TOO Episode 142- The Directors Lab Mediterranean Conversations, Part 4. Dante Benazzo and Amanda Connors

In this episode, Adam speaks with directors Dante Benazzo & Amanda Connors.

Andrea Dante Benazzo trained as an actor and graduated from National Academy Silvio d’Amico in 2020. Feeling the urge to move from acting to personal research in directing his first work, in alto il Sole in basso, which premiered at the Contaminazioni Festival in 2018. His second work, Partschótt, was part of the 2020 Romaeuropa Festival. He’s worked as assistant director for Alessandro Businaro for George II  (Venice Biennale Teatro 2020) and is currently working as assistant director for Valentino Villa for “Au bord” (Romaeuropa Festival). His work explores accumulation, cataloging & statistics - as a means of expression of human frailty - through live performance and its possible extensions.  Starting from autobiography and documentary, he investigates non-linearity, inconsistency, and non-existence of reality. 

Amanda Connors is a director based in NYC. With degrees in theatre and journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she is a graduate of the National Theater Institute at the O’Neill Theater Center, and teaches at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. She’s directed in NYC and around the U.S and assisted at Second Stage, Signature, Guthrie, O'Neill, Cal Shakes, and more. She was in the MTC Directing Fellowship, a recipient of the SDCF Directing Observership, the NAMT Directing Observership, and an alumna of Directors Lab Mediterranean, North, and West. She's studied Complicité, Droznin movement under Rachel Jett, with Intimacy Directors and Coordinators, with certifications from the Society of American Fight Directors.

Mentioned in this episode:
Paul Auster's The Invention of Solitude
Milo Rau
Apitchatpong
Ni