The new A.Y. 2019-2020, as recounted in the video, began with the show entitled "Beyond the Wall" directed by Silvia Marcotullio, presented in October '19 at the Teatro Eliseo. A co-production of the Accademia Internazionale di Teatro with the Teatro Eliseo that involved young actors who graduated from AIT and three professional actors. The show opened the '19-'20 Season of the Piccolo Teatro Eliseo. The journey continued with the Winter Festival, December ’19, at the Teatro Anfitrione where the concluding works of the trimester of study of the different academic classes were presented: 1° Year with a work on Tragedy, 2nd Year on Commedia dell'Arte and 3rd Year with a work on the themes of Theatre of the Absurd, from Ionesco to Monty Pyton via Brecht, Pinter, Perec and Durrenmatt. Then "the world stopped", and again to quote our video, we tried with great difficulty and effort not to lose contact, reducing distances through online lessons, transforming our homes into creative spaces, pursuing an academic programme both theoretical (use of the voice, history of music, theatre pedagogy, textual analysis, organisation and disciplines) che pratico (movement techniques, mime and pantomime, danced poetic sequences). Then we moved on to the creation of experimental works: radio dramas, webseries, film monologues, highlighting a work little explored in the Academy: the relationship between acting and the technical medium; we talked about editing techniques from audio to video, lighting, framing, starting from the basics of photography, applying cinematography principles to smartphones, turning the limitations of quarantine into opportunities. Then the lockdown ended. Lessons were transformed from distance into presence: small groups of learners, application of the rules of physical distancing, working in open spaces that made it possible to pursue educational paths that had been violently interrupted. Now our goal is to reopen on 1 September with the resumption of pedagogical and spectacular activities, the first sees the conclusion of the A.Y. 2019-2020 and the opening of the A.Y. 2020-2021, the second, also brutally interrupted, provides for the organisation of the the Autumn Festival '20 which will be divided into two Theatre Festivals: one en plain air in the Park of San Gregorio al Celio the Academy's historical seat from 1 to 4 October, the other at the Teatro Anfitrione from 5 to 11 October. So finally... we're starting again!!!

During the lockdown period, 3rd Year students tackled the online study of “industry organisation and disciplines' and "stage regulations”. Subsequently, given the increasing demand in the film, television and theatre industry for actors to film a video audition to send to agents, we produced a different number of selftapes. Starting with the basics of photography and the use of light, we explored its application with 'homemade' methods, applying principles of cinematography to smartphones, using video editing programmes (rush), taking care of framing, the scene with objects and details that are also homemade, studying camera position and visual storytelling. This basic study was the prerequisite for tackling a complex genre with many facets: Radiodrama. Alongside scriptwriting and directing, there was work on audio editing techniques using the "audacyti" and "audition" programmes and post-production work on music and sound effects. Seven final works: “Dracula” loosely inspired by Bram Stoker's novel with Granguignol atmospheres reminiscent of Coppola and Herzog's films, “The Mystery of Marie Roget” loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name, “A Christmas Carol” a gothic tale inspired by Dickens' tale of the same name, two famous fairy tales, “Hansel and Gretel” and “'The Three Little Pigs'”, “Alice's Nightmare” freely adapted from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and finally a free adaptation of Macbeth entitled “The scottish play”. Also during the quarantine, two other challenging tasks took place: the writing of dissertations and a purely interpretative study on film monologues. With regard to the theses, each student, once they had decided on the topic, was assisted by a supervisor who supervised the writing of the thesis. At this point in the course, having acquired greater acting skills, given the particular condition of studying at a distance, and continuing with the in-depth study of the aforementioned techniques, the work on the film monologue reached its culmination. Many choices were made: il monologo della “Marquise de Merteuil” monologue from Stephen Frears' The Dangerous Liaisons, “Sitting Bull” from Yves Simoneau's The Last Redskin, “Arthur Fleck” from Todd Phillips' The Joker, ”Blanche” " from Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire, “John Milton” from Taylor Hackford's The Devil's Advocate, “Miranda” from David Finerman's The Devil Wears Prada, “Salvatore Vitale” from Marco Tullio Giordana's The Hundred Steps, “The Lover” from Jean Cocteau's The Beautiful Indifferent One, “John Wilmot” from Laurence Jeffreys' The Libertine, “Valerie” from James Mc Teigue's V for Vendetta, “Jep Gambardella” from Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty, and finally “The Jewish Wife” from Bertolt Brecht's Terror and Misery of the Third Reich. Then the lockdown ends; we resume face-to-face teaching by tackling the last study topic of Year 3: farce and comedy. Finally, discussion of the Academic Diploma theses. Three days in presence in front of an Examination Committee composed of internal lecturers, external lecturers, actors, directors and event organisers.

During the lockdown, 2nd Year students tackled an online study of various subjects. We started with didactics on Textual Analysise, then in a rather experimental manner we worked on the movement techniques of Mime and Pantomime, then the theoretical subject of History of Music was tackled. For the subject Acting, acting on camera, webseries were produced trying to address the possibility of coexistence between social networks, acting and the domestic world. Social media have immediate fruition times and therefore the plots, the topics must be short and recognisable, the rhythm engaging. Plots are developed both horizontally and vertically: in the former case, each episode must have its own unfolding and ending, while in the latter, future plot developments must be hypothesised through plots. The didactics continued with the theoretical study of Theatre Pedagogy, a subject rooted in the innovations brought by the greatest directors-pedagogues of the 20th century, and continued with practical work where the student conceives and manages a real theatre lesson composed of both vocal and physical training. Then the lockdown ends and finally the open-air spaces of the Park of San Gregorio al Celio open up, becoming a gymnasium for interpretative study in presence on Shakespeare's dialogues and monologues, combined with the construction of movement sequences, or movement phrases linked to the Shakespearian environment.

During the lockdown, the 1st year students tackled the interpretative study of Cechov through dialogues and monologues taken from The Seagull; then in an experimental manner, trying to understand how to make the students dialogue through digital platforms such as zoom, we carried on the study of mime and pantomime techniques, the study of the use of voice and diction. Subsequently, it was time for very in-depth work on the history of make-up and theatrical costume divided into two phases: the first theoretical phase where the students, divided into thematic research groups, developed their moodboards for costumes and face-charts for make-up, and then each one individually, and with limited tools given the condition of home isolation, conceived their own costume and related make-up. The last phase of this period was the study of poetic recitation (from Apollinaire to Hikmet, from Neruda to Eluard, from Rilke to A'isha Arnaut, from Tzara to Darwish) and sequences of poems in movement.