© Claudia Pajewski, La Balsamine
Lourdes
Emilia Verginelli tells the story of an experience – surprising in many ways – that marked her life: from the age of 18 to 28, she volunteered every year in Lourdes. For two years, the author collected testimonies, interviews, and tangible voices as a starting point to observe the Lourdes phenomenon in a clinical manner. The performance presented is a conversation, a series of dialogues that took place over time, not chronologically, but shifting from storytelling to memory, from memory to reflection, remaining in the present moment of the theatrical representation...
Credits
By and with Emilia Verginelli
With Ale Rilletti
Literary Advisor Sara De Simone
Soundscape Francesca Cuttica
Lighting Camila Chiozza
Production Bluemotion / Angelo Mai
Thanks to Roberta Luciani, Viola Lo Moro, Andrea Pizzalis, Naoures Rouissi, Filomena Fusco, Vincenzo Rilletti, Benedetto Patruno, Ubaldo, Gianni, Alessandro, Andrea Beghetto, Luisa Merloni, Elisa Alessandro, Elena Bastogi, Benedetta Boggio, Giorgina Pi, Lucia Calamaro
Translation by Brianda Carreras, Alexia Sarantopoulou, Elise Blotière, Tomasz Kireńczuk, Naoures Rouissi, Neon Loriga, Yan Duyvendak
LIS Interpretation Edgarda Samaritani
Artistic Meeting organized by FONDO Yan Duyvendak, Camille Louis, Ana Pi
Among the winners of the project ARUC 2022 Elsinor Centro di Produzione Teatrale / Teatro Cantiere Florida (Florence) + Cross residence (Ameno, Verbania) Residencies (2020-2023) Teatro India - Teatro di Roma (Rome), fivizzano27 (Rome), KRAKK (Santarcangelo di Romagna), Ateliersì (Bologna), Angelo Mai (Rome), Centrale Fies (Dro), AMAT and Teatri di Pesaro (Pesaro), Teatro Nuovo (Naples), Teatro Pubblico Pugliese (San Vito dei Normanni)
Project supported by the FONDO network for emerging creativity developed by Santarcangelo Festival with AMAT, Centrale Fies, ERT – Emilia Romagna Teatro Fondazione, Fabbrica Europa, I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, L'arboreto – Teatro Dimora | Centro di Residenza Emilia-Romagna, Operaestate Festival Veneto / CSC Centro per la Scena Contemporanea, Ravenna Teatro, Teatro Pubblico Campano, Teatro Pubblico Pugliese, TSU Teatro Stabile dell'Umbria, Triennale Milano Teatro
Lourdes is supported within the R.O.M. (Residencies On the Move) network as part of the Creative Europe program of the European Union.
Emilia Verginelli
Emilia Verginelli was born in Rome and grew up traveling. After studying in the United States, she lived between Ibiza, Paris, London, Milan, and Rome. She studied theater with figures such as Ragnar Freidank, Declan Donnellan, and Thomas Ostermeier, and also trained in dance with Julie Stanzak from the Pina Bausch Company and Gabriella Garrizo from the Peeping Tom Dance Company. Passionate about theater and social issues, she has been collaborating since 2000 with the theatrical workshop of the Don Guanella Institute for disabled youth. In 2003, she created a continuous theater workshop within group homes overseen by the juvenile courts of Rome. She is also the founder of the non-profit organization Gruppo Sorriso Roma, which engages show business professionals to work with children in various artistic disciplines.
In 2010, she founded Fivizzano27, an independent, self-managed artistic collective in Rome that serves as a platform for collaboration among theater professionals. This collective is a partner of the Inquiete festival, and Emilia has curated several festivals there, including Questa casa non è un Teatro and Scritture incursioni nel presente.
In film, Emilia has acted since 2004 in movies by Carlos Saura, Asia Argento, Paolo Virzì, Daniele Lucchetti, and in TV series such as Squadra Antimafia. She has also collaborated with Emma Dante’s theater company, notably in the creation of La bella Rosaspina addormentata, and toured with the play Bestie di Scena between 2017 and 2019.
In 2019, Emilia made her directorial debut with Il Mondo Cielo by Costanza Pannacci and became a finalist for the Scenario award with her play Io non sono nessuno. In 2023, she presented her show Lourdes at the Santarcangelo Festival, where she explored the question of individuality versus the collective in a documentary style.
Both of her shows are currently on tour.