Caravan Italia is a Social and Community Theatre project which was started in the context of the large-scale European project Caravan. Artists on the Road. Caravan Italia is a special Italian tour of CARAVAN, which crossed the country from the North to the South, from 15th August to 4th November 2012. The project involved 4 Italian cities in Community Theatre interventions with the citizens, on the topic of “recovering from the crisis”.
Caravan Italia
September – June 2012
A great fully Italian project
A vehicle for itinerant performing
Community meetings on the topic of recovering from the crisis
More than 3,500 spectators, 520 inhabitants who participated actively in the preparation of the activities, 75 artists and professionals active in the local area, 18 associations involved, 8 great events of performing, culture and good relationships, 1 travelling stage.
Caravan Italia is a Social and Community Theatre project which was started in the context of the large-scale European project Caravan. Artists on the Road.
Caravan Italia is a special Italian tour of CARAVAN, which crossed the country from the North to the South, from 15th August to 4th November 2012. The project involved 4 Italian cities in Community Theatre interventions with the citizens, on the topic of “recovering from the crisis”.
The project is managed by Teatro Popolare Europeo with the supervision of SCT Centre | Unito, it is promoted by Fondazione CRT – Cassa di Risparmio di Torino and supported by Fondazione con il Sud and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di La Spezia with the direct involvement of ACRI – Associazione Casse di Risparmio Italiane.
In particular, in addition to Associazione Teatro Popolare Europeo, the following associations played the leading role and organised the activities of Caravan Italia: Associazione Labulè, Associazione Il Pozzo dei Due Draghi, Cinecircolo PG Frassati, Casa Babylon Teatro, Associazione Per Partito Preso, Associazione Etérnit.
The CARAVAN. The itinerant symbol of the project is a travelling stage: the CARAVAN is a multimodal state-of-the-art vehicle, a structure which, in fact, can be transformed into a real stage, an open-air cinema, a location for exhibitions or a digital platform.
The Methodology and the topic of the work. In every city involved in the project, Caravan visited the places and met groups and people who are either recovering from the crisis today or represent a “hard centre” which resists to the contemporary decay taking place at the economic, social and cultural level. The project’s objective was to collect the stories of the inhabitants and organise great Community Theatre events in order to empower the sense of social connection between those places and the local area they belong to. The communities were not mere spectators, but co-authors and co-actors of the artistic creation in order to facilitate the processes of social valorisation. The stage of these art and community interventions were the cities, districts, markets and courtyards, but also the houses of the citizens, groups of young people, hospitals, polyvalent centres, homes for the elderly, etc.
In particular, the cooperation with the local theatre associations was pivotal for the success of these interventions. The continuity of the experience was entrusted to the local associations which prepared the activities in cooperation with the team of Caravan.
The Performance. The performance “Precipito” (Rush), directed by Alessandra Rossi Ghiglione, was played in every city. It tells the story of 3 young Italians who try to recover from the crisis, and of a businessman who commits suicide and returns to guide and accompany them. The performance was written starting from the collection of hundreds of true stories of young females and males living in Italy today.
Community Actions. The intervention which took place in La Spezia – with the Association Labulè and the active cooperation of Fondazione di Risparmio di La Spezia – was focused on a specific area of the city: Piazza Brin and the surrounding district. This square is considered a place of exclusion; here, different communities meet: from South American and North African migrants to local elderly people, from the homeless to the owners of historical shops. Piazza Brin, with the active participation of all its inhabitants, became the protagonist of a week of events of Community Theatre open to the whole community of citizens.
A great community parade was prepared in San Giovanni Rotondo, in cooperation with Il Pozzo dei Due Draghi and Cinecircolo PG Frassati: 200 inhabitants were involved in the Parata del Minestrone: children, horses and riders, local associations and elderly people, who were guided by a band of 25 members and followed by a large crowd of spectators. Vegetables were collected door-to-door and the Caravan artists prepared a special minestrone soup for the community.
The event organised in Pagani took place in cooperation with Casa Babylon Teatro and the Associazione Per Partito Preso, and was dedicated to build the identity of a town placed under compulsory administration for mafia infiltrations in the municipality. The event involved many associations – among which there was Libera – and a varied audience; it represented the strong claim for freedom, cohesion and solidarity of this small town, which was expressed on stage by plenty of local groups.
During the week spent in Mondragone – in collaboration with Etérnit and with the participation of many local organisations and the patronage of the Municipality – Caravan created a real experiment of “theatre played by the community”, involving citizens, associations and artists. Performances, open rehearsals, meetings and others activities which were then merged in a final performance directed by Luigi Morra with the artists of Etérnit and Teatro Popolare Europeo, in which images and stories of the local area became the real protagonists of the mise-en-scène.
Partners. Teatro Popolare Europeo; SCT Centre | Unito; Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Torino; Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di La Spezia; Fondazione con il Sud; Associazione Labulé, Associazione Il Pozzo dei Due Draghi, Cinecircolo PG Frassati, Casa Babylon Teatro, Associazione Per Partito Preso, Associazione Etérnit.
