Willem Dafoe to be new director of Venice Theatre Biennale

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 8 - The board of directors of the Venice Biennale announced Monday that American actor Willem Dafoe will be the new Artistic Director of its Theatre Department in the 2025-2026 period.
    "It is an honour to announce the appointment of Willem Dafoe as the Director of Biennale Teatro," said Pietrangelo Buttafuoco after the board meeting which he chaired and which deliberated the nomination.
    "Theatre is in fact the original home of his lustrous career.
    "One of the founders of the legendary Wooster Group in 1977, the perfect control of his body on stage has always stemmed from discipline, knowledge, passion and a profound awareness of theatre.
    "I can't wait, like everyone else, to be a spectator at the Festival he will build as Artistic Director and - from his lectern as an absolute maestro - to watch the young men and women of the Theatre College grow in their art".
    The 68-year-old artist said he was "first surprised then happy" at the invitation to take up the position.
    "I realise that I am known as a film actor, but I was born in the theatre, the theatre trained me and galvanised me," he said.
    "I am a stage animal. I am an actor. Theatre taught me about art and life. I worked with the Wooster Group for 27 years, "I have collaborated with great directors from Richard Foreman to Bob Wilson. "The direction of my Theatre program will be charted by my personal development. A sort of exploration of the essence of the body". (ANSA).