Program:
Saturday, June27 - Acts I and II
Sunday, June28 - Acts III and IV
Monday, June29 - Acts I/IV

* Ticket holders for June 27 or 28 may go to the Central Box Office in Piazza della Libertà,10 (Spoleto) and purchase 1 ticket to attend the other part of the show at the special price of €10.00 . The offer is subject to to availability.
The buyer at the time of purchase must show the undamaged coupon to the box office staff.

With the 2009 edition of the Spoleto Festival, the important collaboration begun in 2008 with Luca Ronconi and the Santacristina Theater Center continues. which will present moments of its work at the Festival each year.
For 2009 Luca Ronconi will continue to working with a group of actors with whom he has shared years of research and training. Last year the focus was on five texts by Ibsen, this year Ronconi chooses to work on another great text: The Seagull by Anton Chekhov.

Among my plays there is only one Chekhov, "Three Sisters," moreover staged in a rather anomalous way. Why then return to this author? The first reason is, so to speak, structural: when we refer to to Elizabethan texts or to Goldoni, for example, we realize that the theatrical convention is so present in them that we do not even remotely pose the problem of verisimilitude, of authenticity. When, on the other hand, we confront nineteenth-century dramaturgy -- Ibsen and Chekhov, for example, but also much contemporary theater -- that is when the categories of credibility and verisimilitude seem inescapable. to me instead, from spectator, it seems that with the passage of years since the creation of those texts and characters, that kind of credibility has turned into a false convention without having anything original anymore. Today, in front to of a Chekhovian play, I cannot to believe in the efforts that are made to make it real, authentic: it seems to me completely chimerical to think of tracing human figures in it, real "as in life." Here to Spoleto I worked with actors on excerpts from from "The Seagull" without thinking about the performance of the text and without addressing them in the order in which they were written. Instead, I grouped them by themes, for example, by putting all the scenes in which Maša appears in a row, but without pretending to give the impression that "really" that summer day on Sorin's estate... Sorin no longer has his estate, and that world and society no longer exist. But then what is it about the Seagull that I want to highlight that makes it a "different" Seagull from the tradition? There is that all the characters are completely spoiled by theater or literature. In the Seagull that we present to Spoleto, I am therefore keen to emphasize the profound inauthenticity of the characters, who recognize themselves as such because of an identity that differentiates them from others: Kostja's identity lies in his differentiating himself from Trigorin, Nina's in imitating Arkadina, Maša's in inventing feelings in a fictional way... In this Seagull, in which I will be Dorn, the doctor, I will do something different from what I did last year with Ibsen. Nothing to to do with a lecture: wearing everyday clothes, we will be on stage with our parts to memory, but leaving room for improvisation albeit within certain rules. It is a pure experiment, which may perhaps make The Seagull appear cruder and "meaner" than we are used to expecting from a Chekhov text. Having to to do with the fragment will also allow the actors wide latitude: they will be able to realize that one thing can be done in a hundred different ways, but never arbitrarily. My task will be precisely to push them toward as much freedom as possible, making them understand, for example, that there is a huge difference between a person who is really unhappy in life because of love and a theatrical character who suffers because of love. The character is a literary function and, as such, does not have a passport to real life.
Luca Ronconi

The Santacristina Theater Center works from years on the Umbrian territory carrying out what, since its birth - in 2002 - has been one of its primary goals: to make a concrete and active contribution to theater through the professional training of actors. That is why in 2004 the First Advanced Course for Actors was born, in which 25 young people selected from about 600 applications received participated. In 2005 the Course was held thanks to the collaboration with the Teatro Stabile of Turin, while in 2006 it was held together with the University for Foreigners of Perugia. On the hills of Gubbio, in a silent place almost separated from the world, the Santacristina School welcomes young graduates from the best national schools or from the most diverse theatrical experiences. Teaching is set on the transmission of artistic experience and direct comparison between different generations. But the specificity of the School is given by the constant and irreplaceable presence of Ronconi, who from many years has seen in teaching and in the relationship with the new generations the possibility not to transmit his own working method, but to put the actor in the condition of knowing how to analyze a text and control his own expressiveness. Among those who have started their experience with Ronconi in recent years, many have found a follow-up to their careers, a result of which the Santacristina Association is particularly proud and which confirms the need to give young actors a concrete opportunity to enter the world of theater. Precisely in the line of continuity between school and stage, Ronconi - who in 2002, as the first activity of the Santacristina Theater Center produced the play Amor nello specchio by Andreini with student actors and with Mariangela Melato - in 2007 worked on the Odyssey and the figure of Ulysses, thanks to the joint action of Santacristina and the Municipal Theater of Ferrara. from this path of research gave birth to the plays Ithaca by Botho Strauss and L'antro delle ninfe from a dramaturgy by Emanuele Trevi, which represented a place of confrontation between actors different in training and generations. In 2008, in addition to to presenting the School's activities as part of Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Santacristina produced, on commission from the Teatro Cucinelli in Solomeo, the play Nel bosco degli spiriti from a project by Luca Ronconi, Cesare Mazzonis and Ludovico Einaudi. The collaboration with Spoleto, now in its second year, is thus the fruit of a well-established activity and has started a path that we hope to be able to continue, in agreement with the Festival's direction, in the future as well, presenting each year in the Umbrian city some moments of the research and training work that Ronconi shares from time with his actors. Last year, with the "open lessons," the director had focused on five Ibsen texts, bringing the audience inside a process of creation that normally remains closed within the walls of the rehearsal room. This year Ronconi has chosen to work on Anton Chekhov's The Seagull with a well-established group of actors: Elena Ghiaurov, Riccardo Bini, Francesca Ciocchetti and Stefano Moretti, performers in some of his most important plays, along with to Paolo Pierobon (among Nekrosius' actors in Anna Karenina), Pilar Perez Aspa and Marco Grossi, who have already shared the experience of the Santacristina School. to These are joined by youngsters Clio Cipolletta, Gabriele Falsetta and Andrea Luini who have just graduated from the Piccolo Teatro School in Milan.

Roberta Carlotto
President of the Santacristina Theater Center

Riccardo Bini
Born to Florence, he graduated from his city's Academy of Fine Arts. In 1978 he participated in the Theatre Design Workshop in Prato and in the play The Tower of von Hofmannsthal, directed by Luca Ronconi. Between 1978 and 1984 he attended the first year of the Accademia d'Arte Drammatica "Silvio d'Amico" in Rome and the Bottega dell'Attore directed from Vittorio Gassman. He works with Ugo Chiti, Elio De Capitani, Giancarlo Cobelli, Mario Martone, Piero Maccarinelli and Chérif. Since 1985 he has collaborated with Ronconi participating to many of his shows, among which he recalls Goldoni's La serva amorosa, Arno Holz's Ignorabimus (1986), O'Neill's Strange Interlude, von Hofmannsthal's L'uomo difficile (1990), Kraus's The Last Days of Mankind (1991), Shakespeare's Measure for Measure (1992), Capek's The Makropulos Affair (1993), towards "Peer Gynt" from Ibsen (1995), Hugo's Ruy Blas (1996), Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov (1998), Savinio's Alcesti di Samuele (1999), Calderon de la Barca's Life is a Dream (2000), Goldoni's The Venetian Twins, Bruno's Candelaio (2001), Aristophanes' Frogs (2002), John Ford's Too Bad She Was a Whore (2003), Andreini's The Centaur (2004), Schnitzler's Professor Bernhardi (2005), Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (2006), Goldoni's The Fan, Botho Strass's Ithaca, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Jean-Luc Lagarce's Just the End of the World.

Francesca Ciocchetti
Born to Rome, she won the "Lina Volonghi" National Award in 2000 and the "Virginia Reiter" Award in the 2007/2008 season. She graduated from the "Silvio D'Amico" National Academy of Dramatic Art in 2001 with Lysistrata by Aristophanes, directed by Mauro Avogadro. From 2001 to 2003 he collaborated with Mamadou Dioume (Peter Brook's actor) with the plays Scontro di negro contro cani and Taba-Taba by B. M. Koltès. Since 2003, he has collaborated with the Stabile di Torino on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Love's Labours Lost, with directions, respectively, by J.-C. Saïs, Mamadou Dioume, Dominique Pitoiset, Camus' The Plague, co-produced with Teatro de Gli Incamminati, directed by C. Longhi and Marat-Sade by P. Weiss, directed by W. Le Moli. In 2004, he obtained his specialization diploma at the Centro Teatrale Santa Cristina directed from Luca Ronconi with the play I beati anni del castigo by Fleur Jaggy and, in the following years, he acted in La mente from sola: mosaico di lettere, directed by Luca Ronconi, and Luca Ronconi: lezioni su testi di Ibsen for the Spoleto Festival. He participated to "Progetto Domani" for the 2006 Turin Olympics, in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida and in G. Ruffolo's Lo specchio del diavolo, also directed by Ronconi. Still directed from he starred in Goldoni's Il ventaglio (2007), Botho strass's Ithaca (2008), Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (2008), Jean-Luc Lagarce's Just the End of the World (2009). Also by Lagarce, he played I pretendants, directed by Carmelo Rifici.
He won the National Association of Italian Critics award for performances in the 2008/2009 season.

Clio Cipolletta
Born in 1985 to Naples, after her studies in her hometown and her first experiences in theater directed by Carlo Cerciello, she enrolled in the Piccolo Theatre School, graduating in 2008. At Piccolo she starred in Chekhov's The Seagull and The Cherry Orchard, directed by Enrico D'Amato, in Ruzante's Betìa, directed by Gianfranco de Bosio, in Futur...action to crepapelle, directed by Emanuele De Checchi, Goldoni's Gl'Innamorati, directed by Massimo De Francovich. Directed from Luca Ronconi she took part to William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the season just ended, she also starred in Darwin... in the Clouds, by Boschi/de Luca/Giorello, directed by Stefano de Luca, Il gatto con gli stivali-Una recita continuamente interrotta by Tieck/Tessitore, directed by Carmelo Rifici, and La bug di Majakovskij, directed by Serena Sinigaglia.

Gabriele Falsetta
Born to Genoa in 1982, he entered the Piccolo Theatre School in 2005, graduating in 2008. In addition to shows produced as a student, including the graduation essays Chekhov's The Seagull and Uncle Vanya, directed by Enrico D'Amato, and Futur...action to crepapelle directed by Emanuele De Checchi, he takes part in to Opera seria by Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Goldoni's The Fan, Botho Strauss's Ithaca and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, all directed by Luca Ronconi, as well as to Virgil's Bucoliche (Mantua Literature Festival) and Machiavelli's La Mandragola both directed by Gianfranco de Bosio. At the Piccolo Teatro he has also acted in Darwin... in the Clouds, by Boschi/de Luca/Giorello, directed by Stefano de Luca, Il gatto con gli stivali-Una recita continuamente interrotta, by Tieck/Tessitore, directed by Carmelo Rifici and Majakovsky's The Bug, directed by Serena Sinigaglia.

Elena Ghiaurov
After graduating from the Civica Scuola d'Arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi, in 1988 Elena Ghiaurov began her career as a stage actress alongside to Valeria Moriconi and Massimo De Francovich in Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra directed by Giancarlo Cobelli, director with whom she collaborated in the following years in Marguerite Yourcenar's Dialogue in the Swamp for the Benevento Festival (1990), Jean Cocteau's Parenti terribili with Rossella Falk and Marisa Fabbri, and Hugo von Hoffmansthal's Andreas or the Reunited (1991/92), Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (1992/93). In theater he has worked with important Italian directors including, besides to Cobelli, Glauco Mauri (Dostoevsky's The Idiot, 1992/93 and Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, 1994/95), Antonio Calenda (Shakespeare's Richard III, 1997/98), Massimo Castri (Yukio Mishima's Madame de Sade, 2001/02), Luigi Squarzina (Pirandello's La vita che ti diedi, 2003/04).
With Luca Ronconi he acted in the "Odyssey Double Return" Project (Ithaca by Botho Strauss and L'antro delle ninfe from Homer and Porphyry) and in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Directed from Carmelo Rifici, she starred in Jean-Luc Lagarce's The Pretenders and in Tieck/Tessitore's Puss in Boots-A Continually Interrupted Play. In 1998 she took part in the Taviani brothers' film Tu ridi alongside to Antonio Albanese, Sabrina Ferilli, Turi Ferro, and Luca Zingaretti.

Marco Grossi
Originally from Giulianova (Te), where he was born Aug. 5, 1977, he graduated from the "Silvio D'Amico" Academy in 2005. He collaborated with Teatro della Tosse for the shows Tramelogedia and Cammina, cammina, Pinocchio, directed by Tonino Conte. He worked with Franco Branciaroli in Edipo Re and with the Nuovo Teatro Nuovo for I Re. In 2007 he attended the Centro di Ricerche Teatrali Santa Cristina directed from Luca Ronconi and took part in some of his plays: Botho Strauss's Ithaca and L'antro delle ninfe from Homer and Porphyry. At the same time he debuts with Edipostanco, a personal project studying the mask. In the summer of 2008 he attended Ronconi's Lessons as part of the Spoleto Festival. In the season just ended, he worked at Piccolo Teatro in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Luca Ronconi, Jean-Luc Lagarce's The Pretenders and Tieck/Tessitore's Puss in Boots-A Continually Interrupted Play, both directed by Carmelo Rifici, Majakovsky's The Bug, directed by Serena Sinigaglia.

Andrea Luini
Born to Milan in 1983, after high school and violin studies he enrolled in the Piccolo Theatre School, graduating in 2008. In addition to shows produced by the school, including Ruzante's La Betìa, directed by Gianfranco de Bosio, Futur...action to crepapelle directed by Emanuele De Checchi, Chekhov's Three Sisters and Uncle Vanya, directed by Enrico D'Amato, he participates to Storie to mare! directed by Guido De Monticelli, Goldoni's Ventaglio and to Itaca by Botho Strauss both directed by Luca Ronconi, Goldoni's Gl'Innamorati, directed by Massimo De Francovich and Virgil's Bucoliche, directed by Gianfranco de Bosio, the latter for the Mantua Literature Festival.
In the Piccolo's 2008/2009 season, he starred in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Luca Ronconi, Darwin... in the Clouds, by Boschi/de Luca/Giorello, directed by Stefano de Luca, Puss in Boots-A Continually Interrupted Play by Tieck/Tessitore, directed by Carmelo Rifici and Majakovsky's The Bug, directed by Serena Sinigaglia.

Stefano Moretti
A pupil of Anna Bolens and Anna Marcelli from 1992 to 1997, he graduated from the Piccolo Teatro school in Milan in 2002; he later collaborated with Luca Ronconi's Centro Teatrale Santacristina from its foundation. He graduated in modern literature in 2005 and has been a doctoral scholar in Modern and Comparative Literatures and Cultures at the University of Turin since 2007. During and after school he takes part to several shows by Luca Ronconi, including Lolita, Candelaio, Amor nello specchio, Infinities, Peccato fosse puttana, La Centaura, Odissea doppio ritorno, and to Vaccària and Dialoghi di Angelo Beolco directed by Gianfranco De Bosio. At the Piccolo Teatro in Milan he is then in Brecht's Madre Coraggio directed by Robert Carsen, in Bibbiena's La Calandria directed by Marco Rampoldi on a project by Luca Ronconi and in La barca dei Comici, directed by Stefano de Luca; at Teatro Due in Parma he is in Shakespeare's Giulio Cesare directed by Tim Stark. He also took part in to Il partigiano Johnny directed from Guido Chiesa, to Il Bivio for Mediaset and in the radio drama series Racconto italiano for Radio Rai International directed by Carlo Rafele. In 2009 he is Socrates in Aristophanes' Clouds directed by Simone Toni.

Pilar Perez Aspa
Virginia Reiter National Critics' Award for Best Actress in Theater and Film 2005.
Nominated for the 2005 Ubu Awards for Best Supporting Actress.
Born to Zaragoza (Spain), she moved to Italy in 1992 after earning a Bachelor's Degree in Hispanic Philology and graduating from the Escuela de Teatro del Excmo. Aytmo de Zaragoza. In 1996 she graduated from the Paolo Grassi School of Dramatic Art in Milan. The same year she founded together to Serena Sinigaglia l´ATIR, a company with which she will do shows such as: Romeo and Juliet, Le baccanti, Where is the Wonderful life, Come un cammello in una gondaia, Il Che, Le Troiane, Rosa la rossa, Donne in parlamento, Buona notte Desdemona. She has worked among others with Luca Ronconi in La mente from sola: mosaico di lettere and Luca Ronconi: lezioni su testi di Ibsen for the Spoleto Festival, Peter Greenaway in Blue Planet, Dominique Untherner, Gabriele Vacis, Gigi Dall´Aglio, Armando Punzo, Fausto Russo Alesi. In 2005 she worked as assistant translator to Rodrigo Garcìa for the Ecole de maitre project.

Paolo Pierobon
Born to Castelfranco Veneto (TV), he graduated from the Civica Scuola d'Arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi in 1993. He worked from immediately with Egum Teatro and co-starred with Arturo Cirillo in the show Cave Canem, which won the Bartolucci Prize as best emerging group in 1999. In 2001 he is among the protagonists of Trilogy of Belgrade by Biljana Srbljanovic directed by Massimo Navone. With the group Aia Taumaustica he plays Hamlet vs Nijinsky show selected for the review Teatri 90 to curated by Antonio Calbi. In 2004 he won the prize of the National Association of Italian Critics for the plays Morte accidentale di un Anarchico by Dario Fo, directed by Elio De Capitani and Ferdinando Bruni and Finale di partita by Samuel Beckett directed by Lorenzo Loris.
For the role of Levin in Anna Karenina directed from Eimuntas Nekrosius he won the 2008 Ubu prize as best supporting actor. In cinema he recently participated in the film Vincere directed from Marco Bellocchio and was the male lead in Marina Spada's Come l'ombra, a film that won the Montpellier Critics' Prize in 2006.

‍