Connections project

The Connections project, in collaboration with the National Theatre of London where it was born about twenty years ago, was created to involve teens from 14 to 19 years old with the contemporary drama, written for young people.
In the five previous editions it has developed significantly; nowadays Connections is one of the most important and well-known project of theatre for young people in Italy.

The acquisition of a defined identity within the territory has strengthened the particular features of the project and made it grows with new goals.
The new frontiers of Connections not only regard an internal development and a structural adjustment, but mainly an evolution in terms of a relation with the  world.
The project is part of an international network, International Connections, which involves besides Connections at National Theatre of London and at Teatro Litta of Milano, also Den Unge Scenen at Det Norske Teatret of Olslo_Norway, Panos at Culturgest of Lisbona_Portugal, Conexões in Sao Paulo_Brasil, Conections at the Crooked House_ Ireland and Intercity Connections at Teatro della Limonaia, Sesto Fiorentino_Italy.
Focus on:

• To become benchmark for
  • Scholastic Institutions
  • Public Organizations
• To sustain "equal opportunities”
• To create high quality opportunities
• To develop the contemporary drama, written for young people
• To promote a critical approach to the reality
  • inside the group and among different cultures
  • among the participants to the project (teachers, directors, young people, families)
• To guarantee support and visibility at Institutes’ work through an integrated educational activity that increase a strong linking in the territory.

Every year, the project lasts eleven months and involves more than 35 schools of Milan and surroundings; 1000 students undertake the study of the plays available in the Connections Portfolio, that actually counts 40 plays;  and other 4000 young people attend at all the performances.
The project starts at the end of October with the first meeting with the schools in which are presented the project and all the new plays.
In May and June a Teatro Litta’s Commission views  all the performances in their home venues  and chooses some plays for the Connections Festival in October.
Teatro Litta offers the plays written by Italian authors, the translations of English plays, the theatrical directors who work with the groups, the rehearsal in the theatre before the festival, the technicians for the performance, and all the technical material basis for the going on stage.

Since 2007, Teatro Litta has been commissioning established Italian playwrights to write new plays: the only proviso is that teenagers will be performing them. Whether through comedy, tragedy or thriller, physical theatre etc. these plays inspire debate and stimulate teenage minds. We believe that writing for young players is very encouraging for the authors, who have an opportunity to respond to a reality very different from the usual, as audience and as interpreters.
The commissioning and development of the plays deliberately reflect the process of a professional new-writing theatre.
Connections unites some of the most important and significant contemporary playwrights with the talent and experience of youth theatre groups. The potent combination of acclaimed writer with young actor is as heady as ever. Playwrights are the heart of theatre and young actors are its future.

In 2010 five new plays – two written by Italian authors and three translated from the English NT Portfolio – have been added to the Connections’ Portfolio: “In-equilibrio” by Tommaso Urselli, a story about dreams and the contemporary society;  “Non c’è rosa senza spine” a text written by five students of the second-year dramaturgy course of the Foundation Scuole Civiche Paolo Grassi; and the translations of “A vampire story” by Moira Buffini, “DNA” by  Dennis Kelly and “Chatroom” by Enda Walsh.
The Festival in Milan proposes meetings with Italian and foreign authors, meetings with journalists, workshops (in Italian and English language), the Osservatorio, debates, forum, etc, a dedicated website a Facebook group - Festival Connection-Teatro Litta – a party event and the realization of a dvd.

The occasion of comparison for the young actors and in particular with the Italian and European partners gives them a moment of real and tangible recognition of their hard work during the year.