Welcome to the XV International Theatre Summer Academy 2025!
Artistic Direction: Dr Jurij Alschitz / International team of teachers
19 July – 3 August 2025 
Montecreto, Italy
Located in the Modena Apennines Regional Park, at the foot of Monte Cimone
in collaboration with Čajka Teatro d’Avanguardia Popolare – Teatro Oriens
The International Theatre Summer Academy in short |
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♣ Summertime in Italy – hot days in cool mountains |
self-preparation: your secret to success
Meet Jurij Alschitz and his International team of teachers
With its annual International Theatre Summer Academy, the World Theatre Training Institute offers a supplement to drama school programmes and therefore offers both students and professional theatre professionals a unique opportunity for personal advanced training.
The subject of self-preparation, which is closely related to self-education and ultimately self-creation, is the central tool for any successful person in today’s society, especially in the arts. Why is self-preparation still not taught at drama schools? The issue is largely neglected and is considered more of a “private matter”, which lends it a mysterious flair.
The International Theatre Summer Academy invites actors, directors, theatre pedagogues and drama teachers to intensively explore and learn the wide range of techniques and methods for self-preparation at the highest professional level.
For over 20 years, Jurij Alschitz has been developing various techniques and approaches on how actors can prepare for a role / play / project in a meaningful and independent way in order to be able to meet the director at eye level on the first day at rehearsal or on set. In times of collective and less hierarchical forms of work, the actor as creative artist and author of the role is increasingly coming to the fore. In times of short production periods, effective self-preparation is a question of artistic survival.
However, the same applies to directors: in order to work professionally with actors, you need perfect, all-encompassing preparation with a methodical toolkit. Only on this basis can the talent and fantasy of the director unfold. Theatre pedagogues and drama teachers ultimately need the same instruments for teaching, rehearsing and creating performances.
Apart from this, directors, theatre pedagogues and drama teachers get the unique chance to learn how to apply self-preparation methods in a meaningful way, but above all how to guide them. Dormant here is an incredible potential for the collective creative process that has hardly been discovered to date.
The two courses for Acting and Directing
of the XV International Theatre Summer Academy
will be led by Dr. Jurij Alschitz, Christine Schmalor and Riccardo Palmieri
The common starting point of the day
Joint Training
In the rehearsal room, in the open air, in the park or in the forest; the training is the decisive introduction to every topic, here we open up our system with all our senses. For the actors, the exercises serve as a basis for the practical research that follows. Directors and teachers can experience “training as a method” for themselves and get the necessary tools for their own teaching and rehearsal practice.
Course for Directors, Drama Teachers, Theatre Pedagogues and Playwrights
Course for Actors
In a flexible daily schedule, two courses will work separately, sometimes together on one common topic:
The story – about the power of imagination
With the wonderful summer story White Nights by F. Dostoyevsky, we want to discover the full potential of storytelling.
The good old tradition of storytelling is at the heart of our profession. You think you know all about it? Are you sure? You think the story is just the plot? Then you don’t need to come.
But if you understand that a story holds infinite dimensions and you want to open them up, if you want to explore the manifold forces, impacts and possibilities of expression, then you will be in the right place.
Just as actors approach a role on the basis of a story, directors must have their story clearly in mind before they begin. Storytelling is a rehearsal method, play development and ultimately the foundation of every theatre evening. This sounds obvious, but it is a great art to make fantasy blossom and flourish, to create worlds through imagination so that they find their way to our audience, where they in turn trigger multiple fantasies.
In both courses, we will explore the different principles of storytelling and try out numerous forms; in monologue, in dialogue, as an ensemble. We will immerse ourselves in the world of myths and visual languages and discover that we not only have the spoken word at our disposal, but also movement, sounds and so much more.
No story and no stage action can work without the inner image of the narrator. What does that mean in practical terms? Can I train the ability to imagine? Yes. And then there is another step: how do I arrive at my personal artistic image as an all-encompassing guide for my theatre?
Information
Language of tuition
English / Italian, on stage: mother tongue
Working hours
All day. Training, lectures, individual rehearsals, work presentations.
The Location
Montecreto is a small mountain village with natural charm, known for its unique chestnut forest right next to our Teatro Oriens. Montecreto is the perfect place to concentrate on yourself, experience nature and climb mountains in between lessons. Together, we will enjoy the Italian way of life, good food and friendly locals who welcome the artists every year.
Accommodation
We have arrangements with apartment houses close to the theatre space, where you can get shared spaces with integrated kitchen. We also collaborate with an agency renting holiday apartment.
We will arrange personally after your registration and connect interested participants as needed.
Application procedure
Please use the APPLICATION FORM
We will reply in a short time if your application is accepted.
To complete your registration, please transfer a registration fee of 150 € as the first instalment of the participant fee. Only after this payment, your place will be reserved and you will receive the preparation materials.
The registration fee is not refundable.
In case of cancellation, refunds are only possible, if you send a participant substituting your place.
Tuition fee
Acting course: 650 € as early bird only 550 € / as early early bird only 500 €
Directing course: 800 € as early bird only 700 € / as early early bird only 650 €
Those who register by 1 April 2025 will receive an early bird discount !
If you register by 1 February 2025, you will save another €50 !
For more information, don’t hesitate to call: +49 (0)30 – 612 87 274
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