A 7-day immersive theatre residency in the hills of Umbria (Italy), open to actors and complete beginners. A shared living experience combining theatre practice, human connection, and time in nature. This is not just a theatre workshop. It is a one-week immersive experience where participants live together, work together, and explore theatre as a tool for presence, connection, and awareness. The work is inspired by Waiting for Godot, but the focus is not on performance alone — it is on the human experience behind it. Each day includes: • physical and vocal training • improvisation and group exercises • relational work and listening practices • collective creation Living together is an essential part of the process. Meals, conversations, and daily life become part of the experience. During the week, students will write texts and monologues in a participatory dramaturgy, which will ultimately culminate in a performance performed by them. The residency takes place in the Umbrian countryside, offering a quiet and natural environment that supports focus and openness. WHO IT’S FOR • actors and performers • theatre students • complete beginners • anyone looking for a meaningful and creative experience No previous experience is required. The residency takes place in the Umbrian countryside, offering a quiet and natural environment that supports focus and openness. What do you do while you wait? Not for a bus, not for a meeting — but for the permission to finally move, to finally become, to finally be yourself? This is the question at the heart of the 17th edition of the Assisi Summer Residency, organised by Io Non Parlo Sono Parlato. For one week in August, up to 16 participants gather in the ancient hills of Umbria to work through one of theatre's most enduring masterpieces — Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot — using the unique lens of Transactional Theatre. The retreat does not promise a resolution. It offers something rarer: a Threshold. That point where the path is not yet finished, but something has already opened. You are no longer entirely inside, and not yet outside. This is the posture the week invites you to inhabit — and to embody on stage. The Concept — From the Labyrinth to the Threshold This year's residency grows out of the 2025​/​2026 Training Hall's exploration of the labyrinth as an existential space: not a puzzle to be solved, but a territory to be inhabited — a place of forced paths, dead ends, and mental maps that no longer hold. The labyrinth, when truly lived, eventually yields something. Not necessarily an exit. Something more subtle: a Threshold. Vladimir and Estragon are not inside the labyrinth, nor outside it. They are on the road — a permanent threshold. They wait. And that waiting is the purest form of threshold theatre has ever staged. Godot is not an answer. In Transactional Analysis terms, Godot is the script — the decision made by someone else, long ago, that keeps us frozen, waiting for permission that may never come. But it is also the protective pattern that carried us to where we are now. "Sometimes I feel it coming all the same. Then I go all queer. How shall I say? Relieved and at the same time... terrified." — Vladimir, Act I

Website Link

https://www.iononparlo.com/portfolio/aspettando-godot/

What's Included

• Accommodation - Breakfast and dinner • Welcome drink • Daily meditation classes • Transportation during the retreat • Group excursions​/​activities • Professional event photos • Parking

What to Bring

Bring comfortable clothing, a swimsuit for the pool, sneakers, and a yoga​/​meditation mat. And plenty of peace!

Leader Bio

Igor Loddo Actor, director, corporate trainer, storyteller and Transactional Analysis counsellor, Igor Loddo is the creator of Transactional Theatre and the founding artistic director of Io Non Parlo Sono Parlato. Trained at the Quelli di Grock theatre school in Milan and a former member of Patrice Chéreau's Italian acting company (Tristan und Isolde, Teatro alla Scala world premiere, 2007; De la maison des morts, Milan, Berlin, Paris), he has developed a unique methodology that bridges theatrical embodiment and psychological frameworks. He is completing his three-year Transactional Analysis counselling practicum at Centro Berne, Milan. His corporate clients include Allianz, BlackRock, Fondazione Feltrinelli, Novo Nordisk and Société Générale.

Other Information

The Method — What is Transactional Theatre? Transactional Theatre is the integration of Transactional Analysis (TA) with theatrical practice. Developed by Igor Loddo over seventeen years of residencies, it applies the psychological framework of Eric Berne — the three ego states of Parent, Adult and Child (PAC) — to the understanding of characters, relationships and the creative process. During the retreat, scenes from Waiting for Godot become a living laboratory. Participants explore how life scripts manifest in character choices, how psychological games play out in dramatic text, and how the body holds — and can release — behavioural patterns that no longer serve. This is not therapy. It is an artistic act in which theatre becomes a genuine instrument of self-knowledge. No prior theatrical experience is required — only curiosity and a willingness to dwell. Each day alternates 10 hours of intensive work with moments of sharing. The structure is dynamic: intense morning rehearsals alternate with afternoon sessions of Transactional Theatre, group exercises, and individual practice. Evenings are spontaneous: film screenings, shared conversations, and a midweek party. The week follows a well-defined arc: • Day 1 — Arrival, welcome aperitif, opening ceremony. Preparation of the space and the group. • Days 2-5 — Intensive work: rehearsals, scene and character analysis with the help of a tutor, physical training, individual sessions. • Day 6 — Midweek meeting: a time to celebrate what has emerged. • Day 7 (August 7) ​​— Two public events: Open rehearsal at the Piccolo Teatro degli Instabili (11:00 AM) and final performance at the Oasi Battifoglia (8:30 PM). • Day 8 — Closing Ceremony and Departure. The residency culminates not with a refined show, but with an authentic act of presence: two public performances that condense the week's journey into a living score. Participants will be provided with breakfast and dinner at the farmhouse, provided directly by the Association. Everything will always be plentiful and healthy. For lunch, we suggest sharing groceries among the members of each apartment, so you can eat together at the large wooden tables provided by the farmhouse. There's no obligation: this is a simple way to spend time together. It's best to do your grocery shopping on the day of arrival (before arriving at the farmhouse, so you don't have to travel). If necessary, the start of work on Sunday will be postponed by one hour.