The book presents a novel analysis supporting the idea that a theatre ensemble is not just an entity but an emergent process. Through the lens of a theatre company's performative, creative, organizational, and activist practices, the ensemble is conceptualized in its collective becoming. This socio-historical and new materialist analysis of a European theatre company (ATIR) over thirty years highlights how a group's performative capacity to make-ensemble stimulates its organizational and social processes. With a commitment to participation, listening, and horizontality, the ensemble is shown to challenge the structures of capitalism, and fosters a vision of hope for societies.
Carmen Pellegrinelli is a post-doc at the University of Trieste (Italy) and a playwright and theatre director. She holds Master’s degrees in Theatre and Clinical Psychology from the universities of Bologna and Bergamo and a PhD (2023) from the University of Lapland, Faculty of Social Science. In addition to being an award-winning playwright and theatre director, she has published several articles and chapters on creative practices, social activism, and post-qualitative research methods. She is currently engaged in research concerning the intersection between arts, aesthetics of care, and posthumanist theory.
List of Figures
Acknowledgement
Introduction: The Ensemble
1 Performing the Ensemble
2 Background and Proposal: Ensemble-Making as a Practice
3 Case: ATIR Theatre Company
4 Theoretical Framework: The Posthumanist Practice Theory
5 Methodology: Gathering Traces
6 The Book’s Organization
1 The School: The Community of Practice in the Theatre Environment
1 The Emerging Assemblage
2 The Characteristics of the “Bottega”
3 Acquiring the Performative Practices of Making Theatre
3.1 Undressing Personal Attitudes and Playing
3.2 Making Choir
3.3 Being Real on Stage
3.4 Searching for Intensity
4 Becoming a Group
4.1 Romeo and Juliet
4.2 The Creation of ATIR
2 The Rehearsals Room: The Performative and Creative Practices
1 Assemblage in the Making
2 Performative Practices
2.1 The Choir: Ensemble-Making in the Performance
2.2 The Scenography: Ensemble-Making with Vibrant Matter
2.3 The Plays: Ensemble-Making with Stories and Texts
2.3.1 The First Dramaturgical Stream: The Classics
2.3.2 The Second Dramaturgical Stream: Social Activism Plays
2.3.3 The Third Dramaturgical Stream: Contemporary Dramaturgy
3 Collective Creative Practices
3 The Theatre: Socio-Educational and Organizational Practices
1 Assemblage Becoming Territory
2 Educational and Community-Building Practices
2.1 Gli Spazi del Teatro. Ensemble-Making with Non-Conforming Subjectivities
2.2 Theatre Workshops: Ensemble-Making for Communities
2.3 Theatre Education, Ensemble-Making in Educational Theatre
2.4 The Piana: Ensemble-Making Larger than Life
3 Collective Organisational Practices
4 The Community: Resistance Practices
1 Assemblage as Resistance
2 Community-Oriented Practices towards the City: Ensemble-Making Being Nomadic
2.1 Odissea – Storia di un ritorno
2.2 El Nost Milan
3 Resistance Practices: Ensemble-Making in the ATIR’s Way
5 Conclusion
1 Ensemble Multiplicity
2 ATIR’s Performing Ensemble
3 About the Posthumanist Ensemble
References
Index
Scholars, graduates, and postgraduates in: creative studies; performance studies; cultural studies; critical and exploratory theatre studies; Institutes of drama and performance; history of theatre; organizational studies; posthumanist theory; social science.