XVII EDITION

XVII EDITION

Despite the restrictions and difficulties once again imposed this year by the public health emergency, we were determined to bring our Festival back to the city. We believe that Opera Prima can offer an important opportunity to share art and culture collectively once more, while respecting the safety and health of the public, without giving up the possibility of creating a moment of celebration, community and encounter between artists and audiences in the here and now of the event.

During this long period of “resistance” affecting the entire community, we have conceived the Festival as a moment of “rebirth”, something towards which we must turn in order to begin thinking about and imagining the future. This idea of rebirth is reflected in the Festival’s image, once again inspired by tarot iconography, as in recent editions. Card XVII is The Star, symbolising hope for renewal and the expectation of a new dawn.

Opera Prima naturally confirms its role as a place for exploring and researching new languages of the stage, beginning with emerging young creativity. At the same time, it aims to be a space for encounter, exchange, dialogue and conflict between ideas, thoughts and practices. As in recent editions, the Festival also seeks to serve as a bridge between generations.

Several masters of the performing arts were invited to recommend a selection of names, from which the Festival chose one or more young artists. The Festival also launched an open call, which received more than 500 proposals from around the world. Five additional emerging companies were selected through this call.

This year, despite the difficulties, we were also determined not to give up the presence of international artists, which remains one of the defining features of our Festival.

The first part of Opera Prima offers important opportunities for encounter and reflection on both the history and the present of the theatrical scene, while the second part—the final four days—represents the heart of the Festival, with its many performances.

This year, for the first time, we are also turning our attention to childhood, with events focusing on or directly intended for younger audiences. We believe that a future can exist only by giving space and attention—too often denied in everyday life—to the youngest generations, who will inevitably inherit the legacy of this world. The possibility of change and genuine rebirth begins with them, with children. This, too, gives us adults many reasons for reflection and change.

In contrast to the sanctification of the market and the logic of capitalism, theatre reminds us that human existence does not consist in subjugating and taking possession, but in cultivating and caring for the world we inhabit.

As always, the Festival is dedicated to Martino Ferrari and Roberto Domeneghetti.

Martino Ferrari was one of the founders of Teatro del Lemming. He lost his life in a plane crash in October 1993 while flying over an archaeological site in Isernia in his capacity as a researcher at the University of Ferrara.

Roberto Domeneghetti was, until his untimely death in January 2003, one of the leading figures in the work of Lemming and in the conception and creation of the Festival itself.

They wrote about this edition:

R. BORGA | KLP - Da MOMEC alla Syria. Tra memoria e storia personale

L. DELFANTI | PAC - Opera Prima 2021: teatro nel segno delle stelle

M. D. PESCE | DRAMMA.IT - Festival Opera Prima 2021

V. SARDELLI | KLP - Tra ecologia e istanze sociali, la chiusura della XVII edizione del festival di Munaro

R. BORGA | KLP - Pippo di Marca: abbiamo preso il teatro e l'abbiamo girato a 360°. Intervista

ROVIGO IN DIRETTA - La storia del Lemming e la "tetralogia", in un libro

R. BORGA | KLP - La tetralogia del Lemming, manifesto di un credo teatrale

ROVIGO IN DIRETTA - Parte il Festival Opera Prima: "A che serve il teatro?"

V. SARDELLI | KLP - Opera prima 2021: il teatro come pharmakon tra infanzia, performance e temi civili

L. DELFANTI | PAC - Game Theory di Joshua Monten: si gioca al Festival Opera Prima!

F. MARCHIORI | A TEATRO - Per una ecologia dell multimedialità