Nine locations in Venice serve as the stage for the Biennale Teatro directed by Willem Dafoe. One of these is an apartment.
Ca’ Malcanton is not a theater. It is an apartment. Someone has emptied it, reconstructed it, and transformed it into a scene where Ragada takes place—the first chapter of the Romance Familiare trilogy by the Greek-Albanese director Mario Banushi. It is this type of choice—an apartment instead of a stage, a city as a widespread scene—that defines better than any press release who Willem Dafoe is and what he has in mind for the Biennale Teatro 2026, in Venice from June 7 to 21.
Why Dafoe
Dafoe has theater in his blood even before cinema. At 19, he left university for Theatre X, an experimental company in Milwaukee. Then came Amsterdam and the Mickery Theatre, one of the central hubs of the international scene in the 1970s. Later in New York, he was among the founders of the Wooster Group, the ensemble that would rewrite the rules of contemporary theater. Then Hollywood. Then a constant return to the theater. Today he lives in Italy with his wife, director Giada Colagrande. And now, Venice is his Biennale.
The title he has chosen for the festival is Alter Native, two words that change meaning depending on how you read them. Alter as change, Native as one’s own nature. Or Alter as otherness, Native as culture of origin. “It is the encounter with the unknown that restores the original power of live performance,” says Dafoe.
Venice as a Stage
55 events, over 200 artists, 10 world premieres. The venues span the city: the Arsenale, the Teatro Verde on the Island of San Giorgio, Ca’ Giustinian, Ca’ Malcanton, and the Teatro Goldoni. These are places Venetians know in a different way, with a different function. For fifteen days, they become something else.
Satoshi Miyagi opens the festival on June 7 at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale with Mugen Noh Othello: Shakespeare reinterpreted through the scenic ritual of Mugen Noh, where the living and the dead share the same stage. On June 9 and 10, Christos Stergioglou and Alexandros Drakos Ktistakis bring Cries to the Teatro Verde, a concert-performance inspired by Euripides, the poet Giorgos Seferis, and the voices of those who have experienced slavery, migration, and displacement.
The enfant prodige Mario Banushi presents the entire Romance Familiare trilogy in Venice: Ragada at Ca’ Malcanton, Goodbye, Lindita, and Taverna Miresia. Mario, Bella, Anastasia at the Teatro alle Tese. Three chapters built around memory, childhood, loss, and family ties.
From Indonesia come two works by Bumi Purnati: Hikayat Perahu, The Tale of Boat, directed by Sri Qadariatin—formerly an actress with Bob Wilson—and Under the Volcano, directed by Yusril Katil.
The program then opens up to India with Sharmila Biswas, a master of Odissi dance, who presents Mischief Dance: A Journey Through Rhythm and Spirit. The journey continues to Samoa and New Zealand with Lemi Ponifasio, who brings Star Returning: Venice, a work blending theater, dance, ritual, and political thought. To Rwanda with Dorcy Rugamba and Hewa Rwanda, Letter to the absent, a scenic letter to the murdered absentees, to memory, and to the recent history of his country. Angélique Kidjo, from Benin, will perform in concert at the Teatro Goldoni.
The Lions
On June 12, the Lions will be awarded at Ca’ Giustinian. The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement goes to Emma Dante, a director and author who is among the most recognizable figures in contemporary Italian theater. She brings the world premiere of I fantasmi di Basile to Venice, inspired by the fairy tales collected in Giambattista Basile’s Lo cunto de li cunti, the 17th-century Neapolitan work that predated Perrault and the Grimms. The Silver Lion goes to Mario Banushi, 27, a Greek-Albanese director and one of the strongest voices on the new European scene.
A Tribute to Bob Wilson
From June 8 to 21, in the Sala delle Colonne at Ca’ Giustinian, an exhibition pays tribute to Robert Wilson, who passed away in July 2025: Journey Through Five Dimensions. Robert Wilson at the Venice Biennale. A research project composed of light, time, space, body, and sound.
The materials come from the ASAC, the Historical Archive of Contemporary Arts of the Biennale, for which the Biennale has just presented the project for the new headquarters at the Arsenale with three days of lectures, performances, and open days. The Archive, which preserves and promotes the Biennale’s documentary heritage from 1895 to the present, is thus entering a new phase, present in the cultural life of the city.
Theater Outside the Theaters
Among the special projects is Promemoria by Davide Iodice, created with the residents of the San Giobbe retirement home. Here, theater enters people’s lives, memories, and fragilities. This too is Alter Native: not only bringing the world to Venice, but looking at Venice through its rooms, its voices, and its ages.
For the Youth
Dafoe has opened a new call for the Biennale College Teatro for actresses and actors under 30, adding to the existing paths for directing, playwriting, and criticism. The eleven selected performers are in residence in Venice from May 25 to June 21, with a work program led by Willem Dafoe, Simon McBurney, Silvia Costa, Evangelia, and Mary Rantou.
54th International Theatre Festival
Biennale Teatro 2026
Alter Native
Directed by Willem Dafoe
June 7 – 21, 2026
Venice, Arsenale, Teatro Verde at the Island of San Giorgio, Ca’ Giustinian, Ca’ Malcanton, Teatro Goldoni, and other venues
The Complete Program
Tickets for Biennale Teatro 2026
Full program and tickets at labiennale.org
Article by Laura Scarpa. Image courtesy: Cover: Alberto Colombo Sormani Imago Vocis Ph. Andrea Avezzù, Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia. Dafoe on the red carpet Ph Marta Formentello for Venezia da Vivere. Portrait of Dafoe Ph Igor Serdyukov for Venezia da Vivere. Performance photos courtesy Ph. Andrea Avezzù and Courtesy La Biennale di Venezia.
