Support to the Teatre Akadèmia de Barcelona

Project location: SPAIN, Barcelona
Project start date: August 2015 - Project end date: This project covers various years
Project number: 2015-003
Beneficiary: Associació Civil Teatre Akadèmia

Teatre Akadèmia is a theatrical production and exhibition project started in 2007 with the help and funding of the Elsa Peretti Foundation and its president, Elsa Peretti. 
It was managed by Eix49 SL. under the artistic direction of Mercè Managuerra until 2015. In December of the same year, the Associació Civil Teatre Akadèmia took over its management from the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation - Delegació a Catalunya.

The 2017-2018 season marks a turning point both in terms of the artistic direction of Teatre Akadèmia and towards the team that makes it up. Guido Torlonia takes over from Mercè Managuerra as Artistic Director; Meri Notario assumes the functions of Head of Production (which until June 2017 had been assumed by Jordi Robles) along with those of Management (which until August 2017 had been assumed by Cristina Giordana). Rubén Salinas replaces Gabriella Dilorenzo in Audience Management and Administration. Isabelle Bres joins the team, assuming the functions of Assistant to the Artistic Director and Silea Pio de Saboia as Community Manager. Also, Miriam Font as Head of Communication and Marketing. In 2019, Lluís Serra becomes Head Technician and continues as Room Technician. At the end of the 19-20 season, Enrique Vallejo retires and is replaced in September 2020 by Nuria Farrús, who performs the functions of Head of Room and Box Office. During the 20-21 season, Maria Serra joins the company as Production and Administration Assistant. Finally, in September 2021, Fernando Solla replaces Isabelle Bres as Assistant Artistic Director, also assuming the tasks of Press Officer (until then outsourced to the content and communication agency Còsmica) and Assistant to the President. Eladi Bosnastre takes over the tasks of Community Manager as of November 2021.

Teatre Akadèmia has become:

• Production and exhibition center of theatrical shows conceived with coherence, risk and artisan feeling, where the public can find creations with universal themes. Logistical and economic support to emerging or consolidated companies, mainly local.
• A driving core of related artistic projects, with the aim of vindicating the role of new technologies applied to the performing arts and investigating their inclusive and diverse relationship around the word, the body, gesture, music and movement. It welcomes companies on a residency basis (from one to two weeks) so that the artistic part is integrated with the technical and vice versa, to explore, discover and harmonize all the voices of those who build the show.
• A space for training, research and creation for professional actors and actresses guided by teachers and artists who help to deepen the excellence of the craft; where professionals can develop their goals while presenting their shows and exhibitions behind closed doors. 
• A place for meeting, reflection and debate where interaction and contrasting opinions help to nurture and strengthen the programming, as well as strengthen ties between people. Generate synergies and exchanges with other cultural entities to expand the possibilities of actions and dissemination of the performing arts.
• Dynamizing pilot programs in the field of social theater and rhetoric, dedicated to raising awareness and bringing the imagination to a wide range of audiences. Establish collaborative links between the city of Barcelona and other professionals, laboratories, companies, audiences and local and international artists.
This is summarized in the four axes of the theater:
• Coexistence of own productions, co-productions and external proposals.
• Consolidation of artistic and technical residencies.
• Link between the international small-format theater and the theater of the city
• Reformulation of the idea of image in the theater in the digital era.

The first phase of the project was carried out in October 2007 with multiple activities, many of them international: courses, exhibitions and workshops, theatrical laboratories, rehearsals and presentations of different companies. 
In 2010 the space was rehabilitated to turn it into a permanent theater exhibition hall, inaugurated with the premiere of "Electra" by Sophocles once the works were completed. 
The second phase, between 2010-12, involved the construction of the parking lot that prevented access to the hall. During this period, the conception of the website, the philosophy of the project, the lines of programming, the internal organization of the departments, the production of three productions premiered in other theaters in the city and, finally, the licensing of activities was obtained.  
The third phase, from 2012 to 2020, began with the definitive opening of the theater space, where the permanent training for professional actors with international teachers is continued, as well as the continuous exhibition of shows. 
At the request of Elsa Peretti and encouraged by her, from the beginning of the 2020/21 season and still immersed in the pandemic caused by the Covid-19, we are entering the fourth phase: structural and technological renovation project of the Teatre Akadèmia. It is a commitment to a new, more innovative artistic line, based on the desire to create a digital and courageous theater that brings us closer to new technologies, experimentation and above all to live the theater from this aspect. This comprehensive reform of infrastructure and technical equipment is consolidated during the 2021/22 season also affects the choice of programmed proposals and therefore the artistic vision of the theater's programmatic line. So until 2022/23, where more than 80% of the programmed proposals will include this vision in its dramatic structure. 

In total, to date, among many other activities, have been produced: 

42 own shows, 1 international co-production, 1 international show, 13 co-productions, 23 courses have been organized (some of which in collaboration with the AISGE Foundation) with international, national and local pedagogues, 29 resident companies have been supported, 68 shows of external companies have been programmed and 84 activities have been organized free to the public. The project has also included 1 digital theater video on YouTube, 2 editions of the Mikroteatro Festival, 2 cycles of theater, poetry and music (1 in Italian and 1 in French), various dramatized readings and literary evenings. 

The project has involved the collaboration of internationally renowned teachers such as Anatoli Vassiliev, Thomas Richards, Krystian Lupa, Andrés Lima; directors and pedagogues such as Dugald Bruce-Lockhart, Konrad Zschiedrich, Boris Rotenstein, Moisés Kaufman, Marco Calvany and Mario Gas. So that, as the press has published, Teatre Akadèmia, has not only been a project of a "precocious maturity" (J.A. Benach, El temps.cat, 05/10/14) but also an "idyllic second residence of European theater" (M. Izard, Butxaca, 03/05/2015).

It is worth noting, from a point of view of the general programming carried out, that the quality of the activities has placed Teatre Akadèmia as a point of reference within the theatrical map of the city. It can be affirmed that the professional world and the press recognize the line and value the risk and excellence of the proposals. 
In this sense, the Teatre Akadèmia is an unusual space for the configuration of its philosophy and programming and also for its proximity to the public. Here are some of the most important phrases, among many, that have been published lately about the programming and the Teatre Akadèmia.
As part of a complete infrastructure renovation encompassing new audio, video and lighting systems, Amate Audio was chosen to supply the loudspeakers, amplifiers and processors for a new audio installation at Barcelona's Teatre Akadèmia.
The sound designer, Roc Mateu, and Amate Audio's industrial designer, Guiu Llusá, effectively specified two different loudspeaker installations, working together within a matrix sound design but with different applications: an FC dialogue PA and a larger "contour system" of smaller cabinets around the perimeter of the auditorium.

MONDO DR - The International Publication for Technology in Entertainment, on theater refurbishment and technical equipment (January/February 2022, pages 40 to 41). 
The objective role of sound design in this scheme is to evolve beyond mere amplification to be a dynamic and illusory creative tool. The means to achieve this needed to be as seamless and unobtrusive as possible. With loudspeaker systems of this level of performance and compact form factor, it is possible, within a small studio theater, to provide the kind of sound design capabilities expected of a large commercial production.
LSi Online (04/19/22)
Teatre Akadèmia in Barcelona underwent a multimedia upgrade to improve the venue's technical production capacity, installing an Amate Audio sound system consisting of loudspeakers, power amplifiers and digital processors.
LSi Online, on the renovation and technical equipment of the theater (04/19/22)
The last tickets purchased that exceed 70% of the capacity will be returned to the venues that have not failed, as is the case of the Teatre Akadèmia, which recalls the investment they have made in air purification systems to ensure the safety of the public.
Magí Camps, Astrid Meseguer and Esteban Linés - La Vanguardia on the December 2021 capacity restrictions (12/22/21)
Actress Isabella Rossellini, who three years ago made her debut at Teatre Akadèmia (TAK) with 'Link Link Circus', will return on May 1 this season to coincide with the anniversary of the late Elsa Peretti (1940-2021), her friend and patron of this space with its own hallmark.
Marta Cervera - El Periódico, on the presentation of the 2021/22 season (09.27.21)
The performance of Darwin's Smile on Sunday was also a tribute: to the model, designer and patron Elsa Peretti, a great promoter of the Teatre Akadèmia, who died last year and who would have turned 82 that day, as Rosellini and the theater's director, Guido Torlonia, recalled. Peretti, Florentine, arrived in Barcelona in the early sixties and soon made a niche for herself as a model; adopted by the gauche divine and its photographers.
Sergio VilaSanjuán - La Vanguardia, on the event celebrating Elsa Peretti's birthday (05.05.22)
The actress is linked by a long friendship with the Barcelona venue - "which has brought me a lot of luck" - through its founder, the designer, philanthropist and conservationist Elsa Peretti (who died in 2021) and already presented at the Akdèmia in 2018 Link Link Circus, in which animals had a central role. The new appointment is as part of the theater's tribute to Peretti. "Who loved animals as much as I do," he stresses.
Jacinto Antón - El País, on Elsa Peretti's birthday celebration (04.29.22)
Now he is touring with Le sourire de Darwin, a monologue directed by Muriel Mayette-Holtz, which opens today at the Teatre Akadèmia - where he already offered Link Link Circus - just on the birthday of the patron of the space, Elsa Peretti, who is due in 2021.
Núria Navarro - El Periódico, on Elsa Peretti's birthday celebration (05.01.22)
The space, suggestive, evokes a solitary staircase and a rectangular volume that is transformed into a boat. The text is painted with the Claus, the greens and the greens projecting shadows, conveying muted views, as if bringing layers to a stark, austere text.
Jordi Bordes - Recomana, about Soc el vent (07.02.21)
Soc el vent has an undoubted merit: to discover Jon Fosse to our audiences, to bring us out of our ignorance about this giant of European dramaturgy who, one day or another, will be honored in Sweden.
Gabriel Sevilla - Recomana, about Soc el vent (09/30/21)
The scenery, simple, but very well studied, filled each scene with elements that the actors carried and brought with them. The lighting marked the change from scene to scene. It seemed as if we were watching a slide projection.
Alícia Nicolás - Espectáculos Bcn, about No em diguis reina (11.02.21)
Finally, I would like to highlight the work that the company Diversitat Teatral is doing in the Catalan theater. This company takes a step forward in the normalization and visibility of people with functional diversity in the performing arts. The show assigns the main roles to artists with these characteristics in a text that does not explicitly or implicitly address functional diversity as a theme. In this way, the development and integration of these artists in the scenic gear of our country is promoted. The piece regenerates the scenic language and bets for a real integrating model capable of including diversity in a natural way on stage. 
Norman Marsà - EnPlatea, about No em diguis reina (11.03.21)

The interpretations match very well because they have different registers: from the most eccentric of the ideal robot to the coolest of the Japanese couple and the most powerful and vital of the youngsters. The rap, yes (it was clear to Wasted, the ones from Íntims produccions), ends up being the most free song. The way to sclatar and to start the first sleep. Finally, fresh air, behind so many emoticons!
Jordi Bordes - Recomana, about Partícules Paral·leles (06.27.20)

Ivan Andrade, author and director, presents a play with a frenetic pace and without pause that jumps from story to story to show us what we have become and how it is affecting society. Drama, comedy and tragedy come together to give us a slap in the face that awakens us from a lethargy where we advance technologically but involute socially.
Norman Marsà - EnPlatea, about Partícules Paral·leles (11.24.21)

A magnificent video work (...), with an accurate illumination that seeks that we discover the black in the omnipresent red of the title and with a direction attentive to detail where the fluidity of the very tasty and intelligent text prevails. A great performance.
Santi Fondevila - Diari Ara, about Red (12.28.21)

With the projections on the walls and ceilings, it seems that the public enters into the strudi, smells pinzells and whiskey, breathes from the most desolate aria to the most vitalist jazz and feels the cold.
Jordi Bordes - El Punt Avui, about Red (12.27.21)

Teatre Akadèmia scores a success with the staging (...). Directed with exquisite strokes by Guido Torlonia. Lluís Soler deploys a range of wise expressive resources, as accurate as well measured when it comes to convey with forcefulness the irascible character of the artist (...) in a great final monologue in which Vilajosana is splendid.
Javier Pérez Senz - El País, about Red (01.14.22)

Soler incorporates with authority - as if not - the majestic and narcissistic figure of the painter (...) Vilajosana grows with his character until he convinces us that he possesses the dialectic strength to bring the giant to his own terrain. 
Juan Carlos Olivares - La Vanguardia, about Red (01.15.22)

A beautiful text by Albert Tola of indisputable poetic prose, which moves to reflection and leaves in the air eternal questions and very current reflections. 
Ferran Baile - Recomana, about El Palmeral (02.21.22)

A text that presents a dreamlike and poetic passage full of beauty where the word captures even the smallest detail.
Norman Marsà - EnPlatea, about El Palmeral (02.15.22)

Certainly, the work of all the interpreters is deep and they defend the characters very well from a convention, like someone who has told a story 1001 nights.
Jordi Bordes - Recomana, about El Palmeral (02.05.22)

A show to enjoy with a great text and good performances, and to reflect on the meaning of life and service to others for the sake of our survival as a species. 
Magí Camps - La Vanguardia, about Els nostres fills (03.22.22)

The interpretation of Maria Pau Pigem, Isabelle Bress and Albert Pérez contributes a lot.
Toni Polo - El País, about Els nostres fills (04.06.22)

The excellent directing work of Marta Gil is palpable in the movement, the look, the gesture and the energy of the performers. A work that touches us all very closely due to the current context and that, at the same time, allows us to take a breath of fresh air together.
Violeta Julbé - El Temps de les Arts, about Els nostres fills (03.26.22)

There is an interpretative work, led by a magnificent David Menéndez, of the highest exigency and brilliant ensemble results. There is also a powerful feeling of the ritual that catches the spectator.
Santi Fondevila - Diari Ara, about Eduard II (05.21.22)

Bernardi and his faithful nucleus of performers introduce us once again in a stage ritual that, for moments, can evoke that kind of total viscerality claimed by Jerzy Grotowski. The result, once again, is a proposal of great scenic power. 
Ramon Oliver - Recomana, about Eduard II (05.25.22)

Bernardi and his faithful core of performers introduce us one more policeman in a scenic ritual that, at times, can evoke the total viscerality claimed by Jerzy Grotowski. The result is a proposal of great scenic power. 
Oriol Osan - El Núvol, about Eduard II (05.19.22)

The staging is surprising with a high level of vision and movement, with metaphorical images such as those representing the figure of the actor who will later become the heir prince.
Magí Camps - La Vanguardia, about Eduard II (05.20.22)

This work is necessary because it forces to open the mental framework, to relativize the apriorisms. Honesty and direct thoughts.
Jordi Bordes - El Punt Avui, about Els àngels no tenen fills (06.19.22)

Two great performances, encased in two characters expressly designed by the performers. What luck for them. And what luck for us!
Martí Figueres - El Núvol, about Isadora a l’armari (07.01.22)

Oriol Guinart is an accomplished actor (...). The role fits him like a ring around his finger. The extravagance of a ball that evokes the waves of the sea with the wide and flowery bats are a trademark of the house. The counterpoint of Jordi Llordella is very good. 
Jordi Bordes - Recomana, about Isadora a l’armari (07.01.22)

Magnificent staging, Joana Martí's scenography, Mattia Russo's hypnotic lighting and a good taste of sound space by Ramon Creus Guiu (Milu) turn the small stage of the Teatre Akadèmia into a world full of possibilities. Outstanding, tender and captivating Oriol Guinart, in what is surely one of the best roles he has ever played. Impossible to take his eyes off the stage in any of his dualities. Jordi Llordella also cajoles the audience, especially in his most comic vein.
Elisa Díez - Recomana, about Isadora a l’armari (07.02.22)

As part of the Grec Festival of Barcelona, this initiative will bring you to different theaters of the city a total of 18 unpublished proposals that will not only tell you fascinating stories but with them you will also be able to know firsthand how the shows are configured in their first stages. Teatre Akadèmia, l'Antic Teatre, La Badabadoc, Sala Fènix, Sala Flyhard, El Maldà, El Tantarantana, Teatre Eòlia and Sala Versus Glòries are the participating theaters where you can see plays such as 'Solar' by Mos Maiorum, 'Holocaust' by Queralt Riera, 'La Chispa' by Marc Angelet, 'Axaxaxas Miö' by Xavi Morató or 'El temps de les coses' by Martí Costa Oliveres, among many other plays.
TimeOut, about Nous Horitzons (06.29.22)

The first call for stage proposals made by Teatres de Proximitat has led TAK to develop "Nous Horitzons", a biennial project that will serve to promote new dramaturgy and young performers. The casting will begin shortly to choose six performers between 18 and 23 years old -who have participated in a professional project at the most- to create a young company. This season they will be in charge of the dramatized reading of unpublished texts by Xavi Morató, Marc Angelet and Mikel Fernandino. Their mission will be to bring one of them to the stage next season 2022-23.
Marta Cervera - El Periódico, about Nous Horitzons (27.09.21)
After the most atypical, strange and hard season (probably) of its history, theaters are already preparing the second most atypical, strange and hard season (probably) of its history (...). 
Toni Polo - El País on the 2020-21 Season - 19.08.2020
How can trust be restored and loss of confidence be avoided? 
"It is not a question of closing theaters, but of modernizing them and opening them to new horizons, always keeping in mind that safety and health must never be put into question. I have already taken the first step and for the current season of the Teatre Akadèmia, in agreement with the artistic director, Guido Torlonia, I have gathered my team to explain to them that I felt the duty to propose an important change, a new timetable. We have rethought the stalls, enlarging them to 100 spectators, we will modify the lights and the audio system, and we want to explore new multimedia technologies, which in my opinion are the future of the main essence of theater: a theater as a place of visions, as in the Greek theater. My point of departure to get out of this rabbit hole is exactly that: to feel free, strong and safe to return to the theater".
Statement by Elsa Peretti in the interview by Gemma Busquets - El Punt Avui about the 2020-21 Season - 09/11/2020