Elizabeth and Her Desk on Stage
"I have two souls: in the morning, I put on my suit and handle office activities; in the afternoon, I transform onto the stage, dedicating myself to performances or acting courses. The days are long, but I enjoy them like mad!" With great determination, Elizabeth Annable has managed to unite her passion as an actress with the other for cultural management, and for the past 16 years she has been the mind and heart behind Alta Luce, the theatre she created in Milan. She oversees every aspect of it, from organization and management to staging performances, often starring on stage herself.
Elizabeth's passion for theatre was born during high school, when she attended her first acting courses. However, when it came time to choosing her university path, her father—a Bocconi graduate—encouraged her to pursue economic studies. Elizabeth thus chose CLEACC (a degree in Economics for Arts, Culture & Communication), the course most aligned with her dream of working in cultural management.
After graduating, Elizabeth decided to deepen her acting studies by attending the Piccolo Teatro Academy for two years. Later, with a clearer sense of her aspirations, she returned to Bocconi for a two-year master’s program, again in Economics for Arts, Culture & Communication. During this period, she interned with the theatre company Fanny&Alexander, gaining experience in cultural promotion and management, and also wrote a thesis on the Santarcangelo Festival. This experience reignited her desire to take to the stage.
Following her studies, Elizabeth worked with a theatre company in Lugano, where she not only acted but also managed promotion and ticket sales. “It was an enriching experience where I realized how much I enjoyed applying the managerial skills I had learned,” she recalls.
She then spent a period in London, attending a course on contemporary theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. At the end of these experiences, Elizabeth decided to realize her dream of combining her two passions. She found a space in the Navigli district of Milan, which she transformed into a theatre, inaugurating the first season of Alta Luce in 2012. The name is inspired by a mountain peak in the Gressoney Valley, a place dear to Elizabeth, a hiking enthusiast. “Theatre, like the mountains, is a journey made of steps, where success and self-discovery are achieved little by little,” she explains.
Today, Elizabeth splits her time between administrative management and season planning, directing and acting in plays, and managing numerous courses for adults and children, over 200 students annually, in theatre, musical and public speaking. “I perform on stage three times per season, and even now as a new mom, I don’t stop! As a mountaineering enthusiast, I’m excited to debut my new play in April, about Henriette d’Angeville, the first woman to climb Mont Blanc.”
“I have worked hard to develop this space as a cultural, but also social, hub for the local community, including the most marginalized and isolated individuals. We work closely with Municipality 6 on civic activities,” Elizabeth shares. As for advice for young women, she recalls in fact “the importance of that given to me by Bocconi professor, Anna Merlo, who said: ‘Start with an idea, and over time, develop it’. And with Alta Luce I started from the idea of engaging the community as both spectators and students and creating a space where they could feel at home. Over time, I have remained faithful to this vision and belief.”
