La MaMa Umbria International Gathering
La MaMa Umbria International announced today its largest gathering of world theatre artists who will teach workshops, lead facilitated retreats, create new works and direct productions in the Spoleto Festival. Programs focusing on Directing, Acting, Playwriting or Theatre-Making will come to life from mid-June to the end of August, 2015.
The 16th La MaMa Umbria International Symposium for Directors features directors Tina Landau (USA), Claudia Castellucci (Italy), Oh Tae Sook (Korea),Sergei Tcherkasski (Russia), Kok Heng Leun (Singapore), Brett Bailey (South Africa), Stephan Koplowitz (USA) and Mohammad Ghaffari (Iran) leading inter-active sessions which include “Site-Specific Theatre Directing,” “Interpretation of Shakespeare with Korean Methodology,” “Viewpoints for a New Generation,” “Directing Intercultural Work,” “Russian School of Directing: Action Analysis,” “Theatre Stripped to Its Elemental Core,” and “Disorienting the Audience.” The Symposium runs from June 27 – July 27, 2015.
The 9th Annual Playwright Retreat features facilitation by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the author of such provocative plays as the Obie-winning Best New American Play (2014) An Octoroon, currently running at Theatre for A New Audience in New York, Neighbors and Appropriate. He will be sharing his approach to theatricalizing complex ideas that frequently push the bounds of political correctness to inspire other playwrights toward boldness in their writing. The Playwright Retreat will take place from August 9-18, 2015.
The 5th Master Acting Workshops features renowned acting teacher Nicholas Wolcz, who will focus on “Mask and Identity”,  and two members of Tadeusz Kantor’s company, Cricot 2, sharing the performance process of this legendary company:Teresa Wełmińska and Andrzej Wełmiński. The Acting Workshops  begin July 29 and finish on August 7th.
La MaMa Umbria International is a non-profit cultural center and artist residence founded in 1990 by legendary theatre pioneer, Ellen Stewart. Dedicated to artistic experimentation, research, and learning, La MaMa Umbria is a place where artists from around the world meet to create, and to share work and ideas. Housed in a 700 year old monastery just outside Spoleto, Italy, the center is less than two hours from Rome.
In addition to the Symposium, Retreat and Workshops, each summer La MaMa Umbria hosts Residencies and preparation of performances at the La MaMa Spoleto Open Festival, which is the official Fringe Festival of the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds.
For more information: read more here  call (212) 620-0703.