Alessandra Faienza is a professional italian mask maker. She holds a degree in Archeology in Padua, Italy.  Since she was a child she has had a passion for theatre and dance, which she studied and performed for fifteen years.  Through her first dance teacher she met the mask maker Donato Sartori, who became her mentor. After she finished her academic studies, she attended Sartori’s leather mask construction school and embarked on an apprenticeship at a mask lab in Milan. After only two years, she was ready to start her own professional activity as a mask maker. Since then, she has been working with actors and theatre companyies in Europe, North and South America. She is in constant search for shapes, materials and colors, working with the classic leather, the crazy latex, the fabric -with which she makes masks and wigs- and her beloved Worbla, a thermoplastic material on which she is experimenting. She also likes to explore the construction of simple mechanical puppets and wigs. See more of her work at www.alessandrafaienza.com.

Germanist, Choreographer, Director, Performer. Recently founded his international company: the Freies Tanz Ensemble. Former member of Tanzfabrik Company, co-initiated in 2000 the Sox36 in Berlin Kreuzberg. 2003 won the German dance prize for best solo. He gained important artistic experience with the composer K. Stockhausen at Leipzig Opera and working in NY in 2005. 2007 was resident choreographer at Palucca Schule/ Tanzplan Dresden. 2006-10 created 4 works for the mixed able Theater Thikwa. 2011-18 created 8 successful works directing Leipziger Tanztheater.

André Casaca is one of the most popular professionals of physical theatre and clown in Italy. He’s Brazilian and a resident of Italy since 1995. The Lume Teatro (Lume Theatre – Campinas, Brazil) and Yves Lebreton were fundamental to his preparation and formation. Actor, theatrical researcher, clown, director, and founder of the method called “Body Comic Identity”.  Engaged in theatre for more than 25 years, his artistic and pedagogic method is recognized in Italy and abroad in university theatrical studies. He is the artistic and pedagogic director at the Teatro C’art Comic Education Onlus (Castelfiorentino, Italy) and he collaborates with many theatre schools. www.teatrocart.com

Artur Gaspar was born in Yerevan, Armenia. Artur unintentionally found himself on a dancer’s path and how his journey started is quite endearing. It all began at the age of 6, when he accompanied his sister to an audition for a dance academy. In a strange twist of fate he was accepted. He had been spotted for his rough talent and suitable physique for ballet.  From early on, he realised that every step in the ballet world to greatness is a challenge. That ballet is not just about grace and form and fame, but also pain, sweat and tears. Regardless, his inexhaustible desire for perfection, love for his work and inner sense of beauty helped to overcome those difficulties. Ultimately being rewarded with recognition from the audience that induces further growth in his technique and became a catalyst for the further development as an artist.  Artur studied at the Yerevan Choreographic Special School, Yerevan, Armenia and the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, St Petersburg, Russia.  From 2003 to 2008 Artur danced at the State Moscow Classical Ballet N. Kasatkina and V. Vasilyov  From 2008 to 2010 he was the soloist at the Taras Shevchenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine,  In 2010 he was awarded the Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots, awarded by The President of Armenia, for significant achievements in Armenian culture and cultural cooperation with foreign countries.  Gaspar then went on to become one of the creators, key leaders and face of synth pop boy-band Kazaky. Kazaky, or as The New York Times coined them ‘Boys in Heels’, grew to be a phenomenal worldwide success due to the lithe movements that defy gravity in high heels and for confronting gender norms. Their fashionable signature stiletto performances and unique aesthetic quickly went viral on YouTube, being highlighted by numerous magazines around the world.  Artur lives in the Czech Republic, and he is a choreographer, visual artist, and sound producer & engineer.

Actress, dancer, cultural producer, singer-songwriter (under the name Altrove), choreographer, acting and movement for actors coach and theatre-dance teacher. Eclectic figure, who has filled his lack of roots within the theater place, understood as a multidisciplinary container, where identity can be created.

Benedetta holds a Master degree International Relations and Human Rights Defense from the University of Siena.  

She worked at the Immigration Office of the Arezzo Police Station as liaison with refugees being relocated in Arezzo.  She also volunteered at the ‘Casa Thevenin’ institution (women shelter’s) in Arezzo.  

Benedetta has worked at the Accademia since May, 2023.

Bob Banday Shryock is an educator, director, filmmaker, and theatre-maker, with an MFA in Physical Theatre from Accademia dell’Arte. At AdA, he oversees Screen Programs and Communications & Recruiting, and teaches topics in Screen Acting, Physical Storytelling, Screenwriting, and devising/actor-generated performance.  

As an educator, Bob is passionate about training tomorrow’s story-makers for the screen and stage and preparing them for sustainable careers in entertainment and performing arts.   

Originally from Manila, Philippines, Bob came to the US through foster care and adoption and grew up in small towns across the Southeast. Otherness and belonging, compassion and collaboration, and a robust harmony between rigor and play are foundational to his teaching, directing and leadership styles. His creative work often explores alone-ness, belonging, ideas of home, and peculiar connections between love and death. He is a big fan of fantasy, science fiction, gothic mystery, and any story that dares the reader/audience to imagine boldly & question playfully.  

Bob’s work has been seen in New York, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Italy, and beyond. In the San Francisco Bay Area, his production of GOLD: the Midas Musical received the Best World Premiere Musical award from Theatre Bay Area and he was a finalist in the Best Director category. He was nominated for Best Director by BroadwayWorld San Francisco for the same production. The short films that he wrote, directed, and produced have screened at festivals worldwide, from Los Angeles to New York, London and Tokyo.  

Prior to his current position, Bob served as Associate Professor and Program Director of the MFA Screen Acting program at the Los Angeles campus of Oklahoma City University, a dual-city (LA & London) and dual-degree (US MFA & UK MA) program offered in partnership with Goldsmiths, University of London. He previously held faculty positions at Academy of Art University (San Francisco) and Accademia dell'Arte (Arezzo, Italy), and he's taught workshops and masterclasses at over 40 colleges and universities around the US.

Dr. Budi Miller is an internationally acclaimed actor, director, and educator whose work transforms how performers train, heal, and connect. He is an UNESCO designated master teacher of mask work. With a career spanning three decades across continents, he blends performance and spiritual practice to unlock authentic presence and creative freedom.  A trailblazer in theatre education, Dr. Miller was the first Black Head of Acting at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, and now serves as Co-Artistic Director of The Theatre of Others and Director of Advanced Training at the Fitzmaurice Voice Institute.  He has coached award-winning performers including Michelle Williams, Jonathan Majors, and Julian Elijah Martinez, with credits spanning Broadway, HBO, Netflix, and international film.  Certified in Bioenergetic and Theta Healing, Dr. Miller’s holistic approach merges Balinese performance, Fitzmaurice Voicework, Chekhov, Clown, and Grotowski techniques to help actors embody truth through the union of mind, body, and spirit.  As the first African American ceremonial mask dancer of Bali, Dr. Miller’s artistry honors tradition while reimagining the future of global performance.

Caroline Boersma was born in Amsterdam and studied cello at the Amsterdam Conservatory, and has lived and worked in Italy since 1981. She has played in various chamber ensembles and orchestras and has an extensive discography, in particular with Tripla Concordia, an ensemble dedicated to  baroque music, that  she co-founded in 1989. She has toured with these ensembles in both Europe and Japan. As a musician and performer she has collaborated with Giovanni Pampiglioni, Pietro Bartolini, Lilo Bauer and recently Kevin Crawford. She has acted as musical  director, arranger and performer for Bartholomew Fair (Muhlenberg College) and Montee (performances in the US, France and Italy) directed by Kevin Crawford. She performed in Charlotte in Berkeley, California and, currently is collaborating as cellist on Zauber a new vision of Mozart’s Magic Flute with performances in Lasalle and at the Roy Hart Centre, France. Caroline teaches regularly for Furman University Study Abroad program (AdA, Arezzo), BECI (California)  and at Teatro Nunc in Castiglion Fiorentino (Italy). Her personal research has led her to investigate the intimate connection between the Cello as a stringed instrument and the human voice.  Photo: Saša Huzjak / SHtudio.eu

Chiara D’Anna is an Italian actor, director, lecturer and Commedia dell’Arte specialist. She teaches Movement on the MA Theatre Lab at RADA and works as Associate Lecturer at E15 Acting School, Goldsmiths University and Rose Bruford College in London. Chiara holds a BSc and MSc in Geology from the University of Turin, an MA in Physical Theatre from Royal Holloway University and a PhD in Performing Arts from London Metropolitan University. Her practice-led research on the legacy of Commedia dell’Arte in Post-Dramatic Theatre focusses on the centrality of the actor in devised performance. Chiara is co-founder of Natural You Dance, a movement meditation practice that draws on Yoga, dance, physical theatre and meditation. As Associate Artist of Alison Hodge’s research group ‘The Quick & the Dead’, she worked for over eight years in developing a new methodology for Actor Training known as the ‘Core Training’. The outcome of this research was documented by Peter Hulton for the Exeter Arts Archives and published by Routledge in the DVD-pamphlet: ‘Core Training For the Relational Actor’ (2013). As founding member and artistic director of the award-winning physical theatre company Panta Rei Theatre, Chiara’s mission is to inspire, challenge and entertain audiences with humour, irony and powerful imagery. Her productions integrate physical theatre, dark surreal comedy, storytelling and political satire. As a screen actress she is best known for her collaboration with writer and director Peter Strickland in Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy.

Riccardo, originally from the Philippines moved to Italy with his mother in 1990. He lived in Rome working as a jack-of-all-trades until he moved to Arezzo in 2003 where he worked as a Suez Chef. In 2004 in joined the Accademia dell’Arte in the capacity of cook, electrician and inventor. He quickly became one of the main pillars of the school. Riccardo remembers vividly seeing the very first students arrive at Villa Godiola.

Dory Rebekah Sibley (she/her) – mother, educator, original works artist, arts administrator – holds an MFA in Physical Theatre from the Accademia dell’Arte. Her original devised work has been featured in Berlin, Milan, Turin, Arezzo, Anghiari, Cortona, Genova and across the USA. She co-founded the physical theatre, mask troupe Tut’Zanni Theatre Company (@tutzanni) in 2011 with fellow ADA 2006 Alumna ALi Landvatter. Together, these six ADA Alumni collaborate with institutions and festivals to spread the challenges, joy and practice of modern day commedia dell’arte. Dory is also a founding member of the dark, feminist clown troupe Women From Mars (@WFMtheatre), whose “clown-noir” cabaret SILENT REFLECTIONS was created to incite dialogue around social issues that primarily oppress women. They recently won Outstanding Visual Impact at the National Women’s Theatre Festival in Raleigh, NC and their article Silent Reflections – A Clown-Noir Cabaret: Transformation of object and the feminist clown will be published in the SETC Theatre Symposium Journal by the University of Alabama Press.  Dory is the current Executive Director of the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. She has been teaching for over two decades and served as an administrator and member of core faculty at the Accademia for 15 years. She has worked tirelessly to develop and grow the Accademia from both an administrative and pedagogic standpoint creating and working in several roles since its beginnings. Dory founded the ADA Alumni Association in 2006 and continues to serve as their President.  Dory joined the Theatre Department at Coastal Carolina University as an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Affiliate Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies specializing in voice and speech, devising, and theatre for social change from 2020 – 2024. She is a certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and the Elemental Body Alignment System (EBAS). Dory is a pioneer teacher of Voice in the Mask, for which she has been invited by various institutions across the globe to share her research as a guest artist. As an arts administrator and educator, she is dedicated to holding space for diverse voices, encouraging people to embrace their unique voice, and fostering the expression of deep truth through the artist’s experience.

Echo Sunyata Sibley is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at West Texas A & M University and a certified teacher of the Miller Voice Method mVm. As an Actor, Singer, New Works Artist, Director and Educator she has presented or performed at various festivals and venues including the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, Crisis Art Festival, Lilith Culturale Festival, Festival Internazionale di Valle Christi, SETC, Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Jazz & Wine Festival in Cavi Borgo, Italy. She is a founding member of the international, feminist, clown-noir troupe, Women From Mars, whose show Silent Reflections toured Italy and the US. She taught Acting Techniques for Musical Theatre, Voice & Speech and Acting at Centro Formazione Artistica di Luca Bizzarri in Genova, Italy. As well, she was a Recording Artist, Voice & Acting Coach and the Translator for Orange Home Records in Leivi, Italy for over a decade. She was the Co-Assistant Director for the Voice & Speech Trainers Association VASTA Converging Pathways Conference in 2022. Currently Echo teaches Acting, Voice & Movement, Musical Theatre Repertoire, and Improvisation at WT. Her areas of interest and teaching expertise also include Devising, Creating One-Person Shows, Moment Work, Clown, Archetypal Movement and Physical Theatre. Her most recent creative projects include Co-Directing Alice By Heart and Co-authoring an article with her theatre troupe, Women from Mars, called “Silent Reflections – A Clown-Noir Cabaret: Transformation of object and the feminist clown” which has been published by the journal Theatre Symposium, Vol. 32.

Brazilian artist, clown, author, and theatre teacher dedicated to artistic, educational, and social projects. Specialised in participatory playing with spectator-participants in vulnerable and marginalised contexts across different cultures.

She has co-founded and collaborated with improvisational theatre, clowning, and circus groups in Brazil, performing in theatre productions, circus shows, and films.

Co-founder and director of the theatre company Teatro do Sopro. Partner at Teatro C’art Comic– Education Association, working as an actress, teacher, and coordinator of Una Bella Visita, a clowning project with people affected by dementia.

Graduated in Theatre Education from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO, Brazil) and trained as a Circus Artist at Picolino Circus Arts School, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. International advisor to Evolution Forward, a USA-based network dedicated to child-parent wellbeing.

Francesca Barbini  holds a law degree from the University of Florence; the focus of her thesis work was in labor law. In 2017 she passed the bar but chose not to be an attorney.  

Francesca has been working at the Accademia dell’Arte since 2015. She started as administrative assistant to the then Managing Director. 

Since 2021, Francesca is the Compliance and Operations Manager. She is best known among the Accademia dell’Arte students as the Visa Queen.

Gary Champi is a dance artist based in Southern California with a focus on building community and increasing access to dance for all bodies. As a performer, he has worked for many choreographers in San Francisco, New York, and Seattle, touring nationally and abroad since 2008. From 2011-2020, he worked for the Merce Cunningham Trust, performing in over 40 projects and assisting in staging repertory. He’s been authorized to teach Cunningham Technique® since 2021. His creative work ranges from concert dance, theatrical production, durational installations, screendance, and performance art. The work is informed by his varied training and has been presented in Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, New York, and Italy. His scholarship includes embodying historical dance works through performance and studying the commercialization of Hip Hop dance and its global presence. Gary is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Pomona College, with education from Stanford University and the University of Washington.

Headshot is attached. Photo credit: Photo: Luca Pearl Khosrova. Courtesy of Art Omi: Dance Showing 2025.

Giada started her dance formation at a young age in the south of Italy focusing on Horton, Graham, ballet, hip hop, and house dance. She started working with Eleina D.dance company at 20 years old. She then started her dance journey in Berlin, London, Israel, China, Rome, and Paris attending professional dance formations and workshops with several teachers and dance companies, among which: Hofesh, Batsheva, Rambert, Tavaziva, Kibbutz, Vocab, Protocol. In Berlin, she met the choreographer Alessio Trevisani who asked her to join his dance theater company in Leipzig and so she did. She then attended the dance journey program with the Kibbutz dance company in Israel where she had the opportunity to work with the dancers of the company among which was Olga Stetsyu. There is where she started creating and dancing new experimental choreographies. She then moved to China to study martial arts, kung fu shaolin with Shifu Shi Yan Jun, and then she won a scholarship to attend the international program at Vivo Ballet in Rome with Enzo Celli; the same year she danced with his company bringing “Fragile” at Quinzena de dança de Almada in Portugal. She danced on a music video for DJ Theo Parrish from Detroit and then for Garrett Shider from Pfunkadelic and for drag Queen Tia Kofi. She collaborated on dance films with Domenico Maffei, Benjamin Brooklain Sanou, and Michelangelo Visconti. She trained in Paris and Florence, working in dance residencies and choreographing for a pole dance company, training in pole dance, jam, and freestyle sessions focused on experimental creations, new ways of expressing herself, and collaborating with other artists. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Dance Practice and Performance from Roehampton University, London and she has many working experiences with several companies and choreographers among which Maxine Flasher-Duzgunez for which she just got invited for a residency in California, Enzo Celli, Elisabetta Minutoli, Alessio Trevisani, Georgia Tegou, just to name a few.

Gin is an award-winning Harvard University/Moscow Art Theatre graduate, most recently seen in POTUS at ACT Theatre and Blithe Spirit at Seattle Repertory Theatre in Seattle, Washington. Gin has been awarded National Endowment for the Arts grants for multiple plays, and her book, Returning the Bones, is a National Indies Excellence Finalist and a Gold Winning INDIES Book of the Year winner. She is also co-founder of the Meditations for Actors mobile app. Gin’s recent solo show, Living IncogNegro, will be released as a feature-length film in 2025.

Helena Fernandino holds a masters degree in cognitive linguistics. She started her dance training in her home country of Brazil and continued her education in Belo Horizonte and throughout Europe, including Germany, Belgium and Austria. She has been based in Germany since 2003 working as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. As a dancer and choreographer her work includes video dance, site-specific performance and interventions in public spaces. In 2013 she was awarded the graduate scholarship from the State of Saxony for the Artistic Masterclass at Palucca University for Dance Dresden, researching the interface between dance and cognitive linguistics, with a focus on contemporary dance for children and adolescents. In 2014 she began her training as a Somatic Movement Educator – Body Mind Centering – © BMC.

Ivan Truol is an actor, dancer, choreographer and teacher. He studied at the  Escuela de Teatro de la Universidad de Chile. He worked with  Sosta Palmizi, Corte Sconta, Adriana Borriello, Marco Baliani, Gigi Dall’Aglio, Giorgio Barberio Corsetti. He performed in Chile, Brasil, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, England, United States and Canada.    

In1997 he founded the Atacama company with Patrizia Cavola and they performed in theatres and international festivals in Italy, Germany, Spain, Belgium, France, Brazil and Poland.   

In 2009 he became artistic director of the La Scatola Dell’Arte in Rome.  

In 2010 he taught at the Instituto de Estudios Secundarios de la Universidad de Chile, in Santiago del Chile, Chile.   

In 2014 he was a member of the jury of the Premio MarteLive Danza.

In 2015 he worked in the movie, Per Amor Vostro directed by Giuseppe Gaudino and presented at the 72 Venice Film Festival.   

In Rome he taught at the Duncan 3.0, La Scatola dell’Arte, Accademia Internazionale di Arte Drammatica Teatro Quirino Vittorio Gassman, Q Academy Nuova Accademia Internazionale Arte Drammatica Teatro Quirinetta, and Accademia Arte Drammatica Cassiopea.   He teaches courses, seminars and masterclasses in dance academies and theatres in Italy and abroad.

Jon Kellam’s career spans over 35 years. He has worked throughout the US, Europe and the UK, as a theatre director, teaching artist, acting coach, writer, and performer. Jon developed, Superdrama™, a theatre training, devising, and performance technique. He co-founded and served as artistic director of Bämsemble Company (Italy), and is Co-Artistic Director of Drama and Performance along with Madeleine Dahm, of Blue Box Earth, an innovative transformable sculpture, gallery, and performance space (coming to Amsterdam in 2026).  Jon will be directing a one-act Opera IL PARNASUS CONFUSO (July 2024), composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck for OperaSeme in Arezzo, Italy, and is developing in part through a residency at Accademia Dell’Arte, an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s DIABOLIAD. Most recent work includes NOSFERATU produced by Casa Bit and Parco 5 at Teatro Juvarra in Torino, 2022. And touring in 2024-25. He directed,TOSKA, a work-in-progress/residency, at Teatro Di Villazzano in Trento, and performed at Teatro Vascello for the Roma Fringe Festival, 2021. Jon directed TARTUFO SUPERDRAMA™  for Atelier Teatro Fisico in Turin (September 2020), served as Associate-director for FENG CHA in Dusseldorf Germany (July 2020), co-director KAFKA’S MONKEY (August 2020), Palais Sommer Festival, Dresden Germany, director and co-writer, FATA MORGANA, A Hallucination From The Mad Sensational Life Of Nico, conceived and performed by Margherita Remotti – at the Chapel Playhouse, London, (2020), Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022, Milano, 2023, and Teatro Argot in Rome, 2023. Jon directed and co-created a free adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes classic interlude, El Retablo De Las Maravillas entitled SALT; THE MARVELOUS PUPPET SHOW, for Bämsemble Company, scripted by Francesco Botti. After a residency at Accadmeia Dell’ Arte and Cavellerizza, SALT was presented at Anti-teatro Fabio Chiesa, Viareggio; Spazio Seme, Arezzo; Teatro C’Art, Castel Fiorentino; Cavallerizza Reale, Torino; and Teatro Franco Parenti, Milano (December 2018  and June 2019).  Jon currently teaches acting, and storytelling at Accademia Dello Spettacolo, also at OFM, and teaches annually a Superdrama™ workshop at Atelier Teatro Fisico, in Torino, Italy. In January 2022, Jon served as the lead teacher of the 2021-22 Commedia dell’Arte block at Dell Arte International, in Blue Lake CA. The specific curriculum of the course initiates a symbiosis between SUPERDRAMA™ and COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE, establishing a contemporary approach. Jon frequently teaches independent Superdrama™ workshops, often collaborating with Ginevra Scaglia.

Originally from the US, where she graduated with a BA in German from Hendrix College '10, Julie now resides in Bologna. Julie has worked in the field of international education for over a decade developing and managing faculty-led programs, managing databases, and streamlining administrative processes. She completed her MA in Applied Linguistics and English language teaching from the University of Reading, UK. She has lived and worked internationally in Australia, Austria, China, Germany, the UK, and Italy.

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.

Photo coming soon!

Lucia holds a dual academic background with Master’s degrees in both Early Childhood Education and Business Administration. Her professional journey includes over a decade in the United States, where she dedicated herself to teaching Italian language and culture across various institutions, such as The City College of New York (CUNY), Seton Hall University, and Montclair State University.

Lucia’s teaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that language is inseparable from cultural competence. To her, mastering Italian requires a deep immersion into Italy’s social, historical, and cultural fabric. With extensive experience ranging from early childhood settings to university-level instruction, she brings a versatile and holistic approach to the classroom. Since Spring 2025, Lucia has been sharing her expertise as an Italian Instructor at the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo and at Rondine, Cittadella della Pace.

Maria Cerbasi was born in Torre del Greco, Naples. She graduated in Economics from the Università Tor Vergata in Rome.  

She volunteered for the Servizio Civile Nazionale taking part in a fair trade project with Oxfam. She also collaborated with an independent online newspaper, Die Brüche, for which she wrote several political and economic articles.  

Maria has worked at the  Accademia since 2012. She started as an Administrative Assistant. Over the years she has deepened her expertise of US Finance and Banking. Since 2021 Maria is Finance and Accounting Manager. She acts as secretary for the Board of Directors. Since 2022 Maria is also in charge of the Marketing & Social Media for the Accademia dell’Arte. She is an amateur photographer and out of her deep love for the environment, Maria develops ways to implement recycling and energy saving programs at the Accademia. She was also a member of the CrisisART Festival Collective.

Nhandan Chirco is a performer, director, teacher, and choreographer. Her work has been presented at numerous festivals and institutions throughout Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Germany, France and Austria. From ’94 to ’98 she was part of the artistic team at the Workcenter of Jerry Grotowski and Thomas Richards; afterwards she collaborated with directors Branko Popovic, Tomi Janezic and Zlatko Sviben. She worked as a performer and pedagogue with the choreographer Maja Delak, with contemporary dance company EN-KNAP in Ljubljana and collaborated in artistic creations with different choreographers.  Since ’99 she conducted numerous seminars collaborating with Universities of Urbino – Italy and of La Valletta – Malta and in numerous theatre institutions in Europe and beyond. In 2004 she taught the course Body and Voice Work in the post-graduate specialisation course Body Unlimited – University of Novi Sad, and she also taught the undergraduate course Body Work at the University of Osijek in Acting Department.  From 2009-2013 she developed the project STREAMLINE and the performances Quanta, More, Queens, and Hidden Sessions – from #00 to #14. She graduated in “Live Performing Arts” at DAMS in Bologna where in 2013 and 2014 she held theoretical lessons titled “On Live Creation.” In 2012 she launched the platform F.A.C.K. for the experimentation of new cultural and artistic modes of production. In 2014 she completed the artistic project ET L’EUROPE ALORS in collaboration with ZaLab filmmakers group.

Samuel Angus McGehee, originally from Boston, grew up in Tuscany where from a young age was engaged in music, street circus and philosophy. Sam studied clarinet performance with Igor Begelman and philosophy with Marina Vitkin at Sarah Lawrence College NYC. He also studied sitar with Rajesh Shah and philosophy with Shashank Srivastava at Benaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India. Sam holds an MFA in physical theatre from the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. Sam’s interdisciplinary approach has brought him to collaborate with a variety of people including painters, dancers, poets, musicians, actors, and researchers. So far Samuel has performed in Italy, Germany, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Switzerland and India; he has also taught in many of these places. Sam was original member of experimental rock band Sycamore Age (IT), and was member of physical theatre company Divadlo Continuo (CZ). He is founder of Broken Jump Theatre and experimental duo Zvukulàska; he also lectures on Indian philosophy at Florence University of the Arts. Sam continues to pursue a variety of collaborations with other artists; he is interested in poetry, composed theatre, experimental music and movement. Samuel has also always remained for better or worse a devout student of metaphysics.

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,…)

Taylor Hohman is a native son of Lexington, KY, where he grew up performing at Lexington Children’s Theatre. After completing a BA in Theatre Arts at Catawba College, North Carolina,, Taylor moved to Arezzo to study at the Accademia dell’Arte, receiving his MFA in Physical Theatre in the inaugural class of 2011. Taylor began training in stage combat with the Society of American Fight Directors in 2004 and became a Certified Teacher with the British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat in London, UK, in 2014. He has taught stage combat at the British National Stage Combat Workshop at Rose Bruford College, UK, The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK, ID Fight, UK, Simone Belli Stunt Academy, Italy, and Accademia dell’Arte, Italy.

Wagner Moreira was born in Brazil and has been living in Germany since 2003. As a teacher, freelance performer and choreographer, he has worked in various theatres, universities and international projects. In 2011, he was awarded a scholarship for the “International Choreographers Residency” at American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina-USA. In 2012 he received the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) award in professional choreography for his outstanding social and intercultural commitment. In 2012 he received a Master of Arts in Choreography. For the last six years, Wagner has extended his C.O.R.E project to several mixed-able-bodied projects in Europe.

Yo-EL Cassell, award winning choreographer, movement specialist and Head of/Assistant Professor at Boston University, has directed movement from the big screen to off-Broadway sensations. Cassell has choreographed and directed movement for Comedy of Errors, All’s Well That Ends Well, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Coriolanus, King Lear, Love Labours Lost, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night and Othello as Resident Choreographer for Commonwealth Shakespeare Company (CSC); Lilly’s Revenge for American Repertory Theatre; The Understudy and Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play for Lyric Stage Company of Boston; Sound of Music for Nantucket Dreamland Theatre; Kiss Me, Kate (featuring Kerry O’Malley and Marc Kudisch), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Boys from Syracuse, Symphonic Shakespeare, Footloose and Fancy Free (Movement Director/Curator), and Urban Sprawl for Boston Landmarks Orchestra/CSC; Violet for Suffulk University, Good Breeding for Emerson Stage, Sunlight Interior, Sweet and Sour, and The Distance Between for Walnut Hill School for the Arts; A Little Night Music, Alcina,and Orpheus in the Underworld for Boston Opera Collaborative; Sunlight Interior for San Antonio Repertory Ballet; Full-Noon Trill and Gravitate for Skidmore College; Die Fledermaus for New England Conservatory, and Laughs in Spanish(Intimacy work) for Boston Playwrights Theatre.  His previous teaching experience also includes the NY Acting School for Film and Television, Harvard University Dance Department, New England Conservatory, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Sunshine Cottage School For Deaf Children, Celebrity Series of Boston, Commonwealth Shakespeare Apprentice Academy, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Boston Ballet, Dance Complex, and Skidmore College, where he served as a guest teaching artist/choreographer in residence for three years.  In 2017, along with BU School of Theatre Director Jim Petosa, Yo-EL developed InMotion Theatre, an Initiative that highlights storytelling, either via an original work or an adaptation, primarily through the lens of many diverse approaches of movement, including design and music. He is also the artistic director and founder of Ensemble 360, a physical-theatre ensemble comprising male actors, dancers, and musicians whose mission is to highlight the importance of storytelling through movement. Cassell was born with a nerve deafness and discovered at the age of 3 that movement was his organic expressive channel for his personal and creative identity. His mission, as a performer, director, choreographer, movement director, educator, mentor, and human being, is to provide the same accessible physical entry point to other’s inner selves that he supportively received as a child and throughout life. He supports accessibility through movement practice in various communities throughout Boston and has served as Resident Choreographer for The Shadow Box Theater in NYC as well as Student Engagement Manager and creative producer for ArtsEmerson at Emerson College’s Office of the Arts. His teaching for movement practice, through a thoughtful fusion of various movement and theatre approaches, stresses the importance of incorporating personal identity with an integration of a strong technical foundation. Thus, balancing the importance of owning, in equal measure, the ecstatic and informative self in and outside the walls of movement study. Cassell is a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Association of Theatre Movement Educators (ATME).

Photo and biography coming soon!