The National Institute of Ancient Drama Foundation Onlus (INDA)
Since 1914 the National Institute of Ancient Drama (INDA), Foundation Onlus, has provided for the revival of the traditions of classical plays at the Greek Theatre Syracuse and through an opera of publications and academic research, has sought to promote the fundamentals of Greek-Roman thought. Only pausing once during the Second World War, the journey of this prestigious institute otherwise hasn’t stopped, though its institutional structure has changed over the course of time. In 1998 INDA changed from a being a public agency to a foundation which annually projects and organizes the Cycle of Classical Plays at the Greek Theatre Syracuse. The activity undergone by the institute over more than ninety years has aimed at enhancing classical culture, favoring the veritable birth of a “koinè” able to accommodate, under the banner of Ancient Theatre, new experiences and artistic sensibility. The Greek Theatre Syracuse in fact has been both a scenic place and an agora; a performance space and a place to collate multiple ideas and contributions: the translations of students of intellectuals such as Guido Paduano, Maria Grazia Ciani, Umberto Albini, Giovanni Cerri; versions of the dramas – in some cases true and real rewrites– by authors such as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Edoardo Sanguineti, Salvatore Quasimodo e Vincenzo Consolo; the work of directors come Irene Papas, Krzysztof Zanussi, Daniele Salvo, Giancarlo Cobelli, Franco Enriquez, Mario Martone, Massimo Castri, Orazio Costa, Egisto Marcucci, Antonio Calenda, Luca Ronconi, Peter Stein; the historical interpretations of artists such as Annibale Ninchi, Elena Zareschi, Vittorio Gassman, Valeria Moriconi, Salvo Randone, Glauco Mauri and more recently Elisabetta Pozzi, Lucilla Morlacchi, Giorgio Albertazzi, Galatea Ranzi, Roberto Herlitzka, Maurizio Donadoni or of young emerging actors such as Cristina Spina, Ilaria Genatiempo, Massimo Nicolini, Roberta Caronia. Carmelinda Gentile.
INDA on Tour: New Performance Space for Ancient Drama
Though it remains the primary home and font of inspiration, the work of INDA is not just limited to the Greek Theatre Syracuse. Since 1929 the competence of INDA has been more far reaching, encompassing Greek and Roman theatres (Segesta, Palazzolo, Acreide, Taormina, Tindari, Pompei, Tuscolo,Benevento, Gubbio, Fiesole, Luni, Trieste) and Archaeological parks on a nationwide level. It has also found performance space on some particular suggestive sites (Agrigento, Selinunte, Morgantina, Donnafugata, Paestum, Urbino, Malta, Athens). To highlight a few performances in particular, the mis-en-scene of Sophocles’ The Women of Trachis at Paestum in 2007, and the larger scale performance of the whole production of Aeschylus’ Oresteia in Paestum in July 2008 (which was performed during the XLIV Cycle of Ancient Drama). The latter of which was researched and planned by the Director Fernando Balestra as a synthesis and theatrical rewrite of Aeschylus’ trilogy ‘Canti e suoni dall Orestiade’ (Songs and Sounds from Oresteia) and “toured” through Middle and Secondary schools as part of the Prometheus Project, totaling 15 reruns and 10,400 spectators. During the 45th Cycle of Performances (2009), which was dedicated to the theme of the outsider, INDA went on tour with two dramas (Medea and Oedipus at Colonus) and a another travelling show, The Suppliants by Aeschylus.
The 2010 tour can be recognized as the pinnacle and result of an important journey. Received under a Grecian torch light, it was now Syracuse’s time to share the immense patrimony with its motherland Greece, the place in which “all” of it originated 2,500 years ago. As, in July 2010 INDA arrived on shores of Athens where, near the Centre of Theatrical Education directed by Irene Papas, the three dramas from the 46th Cycle of Classical Plays; Sophocles’ Ajax, Euripides’ Phaedra and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, were put on show. In addition, the centennial history of the Institute was “narrated” through an exhibition of documents, images, sketches and material which make up the precious archives of the Foundation. Furthermore, as every year, the tour also incorporated other important landmarks on its home turf such as The Valley of Temples in Agrigento and The Roman Theatre in Tuscolo.
INDA Educational
The Institute performs a constant academic activity and role. One of the most recent initiatives of the institute being the hosting of conventions at the Palazzo Greco which included talks on “Vendetta e Giustizia nell’Orestea (Revenge and Justice in Orestea); La Commedia romana: modelli, forme, ideologia, fortuna (Roman comedy: Models, Forms, Ideology and Fortune); Oreste alla sbarra. Dalla legge tribale alla civiltà giuridica (Orestes Before the Bar. Tribal Law in the Legal Civilization) (promoted by INDA Foundation, ISISC and the Association Friends of INDA); Pasolini poeta civile (Pasolini the Political Poet, promoted in synergy with the Fondazione (foundation) Banco di Sicilia) Greci Barbari, Migranti (Greek Barbarians and Migrants). Madness, it’s reasoning not only psychological but also cultural and social, was also the argument of prestigious Academics throughout the course of an International Convention. Le ragioni della follia. La vergogna e la colpa (The Reason Behind the Madness. The Shame and the Guilt) was organized by the INDA Foundation at the Hotel Molino Stucky in Venice on the 18th and 19th of March 2010. The first session on the 18th March, was dedicated to ancient dramaturgy with particular reference to the plays on show in the 46th Cycle of plays. Amongst the speakers were, Massimo Cacciari, Guido Paduano, Edoardo Sanguineti, Luciano Canfora, Ferruccio Bertini, Umberto Albini, Davide Susanetti, Giuseppe Fornari and Gianna Petrone. The information from the conventions was edited in the publication of the 2010 season and can be found online on INDA’s site www.indafondazione.org
The foundation is constantly occupied with the education of classical theatre. It works in partnership with Masters courses and provides students at University the possibility to deepen their knowledge of Greek theatre; it promotes workshops for secondary school institutions and dedicates initiatives to children in their first years. January 2010 saw the start of new courses at the Academy of the Art of Ancient Drama. The new institution was promoted by the Regione Sicilia deriving from a new act in December 2007 which aims at two primary objectives: to cultivate vocation and talent in a particular type of Theatre and to encourage students to fully appreciate the richness of the history of their city, which is in the greater interest of humanity. The courses offer different programs based on the age and the competence of the participants. Over the past few years the Foundation has notably reinforced its means of contact with and interest in its students, working to encourage three thousand participants in its International Youth Festival of Classical Theatre the season dedicated to the young participants which in 2011 will celebrate its 47th edition. The Festival involves students in the mise-en-scéne of Classic Greek-Roman works (or their reinterpretation) in the ancient Theatre Palazzo Acreide after almost a year of research, studies and trials. Formerly reserved exclusively to the students of Upper Secondary School, in 2005 the courses were also made available to the students of Theatre from University and, since 2008, to Middle school students. At the same time since 2009 lit the match to “I Fuochi del Progetto Prometeo” (the Fires of Project Prometheus), the start of a network between pilot schools which aims at becoming central to the promotion of classical culture in their local area. The Project Prometheus also brought about the plugging in of a specific online space, Il Forum Classico Dei Giovani (Classical Youth Forum). The Forum is the virtual space entirely dedicated by INDA to the young. It’s a real and proper online magazine which is completely written by the young participants giving them the opportunity, through articles and close inspection, to freely and creatively voice their contemporary experience and reflections of ancient Theatre.
Inside the Palazzo Greco, the historical site of National Institute of Ancient Drama Foundation Onlus (INDA), there is an area dedicated to the conservation of its patrimony; documentation, written and artistic, which is accessible on request to the students and academics who are involved in research of ancient Theatre and the Classical world. The Foundation’s patrimony constitutes an important resource for a study of the History of INDA, of the theatrical staging in the open air theatre, and of the important historical themes of the classical tradition, but also provides the base of a dialogue which instigates a reflection of the Ancient heritage in the contemporary world. For this reason the area of archives and the library work in close contact with the website www.indafondazione.org to promote and sustain the institutional activity and work that INDA dedicates to schools and the young.
INDA Foundation: The workshop of Ancient Drama
Since 2005 the Foundation has been busy in all aspects of the production of the shows. INDA is an organized body of staff who is made up of 400 people from actors, technicians to Specialized Academics. All of the scenes and costumes of the plays on show are exclusively realized in the costumes and scenography workshops at INDA. Every season the Classic performances generate an audience of over 150 thousand paying spectators. The aim of the Foundation is to be a cultural institute and business which holds highs the values and traditions of Classical Theatre; an objective which was realized last year with the success of the 46th Cycle of Classical Plays, and which INDA will once again demonstrate in the 2011 season with the staging of Andromache by Euripides, Philoctetes by Sophocles and The Clouds by Aristophanes at the Greek Theatre Syracuse.