Roberto Prestigiacomo
https://www.probabilisticstages.com
Founder, ProbabilisticStages | Creator of TransPerformance | Associate Professor of Theatre & Performance, Trinity University
Roberto is a theatre-maker, director, and performance theorist whose work bridges the inner terrain of the human psyche with the evolving language of contemporary theatre. He is the creator of ProbabilisticStages, an original methodology that reimagines performance as a living field of emergence, drawing inspiration from quantum mechanics, cosmology, philosophy, and depth psychology.
At the heart of his work is TransPerformance, a process that fuses symbolic harvesting, subconscious exploration, and spatial dramaturgy into a dynamic system of live composition. Rejecting deterministic storytelling models, Roberto’s approach replaces fixed scripts with fields of possibility, where performance is not pre-structured but co-emerges through the relationships between space, body, symbol, and presence.
Rooted in his academic training in philosophy (Pontificia Universitas Urbaniana, Rome) and directing (University of California–Irvine), Roberto’s work explores the intersections between performance, metaphysics, and the perception of reality. His TransLAB workshops—such as The Inner Field Generator, The Full Harvest, and The Singular Harvest—guide participants through a deep process of inner world exploration, using techniques like Active Imagination, Asemic Writing, and Image Theatre to generate symbolic material that resists literal interpretation and instead evokes archetypal resonance.
In ProbabilisticStages, Roberto proposes that performance operates much like a quantum field: meaning arises not from linear causality, but from observation, entanglement, and relationality. The actor becomes a reader of the field, collapsing potential meanings into live presence—mirroring the observer effect in quantum physics. The space itself becomes fluid, shaped by attention, memory, and intention. Time becomes nonlinear, cyclical, and multi-layered.
As Associate Professor of Theatre at Trinity University, Roberto teaches Directing, Theatre for Social Change, Performing Human Rights, Physical Theatre, and Dramatic Literature courses. He also teaches internationally at the Università degli Studi di Palermo, where he has led site-specific and community-based TransPerformance projects.
His directorial credits span over 70 productions—from classical texts and opera to socially engaged and devised performances. He has developed and directed Forum Theatre works addressing migration, healthcare, abuse, and environmental justice. His most recent work includes Virennu Facennu in Catania, Italy, a Performing Human Rights project created with women of the Comunità di Sant’Egidio; Città Invisibili in Rome; and collaborations with Teatr Brama (Norway/Poland) and Guillermo Gómez-Peña (Mexico). He was also co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of AtticRep, a professional theatre company based in San Antonio, TX.
The Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Artists Foundation, and the City of San Antonio have supported Roberto’s work. His method has been presented and developed through residencies and festivals including MITEM (Hungary), FLIPT (Italy), and collaborations in Taiwan, India, Mexico, and across the U.S.
At its core, Roberto’s artistic and philosophical practice asks:
What if performance is not a representation of reality, but a way of creating it?
And what happens when we turn our gaze inward, not to escape the world, but to bring forth the invisible layers that shape it?
Address: San Antonio, Texas, United States
Founder, ProbabilisticStages | Creator of TransPerformance | Associate Professor of Theatre & Performance, Trinity University
Roberto is a theatre-maker, director, and performance theorist whose work bridges the inner terrain of the human psyche with the evolving language of contemporary theatre. He is the creator of ProbabilisticStages, an original methodology that reimagines performance as a living field of emergence, drawing inspiration from quantum mechanics, cosmology, philosophy, and depth psychology.
At the heart of his work is TransPerformance, a process that fuses symbolic harvesting, subconscious exploration, and spatial dramaturgy into a dynamic system of live composition. Rejecting deterministic storytelling models, Roberto’s approach replaces fixed scripts with fields of possibility, where performance is not pre-structured but co-emerges through the relationships between space, body, symbol, and presence.
Rooted in his academic training in philosophy (Pontificia Universitas Urbaniana, Rome) and directing (University of California–Irvine), Roberto’s work explores the intersections between performance, metaphysics, and the perception of reality. His TransLAB workshops—such as The Inner Field Generator, The Full Harvest, and The Singular Harvest—guide participants through a deep process of inner world exploration, using techniques like Active Imagination, Asemic Writing, and Image Theatre to generate symbolic material that resists literal interpretation and instead evokes archetypal resonance.
In ProbabilisticStages, Roberto proposes that performance operates much like a quantum field: meaning arises not from linear causality, but from observation, entanglement, and relationality. The actor becomes a reader of the field, collapsing potential meanings into live presence—mirroring the observer effect in quantum physics. The space itself becomes fluid, shaped by attention, memory, and intention. Time becomes nonlinear, cyclical, and multi-layered.
As Associate Professor of Theatre at Trinity University, Roberto teaches Directing, Theatre for Social Change, Performing Human Rights, Physical Theatre, and Dramatic Literature courses. He also teaches internationally at the Università degli Studi di Palermo, where he has led site-specific and community-based TransPerformance projects.
His directorial credits span over 70 productions—from classical texts and opera to socially engaged and devised performances. He has developed and directed Forum Theatre works addressing migration, healthcare, abuse, and environmental justice. His most recent work includes Virennu Facennu in Catania, Italy, a Performing Human Rights project created with women of the Comunità di Sant’Egidio; Città Invisibili in Rome; and collaborations with Teatr Brama (Norway/Poland) and Guillermo Gómez-Peña (Mexico). He was also co-founder and Producing Artistic Director of AtticRep, a professional theatre company based in San Antonio, TX.
The Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Artists Foundation, and the City of San Antonio have supported Roberto’s work. His method has been presented and developed through residencies and festivals including MITEM (Hungary), FLIPT (Italy), and collaborations in Taiwan, India, Mexico, and across the U.S.
At its core, Roberto’s artistic and philosophical practice asks:
What if performance is not a representation of reality, but a way of creating it?
And what happens when we turn our gaze inward, not to escape the world, but to bring forth the invisible layers that shape it?
Address: San Antonio, Texas, United States
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Books by Roberto Prestigiacomo
By blurring the boundaries between reality and imagination, self and other, past and future, each Canto defies traditional narrative structures and invites the audience for introspection, engagement, and significance. Whether facing the complexities of community and societal rules in Canto Uno, challenging the nature of reality in "Canto Due," or navigating emotional labyrinths in Canto Quattro, Ma Solo 36? serves as a profound meditation on human existence's fluid, elusive nature. Ma Solo 36? is the practical application of the TransPerformance aesthetic acting as a reflective surface seeking questions rather than offering answers and encouraging viewers to ponder their lives, choices, and places in the cosmos.
The Shared Book is the platform where research becomes performance, underscoring the ongoing dialogue between the structured, spontaneous, conscious, and unconscious in shaping human narratives. It opens the door to a new investigation and method that balances the inner and the outer reality and narratives.
The narrative unfolds as a series of monologues and dialogues, encapsulating the individual's aspirations and contrasting them with the need for community and spiritual belonging. The thematic core revolves around the existential struggle of making choices and finding purpose as individuals and as part of larger communal and spiritual frameworks.
Mixed with these profound questions are vivid visual motifs that serve as metaphors for different emotional and magical states. From moving through light and darkness to navigating through mesmerizing landscapes, these motifs symbolize the flow of human consciousness and the ever-changing states of mind.
The work also addresses spirituality as a fluid, open concept, embracing different paths to connect with the higher self, the community, or even a divine entity. The characters discuss and explore spirituality through prayer and action, community service, and interpersonal empathy, clearly expressing the inner world in various ways.
Virennu Facennu offers a comprehensive exploration of the human condition. It confronts the anxiety and confusion of choice, the quest for spiritual and communal belonging, and the untangling of the intricate threads of our inner and outer landscapes.
The creative team, comprised of actors, a director, and designers, collaborated remotely through Zoom for much of the project, physically convening only in the latter stages for the final video recording. Even the casting process was a novel experience, with actors auditioning via Zoom and employing a form of Active Imagination adapted to the digital medium.
The text and material generated during the rehearsal process underwent a meticulous sorting and reorganizing phase, categorizing the content into three distinct but interconnected themes: the realistic, the symbolic, and the intermediate. The text used for the performance emerged from the rehearsal process, remaining true to the project's exploratory spirit.
Gaia has four Cantos, each presenting aspects of human existence and the state of the world during COVID-19 times.
Canto One is a poetic cry, juxtaposing childhood memories against the harsh realities of our age—marked by a pandemia, climate change, political corruption, and social inequality.
In contrast, Canto Two takes the audience on a surreal, fragmented journey through an emotional and psychological abyss. Here, the protagonists encounter symbols and sensations that trigger deep introspection and complex emotions.
Canto Three expands the journey into the mind and the cosmos. This journey mixes physics with introspection, presenting a landscape wavering between calmness and existential anxiety. The Canto's fragmented narrative is a metaphor for the human quest for understanding and direction in a universe governed by incomprehensible forces.
Canto Four envisions a Golden Age where humanity has achieved a state of peace, environmental harmony, and mutual care. It portrays a society rooted in empathy, love, and a profound connection with nature, suggesting that such an era is not a fantasy but a tangible goal obtainable through collective action.
Papers by Roberto Prestigiacomo