Hombre Collettivo was founded in 2019 out of Animateria, the professional training course for puppet theatre practitioners. The collective is grounded in the idea of merging different performative languages—particularly the techniques of visual and puppet theatre—to explore themes of political untimeliness. Its artistic practice is intertwined with in-depth research and investigative work on the subjects it chooses to address, often carried out in collaboration with experts and specialized associations.

The group, originally composed of Angela Forti (organizer and performer, 1998), Riccardo Reina (author and director, 1986), Aron Tewelde (performer, 1996) and Agata Garbuio (performer, 1988), has, since 2024, also included Yele Canali Ferrari (performer and sound designer, 1992) and Lucia Ferrero (light designer and technician, 1993).

In 2020 the collective premiered its first work, Casa Nostra — a piece of object and visual theatre that explores Italy’s early 1990s, focusing in particular on the events surrounding the so-called State–Mafia Pact. The wordless performance is addressed to both secondary school students and adult audiences, and was awarded the Premio Scenario Infanzia 2020 (ex aequo), one of Italy’s major national prizes for emerging artists and companies, as well as the Direction Under30 Critics’ Award 2021. The show, still touring, has been presented in numerous Italian theatres and festivals—both for evening audiences and in school contexts—often in collaboration with experts from associations such as Libera, and at the FIAT Festival in Podgorica (Montenegro).

In 2023 the group continued the stylistic research initiated with Casa Nostra and premiered Alle Armi, produced by Teatro Metastasio di Prato and later co-produced by Associazione Culturale Malerba and Micro Macro ets. This work, again based on object theatre and non-verbal dramaturgy, is aimed primarily at adult audiences and investigates the global arms trade through the lens of the toy, blending techniques and codes in search of a meeting point between documentary theatre and object theatre. Alle Armi draws on a range of languages—performative and visual theatre, Hollywood cinema, musical theatre, television, video clips, fashion and social media—without ever renouncing an irony that is at times biting, yet ultimately redemptive. After its premiere at Teatro Fabbricone in Prato in March 2023, the show embarked on a successful international tour in India (International Theatre Festival of Kerala, February 2024), Poland (37th International Theatre Festival Valise, June 2024), and Malaysia (George Town Festival, July 2024).

This experience inspired the creation of a broader project dedicated to investigative theatre, in collaboration with journalist and media literacy expert Leonardo Delfanti. The project was awarded the “Per Chi Crea” 2024 grant from SIAE and the Italian Ministry of Culture, supporting a 2025 tour in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

In 2023, Hombre Collettivo was among the twenty projects highlighted by Rete Critica, and Alle Armi received a mention in the Premi Ubu 2023 for set design. In 2024, following the group’s Indian tour, its members under 35 won the Movin’Up competition promoted by the Italian Ministry of Culture’s Directorate-General for Performing Arts and GAI – Association for the Circuit of Young Italian Artists.

Also in 2024, the collective was invited to take part in PerForma – Il caffè tra Gorizia e Trieste, a research and residency project curated by Associazione Quarantasettezeroquattro as part of the activities for Nova Gorica–Gorizia European Capital of Culture 2025, culminating in January 2025 in the collective creation M.M.M.o.Ka.