Training for theatrical actors is currently undergoing a radical period of rethinking due to the profound changes in forms of theatrical expression related to the effects of the continuing pandemic. As a matter of fact, in such particular circumstances, as theatres reopen and programming recommences, attention and investment for the future come together to reflect on the destiny of the role of actors, on the renewed centrality of their presence in terms of a living representation of the theatrical experience and on the importance of solidly structured training courses.
In this sense, the Piccolo Teatro’s School of Theatre is a vital driving force, an infinite source of youthful energy and thought characterised by vivacious and fertile debate. In turn, the aim of the Piccolo Teatro’s School of Theatre is to provide students with a set of skills and techniques that allow them to acquire and refine the tools necessary to interpret the challenges and the complexities of modern society, and - through their art - express not only the present, but also the world of tomorrow.
Claudio Longhi
Director Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d'Europa
The Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d’Europa Luca Ronconi School
Call for applications for the Claudia Giannotti course for Actors and Actresses
2021-2024
The Luca Ronconi School
Artistic Director Carmelo Rifici
Didactic coordinator Alessio Maria Romano
Organisation manager Roberta Zanoli
General information
The School carries out its activities in symbiosis with the Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d’Europa.
The activities of the School are aimed at promoting an openness to theatre in the young participants selected, and to provide them with a technical foundation, allowing them to enter the acting profession with awareness and helping them to develop an artistic and creative corpus and a critical view of theatrical texts.
The School’s didactic programme is based on a multi-disciplinary vision of theatrical methods and practices both traditional and contemporary. The students are encouraged to discover their own unique form of artistry through an intense and constant in-depth study of their bodies and voices, finding their limits and developing their potential.
The students work with various theories of acting, identifying common criteria and evident differences, under the guidance of expert teachers and professionals from Italian and international theatre, acquiring artistic autonomy and the tools necessary in order to work in the entertainment profession.
The school’s teachers work together to integrate the various subjects studied with the aim of developing freedom of expression and thought, fundamental aspects for the training of contemporary artists.
The Piccolo Teatro di Milano’s School offers a platform for the observation of reality and the exchange of knowledge, allowing the young artists to discover their social and political role within the community.
The examination of the qualities possessed by the students is not only based on their ability to reach a high technical level, but also on their critical awareness in interpreting present times, their self-discipline and commitment to studies, and their sensitivity in listening and in group dynamics.
As well as lessons on theory and practical exercises, the course also includes apprenticeship activities.
The council of teachers meets periodically in order to discuss the progress of each student and whether it is opportune to continue with the course.
The Luca Ronconi School is located above the Teatro Studio, with the entrance in Via Giorgio Strehler; 3 (previously Via degli Angioli). The School is free of architectural barriers.
The school has the task... of helping its young students to assimilate a number of fundamental, moral and humanistic techniques that allow them to enter the acting profession with increased awareness and clearer aptitude.
(Giorgio Strehler, General nots on the “School of Theatre”, 1986).
Training an actor nowadays means above all providing young people with the technical instruments to last, fostering within them a passion that allows them to resist, to respond to the many provocations to leave, to abandon their post, that they will soon inevitably receive. (Luca Ronconi, Il mio Teatro, 1999).
Instinct does not mature over time, it is born with us, it is inside us. What time allows to mature is our conscience, the awareness that is demonstrated in the distance between what we have become and what we would have liked to have been. Within that distance lies reflection, often joined by suffering and at times regret, but above all there is effort, the hard work done until now, and the certainty that it will never leave you. I advise you to consider that effort with admiration. What we achieve through effort is never lost, it lasts over time. (Carmelo Rifici, La lettera ai Giovani in Storie di straordinaria quotidianità fra Svizzera e Italia, 2019).
The call for applications
The Piccolo Teatro Milano - Teatro d’Europa is certified as an educational institute by the Lombardy Region. Its School, which benefits from European Social Funds and is defined by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage with Italian Ministerial Decree of 27 July 2017 as a “Specialist School”, organises a three-year course for a maximum of 26 people with the following requirements:
- Born between 1/1/1995 and 31/12/2003
- Diploma of secondary education
- Good written and spoken knowledge of Italian
Professional role and purpose
Training of professional actors/actresses in the field of theatre, cinema and television.
Course structure
- Duration from October 2021 to July 2024
- Daily schedule (subject to variation)
- Mondays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- from Tuesdays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- Sundays and Monday mornings off
- Attendance obligatory. The missing of 25% or more of the total number of hours will lead to expulsion from the school.
Course location
Luca Ronconi School of Theatre, Via Giorgio Strehler, 3 (già via degli Angioli), 20121 Milan.
Final certificate
Participation in the Course will be certified by a certificate issued by the Lombardy Region and a diploma from the Piccolo Teatro di Milano.
Attendance is free of charge.
How to apply
Applications can be completed and sent as of 25/05/2021, by clicking on the link https://iscrizioni.piccoloteatromilano.it
The deadline for applications is 21 August 2021
The Registrar will communicate the date and time of the exam via email.
Calls for the exam will respect the order in which enrolments have been received.
The application must be accompanied by:
- two recent photographs, one close up and one full body
- the bank transfer Operation Reference Code (CRO) confirming payment of the enrolment fee.
The enrolment fee of 70.00 euros can be paid via bank transfer to:
Fondazione Piccolo Teatro di Milano – Teatro d’Europa
IBAN IT31Z0503401727000000018228
BIC: BAPPIT21633
indicating in the description of the bank transfer the name and surname of the candidate and their tax code
Entry exams
The entry exams will start on 30 August 2021 (3 p.m.) in three selections at the School of Theatre in Via Strehler, 3 - Milan.
In order to guarantee the safety of the candidates and the teaching staff, access will be granted exclusively to those in possession of an invitation.
First round of selections - from Monday 30 August 2021 (from 3 p.m.)
Candidates with the necessary prerequisites will be invited to take part in the following tests:
- Two monologues, preferably of differing eras, styles and character, in order for the candidate to demonstrate their versatility. The two monologues must not be by the same author.
- 1 Dialogue which will be communicated via email to the candidates at the moment of invitation and which will be examined by the Commission*
- 1 Poem in Italian by a known Italian writer.
The results of the first round of selections will be published on the website (with indication of the CODES corresponding to the candidates admitted to the second round).
(* Candidates will be required to prepare their own part only, in accordance with the indications contained in the message, and will not have to organise an interlocutor, as this will be provided by the School.)
Second round of selections - from Monday 27 September 2021
The exact call date for the candidates admitted to the second round will be communicated via email.
The second round will involve three tests.
Acting with one of the following texts, chosen by the commission:
- Federico García Lorca, La casa di Bernarda Alba (Act III, scene with Martirio and Adele)
- William Shakespeare, Romeo e Giulietta (Act II, balcony scene)
- Eugene O’Neill, Lunga giornata verso la notte (Act IV, Edmund’s monologue)
Voice and singing
- Preparation and reading of a literary work of the candidate’s choice by an Italian author
- Unrehearsed reading of a text communicated on the spot by the commission
- Any musical piece sung a cappella or with background music (to be supplied) or with a score to be provided or with a musical instrument (the school has a pianoforte)
Movement
- The candidates must present a choreography of a maximum duration of 3 minutes on the theme: My dance/A dance I like.
The Commission may interrupt the trials at any moment.
The results of the second round of selections will also be published on the website (with indication of the CODES corresponding to the candidates admitted to the third and final round).
Third round of selections – taking place indicatively from Monday 11 October 2021
The chosen candidates will be contacted via email and will receive the invitation for the final selections, which will take place over 5 days of group work together with the teaching staff.
It will therefore be necessary to stay in Milan for approximately 5 days.
Candidates admitted to the third round of tests will have to provide the School Registrar with the following documentation:
- photocopy of a valid identification document
- birth certificate issued by the relative authorities
- certification of studies.
The decision of the Commission is final.
The final results of the selections will be published on the Piccolo Teatro website with the indication of the CODES of the candidates admitted to the Claudia Giannotti course.
Students will be required to temporarily select a general practitioner based in Milan. This is an essential requirement for admission to the course.
Milan, 21 May 2021
For further information
tel. +39.02.72.333.405
scuola@piccoloteatromilano.it
www.piccoloteatro.org