Staff

Benedetta holds a Master degree International Relations and Human Rights Defense from the University of Siena.

She worked at the Immigration Office of the Arezzo Police Station as liaison with refugees being relocated in Arezzo.

She also volunteered at the ‘Casa Thevenin’ institution (women shelter’s) in Arezzo.

Benedetta has worked at the Accademia since May, 2023. She is an administrative and student service assistant.

Riccardo, originally from the Philippines moved to Italy with his mother in 1990. He lived in Rome working as a jack-of-all-trades until he moved to Arezzo in 2003 where he worked as a Suez Chef. In 2004 in joined the Accademia dell’Arte in the capacity of cook, electrician and inventor. He quickly became one of the main pillars of the school. Riccardo remembers vividly seeing the very first students arrive at Villa Godiola.

Dory Rebekah Sibley (she/her) – mother, educator, original works artist, arts administrator – holds an MFA in Physical Theatre from the Accademia dell’Arte. Her original devised work has been featured in Berlin, Milan, Turin, Arezzo, Anghiari, Cortona, Genova and across the USA. She co-founded the physical theatre, mask troupe Tut’Zanni Theatre Company (@tutzanni) in 2011 with fellow ADA 2006 Alumna ALi Landvatter. Together, these six ADA Alumni collaborate with institutions and festivals to spread the challenges, joy and practice of modern day commedia dell’arte. Dory is also a founding member of the dark, feminist clown troupe Women From Mars (@WFMtheatre), whose “clown-noir” cabaret SILENT REFLECTIONS was created to incite dialogue around social issues that primarily oppress women. They recently won Outstanding Visual Impact at the National Women’s Theatre Festival in Raleigh, NC and their article Silent Reflections – A Clown-Noir Cabaret: Transformation of object and the feminist clown will be published in the SETC Theatre Symposium Journal by the University of Alabama Press.

Dory is the current Executive Director of the Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy. She has been teaching for over two decades and served as an administrator and member of core faculty at the Accademia for 15 years. She has worked tirelessly to develop and grow the Accademia from both an administrative and pedagogic standpoint creating and working in several roles since its beginnings. Dory founded the ADA Alumni Association in 2006 and continues to serve as their President.

Dory joined the Theatre Department at Coastal Carolina University as an Assistant Professor of Theatre and Affiliate Professor in Women’s and Gender Studies specializing in voice and speech, devising, and theatre for social change from 2020 – 2024. She is a certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework® and the Elemental Body Alignment System (EBAS). Dory is a pioneer teacher of Voice in the Mask, for which she has been invited by various institutions across the globe to share her research as a guest artist. As an arts administrator and educator, she is dedicated to holding space for diverse voices, encouraging people to embrace their unique voice, and fostering the expression of deep truth through the artist’s experience.

Echo Sunyata Sibley is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at West Texas A & M University and a certified teacher of the Miller Voice Method mVm. As an Actor, Singer, New Works Artist, Director and Educator she has presented or performed at various festivals and venues including the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, Crisis Art Festival, Lilith Culturale Festival, Festival Internazionale di Valle Christi, SETC, Opera in the Ozarks at Inspiration Point, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Jazz & Wine Festival in Cavi Borgo, Italy. She is a founding member of the international, feminist, clown-noir troupe, Women From Mars, whose show Silent Reflections toured Italy and the US. She taught Acting Techniques for Musical Theatre, Voice & Speech and Acting at Centro Formazione Artistica di Luca Bizzarri in Genova, Italy. As well, she was a Recording Artist, Voice & Acting Coach and the Translator for Orange Home Records in Leivi, Italy for over a decade. She was the Co-Assistant Director for the Voice & Speech Trainers Association VASTA Converging Pathways Conference in 2022. Currently Echo teaches Acting, Voice & Movement, Musical Theatre Repertoire, and Improvisation at WT. Her areas of interest and teaching expertise also include Devising, Creating One-Person Shows, Moment Work, Clown, Archetypal Movement and Physical Theatre. Her most recent creative projects include Co-Directing Alice By Heart and Co-authoring an article with her theatre troupe, Women from Mars, called “Silent Reflections – A Clown-Noir Cabaret: Transformation of object and the feminist clown” which has been published by the journal Theatre Symposium, Vol. 32.

Francesca Barbini  holds a law degree from the University of Florence; the focus of her thesis work was in labor law. In 2017 she passed the bar but chose not to be an attorney.

Francesca has been working at the Accademia dell’Arte since 2015. She started as administrative assistant to the then Managing Director. Since 2021, Francesca is the Compliance and Operations Manager. She is best known among the Accademia dell’Arte students as the Visa Queen.

Maria Cerbasi was born in Torre del Greco, Naples. She graduated in Economics from the Università Tor Vergata in Rome.

She volunteered for the Servizio Civile Nazionale taking part in a fair trade project with Oxfam. She also collaborated with an independent online newspaper, Die Brüche, for which she wrote several political and economic articles.

Maria has worked at the  Accademia since 2012. She started as an Administrative Assistant. Over the years she has deepened her expertise of US Finance and Banking. Since 2021 Maria is Finance and Accounting Manager. She acts as secretary for the Board of Directors. Since 2022 Maria is also in charge of the Marketing & Social Media for the Accademia dell’Arte. She is an amateur photographer and out of her deep love for the environment, Maria develops ways to implement recycling and energy saving programs at the Accademia. She was also a member of the CrisisART Festival Collective.

Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, Scott McGehee moved to Italy as a Fulbright Fellow in 1995 and has lived in Italy since. He received his Doctorate in European Intellectual History from Boston College in 1996 and is the President and Founding Director of the Accademia dell’Arte.

Scott’s research interest centers on the convergence of radical social thought with the organization of aesthetics perception and artistic expression. He has been active in the formation of the CrisisArt Festival and contemporary social movements including Occupy Wall Street. He continues to work on projects that explore the potential for collective and collaborative creation and has written on the subversive character of the Commedia dell’Arte. (Link Essay: the-pre-eminence-of-the-actor-in-renaissance-context-2.)

Scott gives lectures and seminars throughout the year at the Accademia on various topics including the history of cabaret, understanding Commedia politically, the commodification of artistic experience and related topics.

Hobbies are many, none of which are well developed, but he does have a knack for writing bad pop-songs.

Valentina holds a degree in Political Science (International Relations) from the University of Florence. After graduation she worked for several American Study Abroad Programs in Florence like New York  University as accounting assistant and Stanford University as Program Assistant. Valentina also worked for ISI Florence for twelve years first as Administrative Affair Assistant and then as  Co-Curricular Activities Coordinator. Valentina joined ADA staff in January 2024 as Student Life Coordinator. She likes yoga and reading.