La MaMa Umbria Symposium
La MaMa Umbria Symposium
The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts offers UNCSA Alumni an opportunity to attend the 2025 La MaMa Umbria Symposium in Italy for Directors and Playwrights.
Applications for 2025 closed on May 2, 2025. The next Call for Application for the La MaMa Umbria Symposium will be posted Spring 2026.
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 eight UNCSA Alumni to attend one of three creative symposiums in Italy designed for artists to work with internationally renowned theatre professionals whose work is shaping the contemporary performing arts ecosystem.
Founded in 1990 by legendary designer, theatre director, and producer, Ellen Stewart, La MaMa Umbria International is dedicated to artistic experimentation, research, and learning. Housed in a former 700-year old convent 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 2025 La MaMa Umbria International workshop faculty include interdisciplinary artist and storyteller Stefanie Batten Bland; Tony-nominated director Liesl Tommy; dancer, actor, choreographer, and director Wesley Ruzibiza; actor and playwright Simon McBurney; puppeteer and performance artist Dan Hurlin; director and playwright Milo Rau; and actress, poet and playwright Dael Orlandersmith, among many more acclaimed international theatre makers.