Faculty

Fabio Mangolini has studied at the Ecole Internationale de Mimodrame de Paris Marcel Marceau. He worked with Carlo Boso’s company until 1990 in the roles of Arlequin, Zanni, Pulcinella and Sganarello and has been acting on many stages throughout Europe, Japan, the U.S.A. and other countries.

In addition to his work as an actor, since 1988 he has been intensively involved in teaching and directing in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, El Salvador, Norway, Japan, and the U.S.A. In 1992 he received a scholarship from the Japan Foundation within their Artist Fellowship Program and studied and worked in Tokyo with Kyogen’s Master Nomura Kosuke. In 1993 he received a scholarship from the Japanese Agency for Culture and the International Theatre Institute of Tokyo to carry on with his work.

Since 2004 Fabio Mangolini has been a specialist teacher at the Royal National Drama School of Madrid (R.E.S.A.D.).

Kevin Crawford is a founding member of the Roy Hart Theatre company. He toured extensively with the company for over twenty years, and acted as a “gerant” of the troupe for a four-year period before moving to Ireland in 1993, where he was a member of faculty at the School of Drama, Trinity College. In Ireland he collaborated with a large number of theatre, dance and musical groups,as well as regularly contributing to programs at University College Dublin and University College Cork. He has been a guest facilitator at the Abbey (National Theatre of Ireland), The International Workshop Festival(London), The Lir, National Academy of Dramatic Art, (Ireland), and CIRA, (Strasbourg). In 2001 he was awarded an MA in Voice Studies from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

On his return to France in 2002 Kevin was appointed Lecturer at the Université d’Artois before joining the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy as a founding member of faculty. From 2009-2016 he directed the MFA in Physical Theatre at the Accademia. Directorial credits include “Wolf’s Bride “ for Kuopio City Theatre (Finland), “The Bacchae” and “Oedipus” for the Samuel Beckett Centre (Dublin) and “Bartholomew Fair” for the Baker Theatre (Muhlenberg College, United States). He wrote and recently performed “Montee” in collaboration with Caroline Boersma, Cellist, with performances in the US, Italy and France.

Peppy Biddy is currently Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in Theatre at Mississippi University for Women in Columbus, MS. During his tenure at “The W,” he has received the Kossen Award for Faculty Excellence, the Lowndes County Educator of the Year Award, and most recently was awarded The Cowboy Maloney Award by the Mississippi Theatre Association, its highest honor, for outstanding contribution to theatre arts in the state.

Biddy earned his MFA in Theatre at Trinity University (San Antonio, TX) and has worked as either actor, director, or stage manager at such companies as Dallas Theatre Center, Dallas Summer Musicals, Casa Manana (Ft. Worth, TX), Dallas Children’s Theatre, Mill Mountain Theatre (Roanoke, VA), and New Stage Theatre (Jackson, MS). Biddy is a member of Actors Equity Association. He has served as the Production Manager for the Sundance Institute’s Theatre Lab since the year 2000. www.peppybiddy.com

Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, Scott McGehee moved to Italy as a Fulbright Fellow in 1995 and has lived in Italy since. He received his Doctorate in European Intellectual History from Boston College in 1996 and is the President and Founding Director of the Accademia dell’Arte.

Scott’s research interest centers on the convergence of radical social thought with the organization of aesthetics perception and artistic expression. He has been active in the formation of the CrisisArt Festival and contemporary social movements including Occupy Wall Street. He continues to work on projects that explore the potential for collective and collaborative creation and has written on the subversive character of the Commedia dell’Arte. (Link Essay: “the-pre-eminence-of-the-actor-in-renaissance-context-2)

Scott gives lectures and seminars throughout the year at the Accademia on various topics including the history of cabaret, understanding Commedia politically, the commodification of artistic experience and related topics.

Hobbies are many, none of which are well developed, but he does have a knack for writing bad pop-songs.

Actor, director, scholar, and theatre educator, Giangiacomo Colli received his formal acting and directing training with two of the major figures of post-World War II Italian theatre, Vittorio Gassman and Orazio Costa. An accomplished practitioner of Commedia dell’Arte, he was introduced to this popular form of theatre by his father, a renowned theatre and television director, and then perfected his skills under Carlo Boso. His theatre formation also includes workshops with Joseph Chaikin, Shiro Nomura, Jerzy Grotowski, and Chuck Mike, among others.

Alongside his professional career, Giangiacomo graduated from the University of Rome in theatre history, received an M.F.A. in directing from the University of Hawaii, and a Ph.D. in drama from the University of Toronto. He has taught in Canada at the University of Toronto, Sheridan College, and Brock University, and in the US, at Franklin & Marshall College, Texas State University-San Marcos, and Middlebury College. Since 2014, in Italy, he has collaborated with the Master of Social Theatre at the University of Rome; the Training Course for Actors “Orazio Costa” at the Pergola Theatre, in Florence; the Rome–based association Teatroavista; and has developed his own devising technique, Il fattore umano, based on collaborative dramaturgy. Giangiacomo is also the author of a volume on Orazio Costa’s holistic acting training, a few articles, and an educational play on Commedia dell’Arte.

Ginevra Scaglia was trained at the Ecole Internationale de Théatre Jacques Lecoq graduating in 1996. Subsequently she specialized in Movement Studies at LEM, Ecole Jacques Lecoq and followed a series of workshops with notable practitioners including Pierre Byland and Phillippe Gaulier (clown), Théatre de Complicité and Théatre du Soleil.

She is a co-founder of Ishka Theatre Company in Dublin and PlayEnglish Theatre Company in Torino. She has performed in Physical Theatre performances on tour in Ireland, the UK, Italy, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Belgium and China: “Red Day” with Ishka Theatre company was presented at the Dublin Fringe Festival, The London Mime Festival and the Edinburgh Festival. In collaboration with Paola Valla she directed “Romeo and Giulietta” for Sinequanon Company, which toured extensively in Italy (Sardinia, Piedmonte and Aosta).

As a teacher she has led workshops and long term training modules in Torino (Atelier Teatro Fisico Philip Radice, Quinta Tinta Impro School, Columbus Cionema Acting School) as well as in Dublin (Down to Earth Theatre Company). In 2013 she was appointed as Pedagogical Assistant at the Ecole de Theatre Jacques Lecoq.

Sašo Vollmaier is a pianist, composer, performer and teacher. He graduated from the Academy of Music in Ljubljana (Slovenia) in 2008 – professor of piano. In 2005 he met PanTheatre (France). He joined the Slovenian avant-garde music group Laibach in 2007 – 2013 as a keyboard player. In 2013 he moved to France where he meets Viviane Gay, an actress with whom he started developing his presence on the stage as a performer trough his voice, movement and music. The voice work brought him to Malérargues (France) again where he started to give classes, collaborating with other voice teachers and giving the concerts and performances. In the same year he begins to direct the performance called “Generation”. This project allows him to meet the Roy Hart Theatre in terms of the power of the presence, fragility, expression, authenticity, curiosity…

Vollmaier teaches musical aspects, encourages the students to invent their own language, working on presence, voice and movement. In 2014 he started to collaborate with Susanne Weins – performance artist, giving the voice/movement workshops in Düsseldorf and creating their own theatre productions (Bewegte Oktaven, Fragile Breath, Melancholia,…) most of them directed by Sabine Seume. He works as a voice teacher mainly in France, Germany, Italy and Brazil.

“Electric Unicorn” is the name of electro-acoustic project created by three completely different personalities (I. Leitinger, L. Jamnik, S. Vollmaier) in 2013 with different musical backgrounds.

Vollmaier’s accomplishments include theatre and cartoon scores, choral arrangements, marching orchestras, big bands, playing as a studio musician (Laibach, Bratko Bibič, Silence, Funtango, radio/TV broadcastings,…)

Giorgio Rossi co-founded Sosta Palmizi in 1984, an association under which, in 30 years, have worked more than 400 dancers and performers. More than 30 productions, which have exceeded 1500 replicas, he has traveled around the world, thanks to the universality of the poetic art of movement.

David B. Carter is currently the Chair of the Theatre Department at the Mississippi University for Women. He teaches courses in Design, Stage Carpentry, Scene painting, Lighting, Makeup and Theatre History; as well as mentoring student designers.
He holds an MFA in Scene Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
In addition, Mr. Carter is a professional designer in scenery and lighting. Regional theatres he has worked for include New Stage in Jackson MS, Mill Mountain Playhouse in Roanoke VA and Lees-McCrae Summer Theatre in Banner Elk NC.
Recent design credits include Doubt, Lombardi, The 39 Steps, Boeing Boeing and Ragtime.
In addition, Mr. Carter has done workshop seminars for the Mississippi Theatre Association, the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, and written for The Yale Technical.

Born in the South of Germany Sabine Fichter studied Modern/ Contemporary dance in Duesseldorf, Berlin and at the European Dance Development Centre (EDDC) in Arnhem (Netherlands). For ten years she had been working as a dancer with companies such as Neuer Tanz, Frey Faust Dance Company, Telos Dance Company and Exis Dance. She has presented her own choreographic work in Germany, Brazil and Argentina.

In 1997 she was certified as a Movement Analyst (CMA) by the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies (LIMS, New York) and is now a guest teacher on the European CMA training. In 2004 she received her Master Degree in LMA and Somatic Studies from Surrey University, UK. Since then she has taught somatic based movement classes, composition and Laban Movement Analysis at London Metropolitan University, the University of Limerick, Ireland and the Palucca Dance University in Dresden, where she has also been a research associate for InnoLernenTanz, a project which investigates innovative teaching and learning strategies.

She has been working as a somatic practitioner/movement therapist with children and adolescents at the Psychiatric Department of the Carl Gustav Carus Hospital, Dresden, for the past 15 years. Her main focus in the therapeutic work is on body oriented therapy for patients with eating disorders.

Born in Lviv, Ukraine, Mariana Sadovska now lives in Cologne, Germany, and works throughout Europe and the USA performing, directing workshops, participating in theatre projects, composing music. Her work in music and theater has always been inspired by indigenous cultures. Her aspiration is to bridge the gap between ancient, traditional sounds and the contemporary.

She began her work with Les’ Kurbas Theater (Lviv, Ukraine) . There she was tapped for the “Slavic Pilgrim Project” by Jerzy Grotowski in Pontedera, Italy. Later that year, she was invited to join Theater Gardzienice where she worked for 10 years as an actor and music director. During that time, she began her exploration of indigenous music and cultures, with expeditions in the Ukraine, to Ireland, Egypt, Cuba, Brazil, Lapland and Afganistan. She has since organized many cultural exchanges between contemporary artists from Europe and the US with native singers from Ukraine.

In 2001, she moved to New York with a grant from Earth Foundation. There she worked as a music director with La Mama E.T.C.’s resident theater company, Yara Arts Group.
In the Spring of 2006 she was a Guest Musical Director for the Art Atelier Program curated by Toni Morrison at Princeton University. In 2008 Sadovska became a Fullbright scholar.

Creating her own innovative compositions and arrangements in dialogue with ancient traditions, Mariana Sadovska approaches each piece with a fresh and uniquely personal vision.

Pavel Stourac graduated in 1993 from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he studied stage design in the Department of Scenography, led by Professor Albert Prazak, Author’s Theatre under Professor Ivan Vyskočil, and Theatre Antropology under Dr. Jana Pilátová, Phd. Currently he is finishing his PhD studies in the Department of Theory and Practice at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

During his university studies he was an intern at the Odin Teatret, Denmark (1989), and at the Theatre Derevo, Russia (1990).
In 1992, together with his wife Helena Štouračová, he founded the independent theatre company Theatre Continuo.

He has written, perfromed and directed more than 30 theatre pieces and more than 15 site-specific theatre projects. From 2003 he has focused solely on directing and teaching.

His theatre activity as director is quite diverse. From puppet theatre to physical theatre, dance, clown, street theatre or new circus and site specific theatre projects in locations such as old factories, industrial areas, landscapes, or trains.

He has recieved many awards both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

Since 2005 he teaches regularly at various universities and theatre schools in Europe.

Thomas Kampe has worked with dance, theatre and movement for the last 30 years as performer, choreographer, director and educator. He has taught somatic approaches towards movement education and creative practice in different settings around the world. Throughout his career he has coordinated international transdisciplinary initiatives that bridge performing arts, health and education. He currently works at Bath Spa University as Senior Lecturer for Acting. Thomas trained as a visual artist in Kassel, Germany and studied dance at the Laban Centre and at Middlesex University in London where he worked for 13 years with Austrian Ausdruckstanz pioneer and Holocaust survivor Hilde Holger (1905-2011). International artistic collaborations have included artists Liz Aggiss, Laura Belem, Carol Brown, Hilde Holger, Rosemary Lee, Julia Pascal, Colin Poole, German media-arts company ‘Blackhole-Factory’, Tanzinitiative Hamburg and Proforma Dresden. He is a teacher of the Feldenkrais Method ® which forms a foundation for his teaching, research and artistic practice. His most recent publications on Somatics and criticality include the chapter ‘The Art of Making Choices: The Feldenkrais Method as a Soma-Critique’ (Triarchy Press 2015), and ‘Eros and Inquiry – The Feldenkrais Method as a Complex Resource (TDPT 2015). Thomas is currently co-editing journal volumes for JDSP and the International Feldenkrais Federation (IFF) Research Journal.

Stella Medvedeva is a teacher of Physical Acting and Movement for Theatre. She received her training as a Theatre Movement Teacher and Movement Director at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Ever since, she has been developing her teaching to suit the specific needs of the actors and physical theatre performers.

Her work combines her long study of the theatre arts and dramaturgy, her experience as a director in theatre, and her background in movement practices, that includes Movement Fundamentals, Laban Analysis, and Michael Chekhov. Primary themes in her teaching are movement analysis and movement characterization, methods that allow the actor to perceive, contextualize and realize their roles from a physical perspective, while her practice is informed by her ongoing research on the mechanisms of aesthetic creation and perception in theatre. Her teaching experience includes institutions as the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama; Drama Centre, Saint Martin’s College; and the City University of New York. Stella is currently a PhD candidate in European Theatre at the University of Edinburgh.

Hajo Schüler was born in Hammelburg, Unterfranken. Actor and mask designer. Studied mime and acting at the Folkwang Academy Essen. 1993 co-founder of Familie Flöz. Since then performer, author, mask designer and director of all Flöz productions to date. Hajo also works as choreographer and performer in engagements at the Teatro dell’ Opera Rome, Theater and Philarmonic Essen, Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Burgtheater Vienna, Schiller Theater NRW and the Frankfurt Opera. Since 1996 he held numerous seminars on the subject “mask/play.” In 2005 he was initiator and artistic director for the first international Folk Theater Festival “schön und gut” in Berlin. Since 2002 he is a lecturer for acting at Berlin’s College of Performing Arts.

Michael Vogel is an actor, director and mask designer. He studied acting and mime at the Folkwang Academy in Essen, Germany. He received a graduate scholarship for directing and the Folkwang Prize for theatre and dance.

Michael collaborated with Theater Stückwerk from 1989 – 1991, and since 1992 has directed and choreographed at Bochum Theater, Wuppertal Theater, Deutsches Theater Hamburg, and Theater Kohlenpott Herne. From 1996 – 1997, Michael taught at the University of Witten/Herdecke. In 1998 he directed, co-authored and performed in Familie Flöz’s productions Familie Flöz Reaches Daylight and Ristorante Immortale. Michael currently teaching at the University of Arts in Berlin. www.floez.net

Andrea Cavarra studied at the Scuola Internazionale dell’Attore Comico in Reggio Emilia where studied under Antonio Fava. After graduation, he worked at the school for three years. In 1998 he co-founded the company Teatrovivo where he worked for 6 years as an actor, assistant director, scenographer, mask-maker and theatre teacher. From 1999 to 2000 he was the Commedia dell’Arte consultant for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. In May 2001, he began studying leather mask construction under master mask-maker Stefano Petrocco and became his official assistant in February 2004, working for three years at the studio Pathè-Albatros in Montreuil, Paris directed by Carlo Boso.

Besides acting he currently works as a scenographer and mask-maker for many different companies including Teatro della Tosse – Genova, Teatro Stabile delle Marche – Ancona, Teatro del Butatto, Quelli di Grock and Scimmie Nude. In 2008 he constructed masks for “The Merchant of Venice” under the direction of Massimiliano Civica who also won the Ubu award for Best Director that year. In 2009 he was the scenographer for “Mistero Buffo” by Dario Fo under the direction of Paolo Rossi.

He is currently the President of Zorba Officine Creative, a popular theatre and theatre maker association. Under this initiative he created the Operativi Creativi Ansaldo project at the Officine Creative Ansaldo, an eight-year experiment during which a series of working art studios organize workshops, courses and seminars that are open to the public. One of the most important projects is the studiARTeatro, the first theatre school festival in Milan, created and directed by Andrea with fourteen different schools in participation including three from Milan proper.

In addition, he conceived La Sagra dell’OCA, a festival that brings together the culinary and artistic culture within the quartieri. He opened the l’Atelier del Teatro e delle Arti within the Arte Passante in the mezzanine of the Republic, which Andrea currently manages as well.

Matteo Lo Prete is a former gymnast of the Reale Società Ginnastica di Torino, Tecnico Nazione della Federazione Ginnastica d’Italia, he has claimed 22 italian titles as a coach in various categories (students, juniors and seniors). In the category International Juniors, his students have won a gold medal for Rings and a bronze for Bar (Juniors World Tournament – Tokyo 2005), gold medal for Rings (Europe – Prague 1994), 2 bronze medals for Bar and the Pommel Horse (Europe – Patrasso 2002) and participation as European Champions in Copenhagen (1996) and Lubiana (2004), as well as other various international gymnastic meets. In the International Seniors category his athletes participated in everything from the World Champions (2004 Haneim) to the Universals (Korea 2004) and other various international meets. In 2002 he founded the Scuola di circo FLIC of the Reale Società Ginnastica di Torino and has since been the Pedagogic Director. His has also been the sole organizer of all the events in which the school has participated since its inception 7 years ago. Including: “Un Circo per l’Estate” Milan 2005 (7 episodes in prime time on Rete 4 – Mediaset), “Capodanno Olimpico Torino 2005”, Closing Ceremony “Olympic Games Torino 2006”, presentation “Nuova FIAT 500” Torino 2007, “Notte Bianca” Roma 2007, Opening Ceremony “Rhythmic Gymnastics Europe” Torino 2008, and various contemporary circus productions from FLIC.