Why take a theater class? The most obvious answer—which refers to the educational and social aspects of theater—would be: to learn to listen to others and to oneself; to gain greater awareness of oneself, one’s body, and the space in which one moves.
But, without detracting from those reasons, I would add others—more elusive and perhaps more profound—to discover the value of the useless, the invisible, and the inexplicable.
To rediscover the joy of play. I’d like to convey the joy of discovery; of imagining infinite possible worlds and trying to give shape and voice to these worlds, even if only for a moment. Of allowing oneself a moment of absolute freedom in which to express oneself and, through play, to find one’s own voice.
Theater as storytelling: We’ll invent stories starting from a character, an image, or an idea; and we’ll try to tell them by changing the point of view (in the first or third person—as if we were, for example, Rosarossa or Prince Ivan—or by shifting from one character to another). Through the exercise of role-playing, we’ll look at the world through different eyes and try to describe it, giving these stories form and voice.
And we’ll have fun stepping in and out of the story’s characters as if they were so many magic boxes.
Michele D’Aquila
Actor, director, and theater instructor
Born in Brescia in 1984, he discovered his passion for theater in high school while attending a workshop led by director Pietro Arrigoni.
A graduate of the DAMS program at the University of Padua, he has participated in workshops led by Mario Perrotta, Carrozzeria Orfeo, Mario Barzaghi (Teatro dei Venti), Virgilio Sieni, Michele Abbondanza, Julyen Hamilton, Patricia Kuypers, and others. From 2010 to 2012, he attended the “Cantiere” workshop organized by the Teatro Telaio company (BS) and directed by Valentina Salerno.
He works in the provinces of Brescia and Bergamo, collaborating with various local theater companies and cultural associations as an actor, director, and playwright. He is also involved in theater education: since 2022, he has been a professor of Dramatic Arts—Puppet Theater at the LABA Academy and teaches the annual “Theater and Acting” course at the San Clemente Cultural Center in Brescia.
He also teaches theater to children at various schools in the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia.
For Teatro Telaio, he appeared in the plays “Following Iago” and “Ogni Cosa al Suo Posto,” both from 2016. For TrEATRO Terre di Confine, he produced the plays “I Documenti Raccontano” (2013) and “Il Giro del Piatto in Ottanta Bocconi” (2015). From 2014 to 2020, he participated as an actor in the event “La Torre delle Favole”; since 2021, he has participated, again as an actor, in the event “De’Nostri Santi” (both organized by the Municipality of Lumezzane, BS).
With the show “Where Is My Soul?”, for which he is the director, performer, and playwright, he was a finalist in the 2018 Pillole Competition organized by Teatro Studio Uno (Rome) and in the 2019 Palio Ermo Colle (PR).
The production also received a special mention in the “Corpo-Confine” category at the 2021 Le Voci dell’Anima festival (RN).
