Ecole des Maîtres 2025

AMIR REZA KOOHESTANI IS THE MASTER OF ECOLE 2025
International Touring Theatre Master class
XXXIII edition: 26 August – 3 October 2025
workshop: Daily Life as Performance: Crafting Narratives from Everyday Experiences
deadline of the call for participation: 22 April 2025   


project partners and art direction
CSS Teatro stabile di innovazione del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d’Europa (Italy), Théâtre de Liège - Théâtre d'Europe (CFWB / Belgium) with the collaboration of CREPA - Centre de Recherche et d'Expérimentation en Pédagogie Artistique, Teatro Nacional D. Maria II, TAGV - Teatro Académico de Gil Vicente (Portugal), Le Quai Centre Dramatique National Angers Pays de la Loire, Comédie, Centre dramatique national de Reims (France) 

with the support of MiC Ministero della cultura - Direzione Generale Spettacolo, Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia - Direzione centrale cultura e sport, Fondazione Friuli (Italy)
with the participation of ERPAC - Ente Regionale Patrimonio Culturale Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy), Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles - Service général de la Création artistique, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, La Loterie Nationale (CFWB/Belgium), Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (France), Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal)

The Ecole des Maîtres is an advanced theatre training project conceived by Franco Quadri in 1990.
The training objective of the Ecole des Maîtres is to initiate a relationship between young actresses and actors, trained at drama academies and theatre schools in Europe and already working as professionals, and renowned directors of the international scene, in order to give life to a work experience strongly aimed at comparing and exchanging skills on staging methods and practices, starting from different texts, languages and artistic languages, during itinerant ateliers.

The Iranian director and playwright Amir Reza Koohestani has been invited to lead the XXXIII Ecole des Maîtres.
His workshop is entitled Daily Life as Performance: Crafting Narratives from Everyday Experiences.
In this workshop, Amir Reza Koohestani invites participants to explore the performative potential of daily life. By transforming ordinary events into compelling dramatic narratives, the workshop emphasizes the power of personal experience as raw material for theatrical creation. Participants will reflect on their daily routines, environments, and interactions to uncover their dramatic possibilities.
A key part of the workshop focuses on journal entries written by participants, capturing the details of a single day. These journals, written in the first person and simple past tense, will serve as the foundation for creating narratives. To enrich their storytelling, participants are encouraged to bring a physical object connected to the day described in their journal—anything from a household item to a meaningful artifact.
The workshop process includes:
Journals as Monologues: Participants will share their journal entries as intimate monologues, fostering a connection between the storyteller and the group.
Developing Dramatic Texts: Through collaborative exercises, these personal narratives will be transformed into theatrical texts and performances.
Object-Based Storytelling: Objects brought by participants will help ground the narratives, adding a tangible and visual element to the storytelling process.
This workshop offers a unique approach to theater-making, encouraging participants to view their daily lives as an artistic canvas and to experiment with innovative forms of storytelling.

THE WORK STAGES OF THE XXXIII EDITION OF ECOLE DES MAÎTRES

The course will start in Liège on 26 August and will continue with work stages and public presentations in the different European venues of the project.
It will be in Lisbon from 31 August to 5 September, in Coimbra from 6 to 11 September, in Milan from 12 to 16 September, in Udine from 17 to 26 September and in Angers from 27 September to 3 October. 

This year there will be sixteen participants selected, four from each Ecole des Maîtres partner country, to which will be added some participants from the 2025 guest country, Slovenia, as part of the initiatives of the Region Friuli Venezia Giulia for Go!2025 Nova Gorica/Gorizia European Capital of Culture.
The group will be as diverse as possible in terms of gender, origin, culture.

HOW TO APPLY
Applications for the admission of Italian candidates to the selections of the Ecole des Maîtres must be received via the online form by 22 April 2025.   

Conditions and requirements to participate in the selections of the XXXIII edition of the Ecole des Maîtres 
- age between twenty-four and thirty-five;
- diploma from a school of dramatic arts of national importance or equivalent professional experience;
- at least two years' professional stage activity in addition to their work at the school;
- not having participated in previous editions of the Ecole des Maîtres. 

Four actors will be selected. Although everyone will be inclined to work in their own language, knowledge of English may facilitate communication in the group.

ONLINE FORM
Each applicant must submit his/her application using the appropriate online form at the link: bit.ly/BandoEcole2025

Following the relevant directions and instructions, each aspirant must submit a dossier comprising: 
- a completed application form complete with a declaration of commitment, in case of admission, to attend the course for its entire duration without interruption ;
- detailed professional curriculum vitae; 
- a letter of motivation in written form; 
- one close-up photo and one full-length photo in high definition and in jpeg format; 
- personal details and copy of an identity document.      
   
GENERAL RULES
Applications, together with attachments, must be submitted via the online application form by 22 April 2025. 
A confirmation e-mail from the system will attest the official receipt of the application. 
Your application will therefore only be deemed to have been sent if this confirmation has been received.

The pre-selection of candidates will be carried out on the basis of the documentation submitted; the Italian selection committee will invite some candidates for an audition to be held on 27 May in Milan.

For the audition, candidate actors are required to bring a monologue of a maximum duration of 10 minutes.  
Travelling and accommodation expenses at the pre-selection venue shall be borne by the candidate himself/herself.  
The 4 Italian candidates selected will be guaranteed free attendance of the course, hospitality (board and lodging in a double room) in the course venues and travel costs between the various venues.  


FOR ANY FURTHER INFORMATION
Secretariat Ecole des Maîtres - CSS Teatro stabile di innovazione del FVG
Lucia Turcati luciaturcati@cssudine.it
Elena Paravano elenaparavano@cssudine.it
telephone +39 0432 504765
lun-ven / 10-13 – 15-18
www.cssudine.it