Willem Dafoe named new artistic director of Biennale Theater

Born in Appleton, Wisconsin, the seventh of eight children, Dafoe took acting classes at the University of Wisconsin, and in 1975, at age 19, he joined the avant-garde theater group Theater and took to the stage with it. Insulting the public Works by Peter Handke and many texts by director and artistic director John Schneider. He accompanies the group at important events travelboth in the United States and in Europe. In particular, in ’76 he performed at the Mickery Theater in Amsterdam, the center of the international alternative scene. From here he made the jump to New York and founded the company in 1977 with the director Elizabeth LeCompte and the actor Ron Vawter, with whom he had a son named Jack in 1982. Kate Valk, Jim Kleberg, Peyton Smith. In the eighties he was a protagonist of the New York underground music scene and collaborated with numerous artists, including Richard Foreman, Trisha Brown, Steve Buscemi and Oscar winner Frances McDormand.

Richard Foreman, founder of the theater “Ontological Hysteria”, called it ” Miss Happiness Universe (1985) Idiot genius (2009). Bob Wilson The Life and Death of Marina Abramović (2011). Willem Dafoe will serve as Romeo Castellucci’s translator Shepherd’s Black Veil (2016).

Willem Dafoe commented: “Surprised and delighted”

“I was surprised and then delighted to receive the invitation from Pietrangelo Buttafuoco to be the Director of the International Theatre Festival of the Venice Biennale for 2025-2026”, commented Dafoe, who is married to the Pescara-born actress, director and screenwriter Giada Colagrande. “I know I am best known as a film actor, but I was born in the theatre, which has shaped me and shaken me. I am a stage animal. I am an actor. Theatre has taught me about art and life. I have been with the Wooster Group for twenty-seven years, working with great directors such as Richard Foreman and Bob Wilson. The direction of my theatre course will be determined by my personal training. An exploration of the essence of the body.”

Body control and film career