It has just concluded Cambiamenti di Rotta – CCTA 2023, an initiative carried out on September 24 and conceived by actor-director and cultural entrepreneur Giovanni Morassutti, the Italian contact person for the worldwide festival Climate Change Theatre Action, which since 2015 has involved thousands of artists in every part of the world.
In this year’s edition, Morassutti wanted to pay tribute to the Alberoni Dune Oasis managed by WWF Venice and Territory in collaboration with the City of Venice as a symbol of biodiversity, and Venice as a fragile city at risk due to climate change.
More than thirty artists and researchers were involved, including art designer Massimo Clemente, climate change expert Paolo Faiola, young artist Letizia Artioli founder of Venice Climate Change Pavillion, the Venetian Research and Innovation District, CNR researcher Warren Cairns, and many others.
On a beautiful Sunday morning in Venice, the artists arrived on electric boats provided by AQA, Venice’s only 100% electric boat rental company and one of the technical sponsors of the initiative. During the journey through the canals, Sabina Tutone of Shylock Centro Teatrale Universitario di Venezia coordinated a performance from the text Beginnings by Andrea Ling.
Reaching Alberoni Paolo Perlasca and Jacopo Capuzzo of WWF Venice and Territory introduced the audience to the biodiversity and activities of the Oasis, and in the pine forest Emotion for Change played fragments of their latest record Ipermare while Paolo Faiola illustrated his climate clock as well as presented a monologue he wrote entitled Pianeta Terra o Pianeta 424?
The centerpiece of the event was the staging of Mirror Mirror written by Camila Le-Bert and directed by Giovanni Morassutti, also director of the event as a whole.
In addition to the main actors such as Marco Stizza, Giovanni Boldrin, Donatella Cipolato and Lavinia Busetto, Morassutti also involved Extinction Rebellion activists and WWF volunteers in the performance to represent a sort of Greek chorus arranged on the beach in a circle to delimit the stage space.
The Alberoni Beach was transformed for the duration of the performance into a dreamlike setting thanks in part to the participation of the Red Rebel Brigade, which the director integrated organically within the show, and Lianet Camara, a researcher of Peruvian origin, symbolizing the indigenous culture of the Andes who surprised the audience in a mystical moment thanks to the ice ritual inspired by the Quyllurit’i pilgrimage recognized by Unesco as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity and threatened by climate change.
The performance also intrigued the people who were on the beach including several children who joined the audience to witness the emotionally impactful performance that concluded with the involvement of the audience who together with the performers and activists headed to the sea in honor of nature and its truth and beauty.
“I am satisfied with the realization of Mirror Mirror and the entire event as a whole,” Morassutti says, “everything came true exactly as I had imagined it, Cambiamenti di Rotta- CCTA 2023 was a dream come true ” and adds ” in staging the text I was inspired by my experience with Ellen Stewart, founder of La Mama theater in New York especially in her experimental approach and understanding of theater as ritual.“
In the afternoon, at the Macondo kiosk, popular speeches by experts and above all an exchange between the various partners that said Bianca Nardon of Shylock C.U.T represented an important opportunity for dialogue and exchange between the various realities involved The sponsorship of Bortoli Assicurazioni and the insurance coverage of Generali Agenzia di San Marco made possible Cambiamenti di Rotta – CCTA 2023 sponsored by the City of Venice, and the company IGreen gadgets finally provided portable ashtrays to raise awareness about the importance of not throwing cigarette butts on the beach.
ART AIA - CREATIVES IN RESIDENCE 