HASARD ENSEMBLE
BARBE À PAPA TEATRO - The Company
Barbe à Papa Teatro is a cultural association founded in Palermo operating since 2018. It deals with theatre productions, education
and the development of cultural projects. Founded by: Chiara Buzzone, Federica D’Amore, Totò Galati, Roberta Giordano and Claudio Zappalà, who were joined by Nathan Tagliavini as technical director. The company has already produced shows such as Il coro di Babele (Babel's choir 2019), Mi ricordo (I remember 2020) and L’arte della resistenza (The art of resistance 2022). These three shows form the trilogy Generation Y.
Barbe à Papa Teatro is a travelling, independent group that has made nomadism its value and distinctive trait, as well as the origin of its artistic research. Rehearsals take place mainly in Palermo and Partinico, as well as in those places willing to offer an artistic residency space. The company aims to work exclusively on original dramaturgies that arise from experiential research.
Barbe à Papa Teatro’s productions are designed for an international audience and the scripts are translated into English and French.
Barbe à Papa Teatro debuted in Palermo with Il coro di Babele in March 2019, a show that won several national awards and participated in the 2022 and 2023 Avignon Off Festival. Mi ricordo debuted at the Teatro Libero in Palermo in 2020, having won the call “Per un teatro necessario” . The same production proceeded to win the Milan Off Fringe Festival in 2022. L’arte della resistenza debuted in Ferrara in 2022, as the winner of the call for residency “Chiamata OffIine 2021”. Between 2021 and 2022, the company trained with Hangar Piemonte in Business Management and Cultural Project Management, as a result of having won the ‘Start and Go’ call promoted by the City of Genoa and Teatro Pubblico Ligure.
The company also runs workshops for actresses and actors, and theatre labs for young people. Since 2020, it has been collaborating with the Partinico Solidale association, running educational events for children and adolescents. Since 2022, Barbe à Papa Teatro, in collaboration with Partinico Solidale, has been the Italian partner for ‘La Nomad House’ project, financed by Creative Europe (European Union). The project involves several European and North African countries and is led by the Belgian company Les Nouveaux Disparus.
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CLAUDIO ZAPPALÀ - Author, director and actor
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Claudio Zappalà is an actor, author and director. He was born in Catania in 1987. He attended the ITACA Academy – International Theatre of the Adriatic, and graduated from the Scuola dei Mestieri dello Spettacolo (Teatro Biondo in Palermo) where he studied with Emma Dante, Gabriele Vacis, Christian Di Domenico, Sandro Maria Campagna. As an actor he took part in plays directed by Emma Dante, ricci/forte, Armando Pugliese, Simone Luglio. In 2016 he debuted as an author with his first play Aspettando Antigone and won the first edition of the Cendic-Segesta award. The play was directed by Mauro Avogadro and has been issued by the publishing house Il Glifo, within the collection Aspettando Antigone e altri racconti. In 2018, he founded the Barbe à Papa Teatro company and debuted as a director and author in 2019 with the play Il coro di Babele, winner of the competitions run by Residenza Bellandi 2019 and Milano Off Fringe Festival 2019. As a playwright and director he also made Mi ricordo (2020), a co-production by Barbe à Papa Teatro and the Teatro Libero of Palermo. From 2017 to 2020 he worked as a tutor and coordinator at the Scuola dei Mestieri dello Spettacolo (Teatro Biondo in Palermo) and since 2019 he collaborates on the activities management at La Vicaria, home of the Compagnia Sud Costa Occidentale directed by Emma Dante. He also runs workshops for professional actors and he used to teach in Emma Dante’s classes Alfabetizzazione Teatrale. On top of that, he teaches classes at the Scuola Buio in Sala Acting School in Catania.