Witnessing the genesis and the first week of rehearsals in the composition of a new performance directed by Eugenio Barba and three day practical and theoretical course on theatre anthropology
28 August – 6 September 2026
Stendis Lejren, Vinderup, Denmark
A resident workspace led by Eugenio Barba and Julia Varley
with the participation of Yalan Lin (Taiwan), and Lorenzo Gleijeses, Mirto Baliani and Manolo Muoio (Italy), assisted by Odin Teatret’s actors and Lorenzo Gallo
The Collective Mind 2026 for 22 selected participants consists of three days dedicated to theatre anthropology and six days of rehearsals of a new production directed by Eugenio Barba.
In theatre we can speak of a Collective Mind when a group of motivated people is engaged in a creative process which doesn’t aim at realising an already predefined project. After three days dedicated to Theatre Anthropology with training sessions, films and meetings, the participants will follow the rehearsals of a new production with the working title Yellow: Vincent’s Sister, which has the relationship between Vincent Van Gogh and his sister Wilhelmina as point of departure. Every day after the rehearsals, the participants will gather to comment the work and ask questions to Eugenio Barba. They will discuss with him, pointing out unclear situations, unexpected possibilities and new perspectives in a specific score, scene or situation. During the rehearsals, new narrative threads emerge, mingle and get lost. The Collective Mind tries to deepen and elaborate the materials already developed as well as their potentialities. They imagine other issues and propose new solutions, envisaging unforeseen aspects and even stories within the context of the growing dramaturgical structure.
A Collective Mind integrates different specialisations, various degrees of experience and diverse responsibilities in an assembling process similar to that which happens in the individual mind in the course of invention: sudden changes of direction, detours, exploitation of serendipitous effects, leaps from one level of organisation to another (pre-expressive level, organic dramaturgy, narrative dramaturgy, shaping of the space, musical universe, etc.). The activity of the Collective Mind deals simultaneously with all the various levels of the performance’s organism – rhythmic, musical, sound, dynamic, spatial, narrative – sometimes stressing one level, sometimes another, in an un-programmed way. The people involved in this process are searching both for the specific form of the creative process and also an unexpected secret sense of the story.
Witnessing the rehearsals, the participants of the Collective Mind are introduced to the intimacy of a delicate, elusive and at times repetitive ways of working and conceiving. A particular kind of self-discipline, quality of observation and concentration are required from the observers in order to support the actors, the director and the other collaborators. This is the only way to prevent the rehearsals from becoming trivialised and perturbed by a foreign unconcerned presence. The Collective Mind operates with the same amount of energy in programming as in knowing how to demolish its own programmes. No rigid schedule can be previously established since the process decides the rhythm.
Theatre Anthropology and Odin Teatret
Actors: Antonia Cioază, Else Marie Laukvik, Jakob Nielsen, Rina Skeel, Ulrik Skeel, Julia Varley
Director: Eugenio Barba
Yellow: Vincent’s Sister
Mirto Baliani, actor, dramaturgical collaborator, musician, soundscape (Italy)
Lorenzo Gleijeses, actor/dancer/dramaturgical collaborator (Italy)
Yalan Lin, actress/dancer, choreographic composition, vocal composition (Taiwan)
Manolo Muoio, actor, dramaturgical collaborator, musician (Italy)
Julia Varley, assistant director, vocal composition, dramaturgical collaborator (Denmark)
Lorenzo Gallo, assistant, researcher (Colombia/Italy)
Working language: English and Italian
Cost: 800 (eight hundred) Euro, inclusive of lodging in shared rooms. Food will be prepared and paid collectively by the participants.
Deadline for applying: 15th June 2026. Participants will be accepted in order of application.
Deadline for payment: 15th July 2026.
Participants must read the book by Willem Jan Verlinden: Vincent Van Gogh: Letters To My Sister. English edition Van Gogh Museum and Huygens Museum Amsterdam, 2009. Italian edition: Van Gogh: Lettere a mia sorella, Donzelli Ed. Roma, 2025.
Collective Mind 2026 participants are required to arrive on 28 August at Stendis Lejren, Vinderup, Denmark no later than 5:00 PM or to Vinderup or Holstebro stations no later than 4:00 PM and leave in the morning of 7 September 2026.
Schedule
28.8 Arrival
Odin Teatret Welcome Performance and supper
Introduction
29-31.8
8:00-11:00 Physical training with Antonia Cioază and Jakob Nielsen
11:30-12:30 Participant exchange
14:00-16:00 Vocal training with Julia Varley
16:30-18:30 Theatre Anthropology introduced by Eugenio Barba and Julia Varley
18:30-20:30 Ten films on Theatre Anthropology by Eugenio Barba, Claudio Coloberti and Julia Varley
1-6.9
8:00-9:30 Physical training with Antonia Cioază and Jakob Nielsen
10:00-16:00 Rehearsals Yellow: Vincent’s Sister
16:00-18:00 Meeting with Eugenio Barba and Julia Varley
APPLICATION FORM COLLECTIVE MIND 2026
Please send the application to odin@odinteatret.org
Participation fee: 800 Euro includes lodging in shared rooms
Deadline for applying: 15th June 2026. Participants will be accepted in order of application.
Deadline for payment: 15th July 2026.
Photograph:
First Name:
Family Name:
Sex:
Age:
Email:
Mobile/Cell Phone:
Nationality:
Spoken Languages:
Are you vegan or vegetarian?
Do you have any allergies, which we should be aware of (e.g. food allergies)?
Do you agree to share your email address on a participant list:
Education:
Profession:
What is your motivation for wishing to participate?:
Have you previously participated in Odin Teatret workshops?:
Yalan Lin and Lorenzo Gleijeses in the Theatrum Mundi performance “Anastasis”, 2023. Photo: Francesco Galli
