«Heraclitus, the greatest Greek thinker, says that the Logos is the eternal principle of multiplicity and its opposites, it is the reason for difference, the reason for differences. In Genesis the Logos is identified with the Word, the divine action that gave rise to our world. Logos is therefore the mystery that transpires in the multiple possibilities of life. We know we are lucky, we are privileged. We live in peace, serene, our problems, however important and tiring, can be faced and, thanks be to God, often overcome. This is not the case in the world next to ours, which is experiencing a frightening and somewhat singular historical moment: war, globalized terrorism, the tragic exodus of migrants to an incredulous and astonished Europe, the inability to know how to do, to know how to act. and above all to know how to understand. Understanding the other as ourselves. As at the beginning of everything, when we were made of the same material, "of the same material that dreams are made of" a great protagonist of this season would say: William Shakespeare. Theater is Logos, it is Word, it is Meaning, because it tries to give the world a hypothesis of meaning. In the unrest of the present times, returning to the Greek classics, asking them to help us understand the present seems more necessary than ever. The tragic Greeks and Latin philosophers had well identified the tremendous violence that the human being is able to develop, and had tried with the laws, with the Goddess Athena, to give answers, just as the primitive religions had tried, but everything this was not enough for man. Why? This is why I decided to imprint our productions and some hospitality on Tragic Writing: Ifigenia, Elettra, Medea will be the protagonists of many titles of the season. We will have two international co-productions: “Purgatorio” by Argentine Ariel Dorfman, with the exceptional interpretation of Laura Marinoni, modern Medea still struggling with herself between responsibility and forgiveness. “Iphigenia, liberata”, the first daughter in history sacrificed by a father, the leader Agamemnon, for ambition and profit. “Ifigenia” continues the fruitful collaboration between LuganoInScena, the LAC, and the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, which began brilliantly with “Gabbiano,” a show that enjoyed enormous success with audiences and critics during its months of touring. Other highlights of the focus will be "Elektra," directed by Ticino director Andrea Novicov and featuring an all-Italian cast; "Medea" by Elisabetta Pozzi; the powerful "Virgilio Brucia"; and the delicate "Human," written, directed, and starring Lella Costa and Marco Baliani, who chose the Aeneid (Virgil again!) and the myth of Hero and Leander to tell us about the tragic fate of Mediterranean refugees. We are working with passion for the territory and with the territory; vocation of a theater is to create work, professionalism, the possibility of success, artistic signs. Collaborations with Ticino cultural institutions are fundamental and LuganoInScena carries on with conviction the goal of building relationships and giving artists the right visibility. New this year is the fruitful collaboration with the Events and Congress Division of the City of Lugano and the Teatro Foce with the Home Festival, with local companies and artists who have distinguished themselves for their quality and courage: the Trickster-p company, Officina Orsi, Teatro d'Emergenza, the Azimut company, Il Cortile by Emanuele Santoro, V XX ZWEETZ by Alan Alpenfelt, and the artists Antonio Ballerio, Tatiana Winteler, Anahì Traversi, Igor Horvat, Simon Waldvogel (in his first directorial effort!), Camilla Parini, Cristina Zamboni, Zeno Gabaglio, Roberto Mucchiut, Andrea Novicov, Adele Raes and the talented choreographer and dancer Lorena Dozio, who is distinguishing herself on the national and international scene for her originality.
The collaboration with the International Theater Festival, directed by Paola Tripoli, an important review of the territory created to show the value of a strongly contemporary theater, continues and intensifies in a structural way. The festival billboard is beautiful and intense, of which at least the No99 shows must be remembered, for the first time in Switzerland. For the little ones and for a theater rightly created for children, our fruitful collaboration with Teatro Pan and its "Without Borders" festival and with the LAC edu program continues, allowing us to work closely with Ticino schools, from elementary to high school, creating programs and workshops suitable for young people and helping them become informed and curious spectators. The most important collaboration of the season, however, will be with the Federal Office of Culture. The City of Lugano and the whole of Ticino have been chosen, thanks to the important work that LuganoInScena and the LAC are doing at national level, to be the seat of the Swiss Meeting of Theaters, which will take place at the end of May 2017. Five days of performances from all over Switzerland and the evening of the Swiss Theater Awards, commissioned by the Federal Office of Culture and Pro Helvetia, which will award recognition to those artists who have stood out for their work and skills in the past theater season. It is truly an honor for us from Ticino to be able to host the Prize after the City of Geneva. This shows how visible our commitment is to the rest of Switzerland. We at LuganoInScena love to celebrate anniversaries; the Theatre is the Space of Memory. We could not therefore miss the pleasure of remembering the genius of William Shakespeare, 400 years after his death, with three events: “Macbeth” with Franco Branciaroli, the comedy “As You Like It” by the Teatro Stabile di Torino (hosted this year with the fabulous “Death of Danton”) and “Julius Caesar. Pezzi staccati”, by the international maestro Romeo Castellucci (a preview of Marco Müller’s Cinergia festival) who, together with Emma Dante and the great Swiss-German director Cristoph Marthaler, will compose another triptych, dedicated to the Great Masters of the Stage. As usual, LuganoInScena, in collaboration with the Swiss-Israel Association and the Federica Spitzer Foundation, has conceived and planned an entire day dedicated to the memory of the Shoah, through meetings in schools, video screenings, selections of publications in the LAC Shop, and a Holocaust Remembrance Concert, directed by Issak Tavior. The concert chosen is an opportunity for Lugano and for the LAC to have the ensemble invited the day before in Geneva by the UN to commemorate the day of remembrance. A focus will be entirely dedicated to the New Circus, an art that in recent years has attracted the attention of the world public, an art much loved by our public, who will have the pleasure of attending Familie Flöz's masterpiece, "Hotel Paradiso", at new work by the Canadian company Circa, with its acrobatic theater, and to the melancholy irony of the clowns of the Swiss Gardi Hutter. Another focus will be dedicated to the Comedy and Entertainment Theater with Renato Pozzetto, Giole Dix, Francesca Reggiani, I Legnanesi and many friends. The focus At present will instead deal with outlining a path on a contemporary dramaturgy, but which has within it signs of a new classicism, with the most interesting and loved names on the international scene: Deflorian / Tagliarini, Tindaro Granata, Fibre Parallele, Cuocolo / Bosetti and many others. Almost all of the review will be presented at the Teatro Foce, which is emerging as the space for research and innovation in the city. Given the success of musicals last year, this year we have decided to pay homage to the genre with three events. The first two will be made in collaboration with the National Theater of Milan, and presented exclusively for the City of Lugano, the musical for the family "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", directed by Chiara Noschese, and the beautiful “Footloose”, built on the 1984 cult film of the same name with the then very young Kevin Bacon. Finally, the international success of Riccardo Cocciante's masterpiece: “Notre Dame de Paris”. However, there will be many exceptional musical events: the "Stomp" finally in Lugano with two unforgettable evenings, Massimo Ranieri, Gino Paoli, Giovanni Allevi and Arisa. A truly unmissable billboard. The LAC introduced the Ticino public, and beyond, to the magical and exciting world of dance. This year's success leads us to believe that the LAC stage can aspire to be one of the most renowned venues for international modern and contemporary dance.
After the acclaimed collaboration with Virgilio Sieni, another international collaboration is looming to compose our co-productions, LuganoInScena will in fact co-produce the Ballet National de Marseille with the new creation of the great Emio Greco and will have performances of unparalleled quality on the bill: "Barbarians" by Hofesh Shechter (not to be missed!) and the new productions by Aterballetto. This year, however, we could not fail to bring the most important Swiss dance companies to Lugano, creating a real Swiss Dance Platform. With great emotion and privilege we will host the Ballett Zürich with an amazing repertoire, composed of choreographies by Forsythe, Van Manen and Godani, the visionary "Nutcracker" of the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and the Company of the Béjart Ballet of Lausanne, with the very famous " Boléro ”by Ravel. Finally, precisely because of its importance, the Compagnia Finzi Pasca, a resident company at the LAC, which returns with the exciting “La Verità”, and which presents its new creation: “For you”. Show that was born right at the LAC and that marks a new and important chapter of this surprising and magical theatrical company ».
