Carlo Presotto is a playwright, actor and director. His work stands out in the Italian theatre scene for new generations due to his consistent artistic presence, coupled with a continuous drive for innovation. He is part of the La Piccionaia Theatre Production Centre in Vicenza. Since 1991, he has collaborated with video artist and performer Giacomo Verde, utilizing the Teleracconto technique, which integrates storytelling with closed-circuit video interaction. He teaches in Venice at UNIVE (Theatre for Management) and IUSVE (Pedagogy and Theatre), focusing on the relationship between theatre and digital technologies.
Institute for Digital Culture at the University of Leicester
Stefania Zardini Lacedelli is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of sound studies and digital heritage. Her research explores the emerging role of sound in shaping new cultural practices, forms of heritage and ways of engaging audiences. Throughout her career, she involved museum curators, educators, students, artists, local communities and cultural organizations in the design of sonic narratives, digital-born collections and online participatory projects. In 2016, she co-founded DOLOM.IT, a digital participatory museum which co-creates its collection in collaboration with the Dolomites communities. She is Honorary Research Fellow of the Institute for Digital Culture at the University of Leicester and Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Science Museum Group (UK), currently exploring the role of AI in supporting the sonic turn in museology and digital humanities.
In the past decades, sound and audio technologies have gained a central role in theatrical research, giving rise to new performative forms that have consolidated three current trends: the exploration of non-traditional places, the audience participation in the performance and in the creation of the dramaturgy, and the use of technologies to activate new modes of perception, interaction and relationship. This article explores the origins, the development and impact of the SilentPlay, a sound-based theatrical format focused on the use of headphones technology started in 2009 by the theatre company La Piccionaia. In this sonic dramaturgy, participants are guided in the exploration of places by a performer-conductor who, through the use of wireless headphones, transmits audio tracks and stimulates the interaction of the participants. The article analyses the connections of this project with the experimentations of children's theatre, participatory theatre and sound walks; describing its two main research directions: the co-creation of place-based narratives and the development of remote directed performances. The experience of the SilentPlay suggests the possibility for sound to be not only a complementary medium, but a primary element of creative production, which can inspire also other cultural engagement practices.
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