Eugenio Barba (Italy) created Odin Teatret in 1964 in Oslo, Norway, and in 1966 moved with it as a theatre laboratory to Holstebro, Denmark. In 1980 he founded the International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA). He has directed 79 productions with Odin Teatret and the intercultural Ensemble Theatrum Mundi. Author of twenty-four books; his latest publication, in collaboration with Nicola Savarese, is The Five Continents of Theatre. Facts and Legends of the Material Culture of the Actor (Brill/Sense, 2019). He is the recipient of honorary doctorates from thirteen universities.
Through this article, first published on the 25th of November 1986 in the American weekly newspaper The Village Voice, Eugenio Barba replied to “Roles and Poles Apart”, Erika Munk’s day-by-day report of the ISTA’s conference The Female Role as Represented on the Stage in Various Cultures, published in the same newspaper two weeks before, on the 11th of November 1986. In her article, the American author accused ISTA director and scientific staff of being sexists and of having neglected the sociological question of gender equality. In his answer, Barba clarified the fundamental principles examined during the conference and the aims of ISTA.