“Enea in viaggio”, Liberi Nantes on stage with MigrArti

The "Enea in viaggio" (namely “Aeneas travelling” in English) project is an experiment of artistic and cultural intervention that uses the theatrical language as a vehicle of mutual knowledge in the suburban areas of Rome, where the relationship between the resident population and migrants is complicated.

6 professional actors and 13 young migrants aged between 18 and 30 years old are involved in the project.

The project, born and developed in 2017, explores the theme of travel by retracing and contextualizing the myth of Aeneas and includes three phases: a first stage, focused on training and preparatory exercises aimed at the team building as well as the mutual listening, the share of space and speech - using verbal and non-verbal language -, the experimentation of relations between bodies. The second phase is the workshop, with the preparation of the show to be staged, in the third phase the show is performed, and the project results are disseminated.

The story of Aeneas migrating and of the foundation of Rome becomes a tool to face some current issues and stimulates the reflection and the debate; what would you do if a fire devoured your home, your loved ones? If your city were wiped out from the war, how would you behave? Therefore, on stage, the story of Aeneas and those of the participants merge in the attempt to create a new shared present.

The show is brought to the street, in the suburbs of Tor Bella Monaca, Pietralata and Quarticciolo thanks to a "stagetruck". The format foresees a strong interaction between the spectators and the children on stage. At the end of the performance, the group, working on improvisation in relation to the specific urban context, offers musical and theatrical workshop moments involving adults, elderly people and children.

The “Enea in viaggio” project is financed by Bando MigrArti 2017 of the MiBACT (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, namely “Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities”) and is directed by Teatro di Roma in collaboration with Liberi Nantes, Fondazione Erri De Luca, associazione K_Alma, associazione Parsec, Associazione TiPiAttIVi, Comitato Collina di Pietralata, Italia che cambia, Cooperativa Sociale Eureka I and Cooperativa CivicoZero.