Short Theatre 2025

A 10-day programme, with over 70 events and more than 35 companies, artistic projects and figures from different backgrounds in terms of geography (Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, the Philippines, Iran, Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as France, Switzerland and the Netherlands), age, language and professional history.

The international festival dedicated to contemporary creation and performing arts celebrates its twentieth edition this year. The new curatorial team (Silvia Bottiroli, Silvia Calderoni, Ilenia Caleo, Michele Di Stefano) confirmed the festival’s structural guidelines (transdisciplinarity, accessibility, internationality, roots in the territory) focusing even more on innovation and inaugurating new formats, such as spaces for words and thoughts, dramaturgical rooms that reveal the creative processes behind the work for the stage, creative spaces that can be traversed as live “film sets” and experimental residencies open to the public.

The core of the festival remains anchored to the spaces of the Mattatoio in Testaccio, which has hosted Short Theatre since 2010, and the Teatro India, where the festival was born. However, the 2025 edition also involves exceptional or unusual spaces in the city, such as the Palazzo dei Congressi in the EUR district and the Teatro Vittoria. Events include “A little bit of the moon” by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Rabih Mroué, premiering nationally on 8 and 9 September at the Teatro India; “U. (Un canto)”, the new production by Alessandro Sciarroni; “Le repos” by Clara Delorme, choreographer fellow in 2024-2025 at the Istituto Svizzero; “Whatever I am / let it be seen” by Giorgia Ohanesian Nardin; “Darkness Pic Nic” by the DOM- collective; “L’avvenire” by Ubu Prize winner Silvia Rampelli / Habillé d’eau; “We Came to Dance” by Ali Asghar Dashti & Nasim Ahmadpour; and “Analphabet” by Alberto Cortès.

Each day of the festival is enlivened by the sounds of DJs and musicians from the Roman scene, in a daily format dedicated to listening, Salon. New this year is the collaboration with No Name Radio, a digital radio station broadcast on RaiPlay Sound dedicated to the emerging music scene. The dialogue between visual artist Noura Tafeche and Short Theatre has given rise to the festival’s guiding image, consisting of a table crowded with figures taken from the internet and drawn by hand.

More information on the official website.