96449 - Laboratory of Theatrical Direction (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the laboratory the student: acquires elements of directing practice, identifying the possibilities of mutual development and interpenetration; learns to relate to the different operational levels of the theatrical performance (actors, figurative and textual spatial); analyzes the essential structures of the compositional process, having the tools to follow transformations and interactions.

Course contents

Documentary theatre and directing. Working on a shared process of knowledge

We define as documentary those scenic practices in which real elements ‒ experienced firsthand by artists and spectators (events, documents, testimonies, biographies, places) ‒ become the material of narratives presented as open processes: shared paths of knowledge that critically elaborate facts in order to understand and bear witness to them. Within this framework, what position does theatre directing occupy, and how does it operate in documentary theatre? Does it intervene in the research phase? Does it structure textualities, or does it limit itself to organizing the elements of staging? How does it work with actors and performers?

Theatre directing has stood at the crossroads of the revolutions that, throughout the twentieth century, reshaped theatre and its meaning, while also soon becoming a hegemonic function ‒ an apex role of mediation that has contributed to shaping the theatre system as a whole. What does it mean to conceive directing as a node within multiple authorial processes, in close contact with reality and contemporaneity?

Starting from these questions and considerations, the workshop develops through three interconnected components:

1. Introduction to directing: its emergence, the Italian tradition, and “post-directing”
2. Introduction to documentary theatre: forms and processes
3. Seminars and practical workshop: directing processes in documentary theatre

• Seminars with artists. Sessions based on the viewing of performances aimed at exploring methodologies and poetics, which will be proposed to students as methodological references to be applied.
• Development of a documentary theatre project. Students will be guided through stages of project design, collection, and initial scenic organization of documentary materials, which will be presented in the final phase of the course

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students:

• Marco De Marinis, Regia e post-regia: dalla messa in scena all’opera contenitore, in Claudio Longhi (ed), La regia in Italia, oggi. Per Luca Ronconi, monographic issue "Culture Teatrali", 25, 2016, pp. 66-79 (available on Virtual from the day the lectures start).
• Lorenzo Donati, Processi di conoscenza condivisi. Una cartografia del teatro documentario, in Teatro, verità, documento. Per un’ontologia del presente, “Lo scandaglio”, n. 4, marzo 2026 (disponibile su Virtuale dal giorno di inizio delle lezioni)
• Erica Magris, I teatri documentari dentro e fuori la scena: dei “porti sicuri” per cambiare il mondo?, in Kepler-452, A Place of Safety. Viaggio nel Mediterraneo centrale. Testo, contesto e materiali di lavoro di un incontro con il Search and Rescue, a cura di L. Donati, Roma, Luca Sossella Editore, 2025, pp. 155-176 (disponibile su Virtuale dal giorno di inizio delle lezioni).
• Mirella Schino, Storia di una parola: fascismo e mutamenti di mentalità teatrale, «Teatro e storia», nuova serie 3-2011 [a. XXV vol. 32], pp. 169-212 (available on Virtuale from the day the lectures begin).
• Mirella Schino, Profilo del teatro italiano, La nuova Italia scientifica, Roma, 1995, solo Cap. 15 Dal “ritardo” alla pluralità dei teatri, pp. 149-167 (disponibile su Virtuale dal giorno di inizio delle lezioni).
  
  

Non-attending students must add:

• Giovanna Zanlonghi, La regia teatrale nel secondo Novecento. Utopie, forme e pratiche, Roma, Carocci, 2023
  
  

It is also compulsory for non-attending students to see some plays (live or on video) to be agreed with the lecturer at least 30 days before the exam.

Teaching methods

Lectures also through the viewing of audiovisual materials (theatre performances);
practical-theoretical seminars led by external experts (directors);
group work for the drafting of texts resulting from the workshop.

Assessment methods

Here is a clear and academically suitable English translation:

Attending Students

During the in-class workshop, students will be asked to collect both materials from the seminars (by producing a set of dossiers based on the meetings with artists) and individual texts developed throughout the different phases of the documentary theatre project. The dossiers and documentary projects, resulting from both individual and group work, will form part of the assessment and will serve as a starting point for an individual oral discussion.

The oral examination, lasting 15–20 minutes, will draw on the themes introduced by the individual projects and the dossiers, and will assess students’ mastery of the directing processes presented in class, as well as further explore selected historical aspects based on the exam bibliography discussed during the course.

Non-attending Students

In addition to the assigned bibliography, students who intend to take the exam as non-attending are required to submit a written paper analyzing the directing processes of a performance they have seen. Candidates wishing to take the exam as non-attending must contact the instructor at least 30 days before the chosen exam session in order to agree on the specific program.

An organic and personal vision of the proposed themes, combined with expressive mastery and language proficiency, and a willingness to engage in the challenges of the workshop activities, will be evaluated with excellent grades (29/30L). Fair evaluations will be given to those with memorized knowledge, an unarticulated analytical capacity, or correct but not always appropriate language (25/28). Occasional gaps in subject mastery and a weak ability to synthesize the concept of "directorial process" itself will lead to sufficient grades (18/24). Finally, candidates with significant educational gaps, expressed through inappropriate language and an inability to analyze the directorial phenomenon and its 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.

Teaching tools

The lectures will make use of audio-visual materials, printed, oral and media sources. Slides and diagrams will be regularly offered to support the lectures.
The Virtual e-learning platform for sharing study materials will be used regularly and continuously.

Office hours

See the website of Lorenzo Donati