
• Flavia Dalila D’Amico, Lost in Translation. Le disabilità in scena, Bulzoni, Roma, 2021
• Duccio Demetrio, Raccontarsi. L’autobiografia come cura di sé, Raffaello Cortina, Milano, 2005
• Lorenzo Donati, Teatro e trauma. Avvicinamenti per un campo di indagine, in Cecilia Carponi, Livia Cavaglieri, Fabrizio Fiaschini, Stefania Onesti, Aldo Roma and Simona Scattina (eds.), Nuovi crocevia per lo spettacolo: linee di ricerca e generazioni a confronto, Milano University Press, 2025
• Ivonne Donegani, Gabriella Gallo, Angela Tolomelli, “La scena terapeutica del teatro”, in «Narrare i gruppi», vol. 11, no. 1, May 2016
• George L. Engel, “The Need for a New Medical Model: A Challenge for Biomedicine”, «Science», 196 (4286), 1977
  Fabrizio Fiaschini (ed.), CONTROCAMPI. Estetiche e pratiche della performance negli spazi del sociale (PERFORMARE IL SOCIALE Tomo 1), Bulzoni, Roma, 2023
• Gerardo Guccini (ed.), Verso un teatro degli esseri, dossier in «Prove di drammaturgia», XII, no. 1, 2001
• Gerardo Guccini and Marco Menini (eds.), Curare il teatro. Il Laboratorio permanente di Nerval Teatro ad Armunia, ETS, Pisa, 2019
• bell hooks, Insegnare il pensiero critico, Meltemi, Milano, 2023
• Franco Lorenzoni, Marco Martinelli (eds.), Saltatori di muri. Esperienze interculturali di incontro fra stranieri e italiani, nella scuola e nel teatro, Macro Edizioni, Bertinoro, 2009
• Stefano Masotti, “Identità reali in situazioni di rappresentazione”, in «Antropologia E Teatro. Rivista Di Studi», no. 1, 2010
• Id., “Arte Teatrale, Pedagogia Teatrale e Cura”, in Pierangelo Bordignon, Gloria Burbello, Stefano Masotti, Carlo Presotto (eds.), Paradiso. Diario di una ricerca teatrale e umana in Babilonia Teatri, libreriauniversitaria.it Edizioni, Padova, 2019
• Id., “Per un teatro stabile delle condizioni differenti, verso un teatro dell’arte: l’esperienza del laboratorio-scuola e della Compagnia teatrale ZeroFavole (R.E.)”, in «Nuove arti terapie», no. 27, no. 1, 2009
• Giulia Innocenti Malini, Breve storia del teatro sociale in Italia, Cue Press, Imola, 2021
• Alessandra Rossi Ghiglione, Alberto Pagliarino (eds.), Fare teatro sociale. Esercizi e progetti, Dino Audino, Roma, 2007
• Giuliano Scabia (ed.), Marco Cavallo. Una esperienza di animazione in un ospedale psichiatrico, Einaudi, Torino, 1976
• Id., Chi è la cura? Per Cristina Giglioli, cardiologa. Scritti, disegni, fotografie, partiture raccolti da Giuliano Scabia, La conchiglia di Santiago, San Miniato, 2021
• Alessandro Pontremli, Teoria e tecniche del teatro educativo e sociale, UTET, Torino, 2007
• Id., Elementi di teatro educativo, sociale e di comunità, Utet, Torino, 2014
• Loredana Simoncini, Stefano Masotti, “Una terza area di intervento: il paradigma dell’emozione narrativa”, in «Antropologia E Teatro. Rivista Di Studi», no. 3, 2012
• Sandro Spinsanti, Le Medical Humanities: una cura per la medicina, in «Critica della ragion medica», 31, I, 2011.
• Bessel Van Der Kolk, Il corpo accusa il colpo. Mente, corpo e cervello nell'elaborazione delle memorie traumatiche, Raffaello Cortina, Milano, 2015
• WHO (D. Fancourt, S. Finn), What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being, «Health Evidence Network synthesis report», 67, 2019

Teaching methods

Lectures;
workshop group work through expressive restitution techniques, autobiographical writing, group narration, role playing and dramatisation;
practical-theoretical seminars led by external experts (directors, trainers, national theatre and care scholars)

Assessment methods

The verification of learning is closely linked to the assiduity of attendance and active participation in the work proposed in the classroom, the importance of which is emphasised. Some practical workshop-type exercises, with small theatrical and expressive outcomes (writing, drawing, dramatisation, etc.) will accompany the lessons. During the course, students will be asked to keep track of their work by means of a written diary, which will be handed in and discussed on the day of the exam as an integral part of the course and in the context of the proposed bibliographical horizons.

During the examination, which will last between 15 and 20 minutes, the extent to which candidates:

• possess the proposed knowledge (bibliography and insights presented during the lectures)
• are able to articulate a personal reasoning, also as a result of participation and interaction with the course exercises proposed during the lectures and in the light of what they have learnt during the degree course
• are able to translate the knowledge learned into operational principles and skills to be used in the present and future of the profession.
  
  

An organic and personal vision of the proposed themes, combined with expressive mastery and language proficiency, along with a willingness to engage in the challenges of the workshop activities; finally, regular attendance in the practical exercises and thorough completion of the final journal will be evaluated with excellent grades. Fair evaluations will be given to those who have memorization knowledge, but whose analytical skills are not well developed or whose language is correct but not always appropriate. Occasional gaps in subject mastery and incomplete participation in the proposed activities, including the completion of the written journal, will lead to sufficient grades. Candidates with significant educational gaps, expressed through inappropriate language and an inability to analyze the contribution of theater and the arts to healing processes, will be evaluated negatively.

Students with learning disorders and\or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact the office responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students) as soon as possible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must be submitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.” https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Teaching tools

Lessons will use of audio-visual materials, paper, oral and media sources. The use of the e-learning platform for sharing study materials is foreseen.

Office hours

See the website of Lorenzo Donati