The Fersen Studio of Stage Arts was created by director Alessandro Fersen in 1957, with permission from the Ministry of Education (Legislative Decree dated January 21st 1957). Since then the Studio has carried out a constant activity, promoting experimental and cultural research, setting up teaching courses and producing performances.
In 1959, in cooperation with Vides Productions, it also organised a school for film actors with selections taking place all over Italy and made by a committee which included Luchino Visconti, Vittorio Gassman, Gillo Pontecorvo, Franco Cristaldi and Fersen himself. Still in 1959, the studio produced a 'commedia dell'arte' entitled "Sganarello and the King's Daughter", performed by actors who graduated from the Studio (The Ateneo Theatre and the Teatro delle Arti in Rome; Schauspielhaus, Zurich, 1960).
In 1960 the studio produced a second performance entitled "The theatre of the absurd" anticipating a formula that would later become famous (Teatro della Lungara, Rome).
In 1961 came the experimental "Section for Musicals" in cooperation with Carlo Alberto Cappelli.
In 1962 the Studio presented the "The actor's psycho-stage technique" and the first phase of the "Mnemodrama", based on anthropological research, at the "Université du Théatre des Nations" in Paris.
In 1964 it organised in its own premises an "International Seminar on the Theatre" on the subject "The theatre today: function and expression".
In 1965, a second seminar on the subject entitled "Stage Problems".
In 1967 the Studio presented "Les Diableries" at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, a research performance based on a play by Alessandro Fersen (the same performance was repeated in 1968 at the Teatro della Cometa , Romw; and in 1972 it toured the most important cities in Italy (and was produced at the Teatr Dramatyczny in Warsaw in a Polish version in 1973).
In 1969 the Studio took part in the "National Conference of Psychiatric Hospitals" with a paper on personality dissociations in actors.
In 1970 it held a seminar in Venice on the subject "Tragedy, from the text to the stage" and a refresher course for High School Professors (organised by the Ministry for Education).
In 1972 it presented the "Actor's Psycho-stage technique" at a seminar held at the Sorbonne University in Paris within the framework of the "Dix Journées Internationales du Theatre".
In 1974, at the Spoleto Festival the Studio produced the play "Leviathan" by Alessandro Fersen, based on the techniques of the mnemodrama (this performance was repeated in various Italian cities in 1975; it was also present at the Jerusalem Festival in 1975 and became part of the repertoire at the Bolzano Repertory Theatre in 1976).
In 1978 it presented at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, a two-week event on the subject "The lost dimension" in which, for the first time, the mnemodrama was presented in its triple configuration with the competition entitled "The Studio Fersen Research Group".
In 1979 at the Teatro Politecnico in Rome it organised a conference-performance on the subject "Mnemodrama and archaic festivity", once again with the "Research Group".
In 1980: a seminar at the CRT in Milan on the subject "The Mnemodrama, a profound latitude, a seminar in Naples on "The Mnemodrama and archaic festivity", an "Open Workshop" session at the Theatre Institute at Rome University.
In 1981: a seminar at the Centre Pompidou in Paris on the subject "La dimension perdue" with video-tape screening and "live" demonstrations; a "round table" at the Theatre Institute at Rome University on the play "The Theatre, afterwards" by A. Fersen theorising the techniques of the mnemodrama; a seminar on the subject "The idea of festivity" at the Theatre Institute at Rome University, with the participation of important anthropologists and ethnologists, among them Alfonso M. di Nola, who worked often with A. Fersen in the field of anthropology. In 1982: "Three lessons on the Actor's Psycho-stage technique" at the Opera Universitaria in Rome and the production of a medium-length film entitled "At the origins of the theatre (The mnemodrama)".
In 1983-84 : two four-month seminars at "La Sapienza" University in Rome on "The spectator's School" and on "Stage technique and the mnemodrama"; a seminar with a screening of the film at Genoa University; a seminar in Lecce with two weeks training on the mnemodrama. In April 1984, Inauguration of the International Congress of the Psychodrama in New York with a screening of the film and a debate; similar seminars were held at the Theatre Department of Yale University and at New York State University (Stony Brook) as well as at the Italian Institute of Culture in New York.
In 1984-85: a seminar with the presentation of the film at New York's famous avant-garde theatre, the Café La Mama; Seminars, screenings and debates at the Fine Arts Academy in Naples, at Pisa University, at the Bolzano Repertory Theatre, at the Association "Arti della Rappresentazione" in Vicenza.
In December 1985: "First interdisciplinary conference" on the subject "The theatrical origins of culture" with Massimo Cacciari, Alfonso M. di Nola, Alessandro Fersen, Luigi M. Lombardi Satriani (Teatro Politecnico in Rome); a Conference held by Emanuele Luzzati on Actors and Stage Design at the Lemon house Villa Torlonia, in Rome.
In 1987, at the Teatro Piccolo Eliseo, a seminar-performance in 2 sessions in the subject: "The theatre of mourning and of heroes. In the archaic world". Speakers Alfonso M. di Nola and Alessandro Fersen; actors: Piera degli Espositi and Cosimo Cinieri; In May 1987, a "Conversation" in three sessions between Fersen and the audience on the subject "Theatrical quality" held at the Studio (Lemon House in Villa Torlonia).