La MaMa Umbria Symposium

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts offers UNCSA Alumni an opportunity to attend the 2024 La MaMa Umbria Symposium in Italy for Directors and Playwrights – applications due May 10, 2024.

For over 30 years, the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at UNCSA has partnered with cultural organizations, fostering new programs in arts and cultural research, the development of new work, arts education, and career development for artists and cultural leaders.

This summer, the Kenan Institute for the Arts is collaborating again with La MaMa Umbria International by sponsoring up to four UNCSA Alumni from the classes of 2014 to 2024 for one of three creative symposiums in Italy designed for artists to work with internationally renowned theatre professionals whose work is impacting the contemporary landscape of performative arts.

“For nearly 25 years,” says Kenan Institute Executive Director Kevin Bitterman, “La MaMa Umbria has served as a hub where artists from diverse corners of the globe convene to collaborate, generate new work and exchange creative concepts — it is a fertile crossroads for artists at all stages of development, and a perfect environment for members of the UNCSA community to advance their creative practice.”

Founded in 1990 by legendary theatre pioneer, Ellen Stewart, La MaMa Umbria International is dedicated to artistic experimentation, research, and learning. Housed in a former monastery just outside Spoleto, Italy, the center is less than two hours from Rome. Hundreds of artists have found Umbria to be a space that is beautiful, spiritually enriching, welcoming, and open to bold artistic experiments.

The 2024 La MaMa Umbria International workshop leaders include American theatre director Anne Bogart; Franco-Uruguayan playwright and director Sergio Blanco; Doris Duke Artist Award-winning director Stacy Klein; Contemporary Rwandan director and playwright Hope Azeda; Co-Founding Artistic and Executive Director of The Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics Derek Goldman; Co-founder of DAH Theater Dijana Milošević; and Polish-born American playwright Martyna Majok who received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play "Cost of Living," among other workshop leaders.

Kenan Institute-Sponsored Opportunity for UNCSA Alumni 

The Kenan Institute sponsored opportunity at La MaMa Umbria is open to UNCSA alumni from undergraduate and graduate degree programs from the classes of 2014 to 2024 — specifically those whose creative process reflects a commitment to directing and writing for the stage, which may include movement-based process, screenwriting, and other forms of devised performance.  

UNCSA Alumni may choose to apply to one of the symposium sessions. Selection will be made in consultation with a panel including faculty and staff from UNCSA and the Kenan Institute for the Arts based on the following questions and criteria:

• Why is the Symposium appropriate for you at this time?
• How might this experience help you as an artist?

Artists with an interest in or experience with global perspectives to performance and storytelling, as illustrated in their body of work or emerging area of focus, may benefit most from this experience.

During the two two-week sessions, artists will take workshops with distinguished, internationally renowned directors, visit Spoleto and other Umbrian cultural sites. 

Please read more below regarding the symposium for Directors (two sessions) and Playwrights (one session), including links to the La MaMa Umbria International site to apply.

PLEASE NOTE: To be considered for this Kenan Institute sponsored activity, UNCSA Alumni must include mention of their Alumni status in the Company/Organization field of the application page, i.e.: UNCSA School of Drama Class of XX.

Additional Information

 

For questions or additional information contact:

La MaMa Umbria International: David Diamond at ddjdstar@gmail.com.
Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts: kenanarts@uncsa.edu.