Willem Dafoe: Artistic Director of the Biennale Teatro 2027-2028

The Biennale Teatro 2026 directed by Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe closes today, Sunday 21 June, with a total of 10.000 spectators, and the venues 90% full.

Willem Dafoe was confirmed to continue in his appointment as artistic director of the Theatre department for the next two-year period 2027-2028 by the Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Pietrangelo Buttafuoco.

“To make theatre, figuratively, means to exaggerate, to court the spotlight for oneself – stated President Buttafuoco. Yet that is precisely what Willem Dafoe has not done in his two years working at the Biennale. To Venice, Dafoe has brought research, tradition, ritual and craft. His programme has focused its attention on chorality, on theatre that is made with human flesh, with spirit and with sweat”. 

On his part, Willem Dafoe declared: “I am grateful for the opportunity to continue my work as director of the Theatre Biennale. These past two years of close involvement with the Biennale have allowed me to explore what is the power and magic of the total art that is theatre. I am honoured to continue my work with the Biennale’s President, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, with the entire devoted team of the Venice Biennale and with Valentina Alferj and Andrea Porcheddu, building on the foundations laid over these first two years. A passionate  exploration in which theatre making begins with a creative impulse  and may not have an explicit goal, but is fully engaged and never loses sight of the conviction that it is the collective experience that matters”. 

The final events of Biennale Teatro 2026 this evening feature Samoan artist Lemi Ponifasio with his Star Returning: Venice in the Teatro alle Tese at the Arsenale (6 pm) and the duo Jacopo Giacomoni – Silvia Costa – respectively the author and director of Tacet, a work that began under the aegis of Biennale College – in the Tese dei Soppalchi (9 pm).

The exploration of the cultures from five continents with the extraordinary personalities involved, the heart of the programme for Biennale Teatro 2026, will be the subject of the documentary by Save the Date to be broadcast by Rai 5 television on July 10th at 6 pm and later rebroadcast on RaiPlay.