LA REGOLA DEI TERZI By Playwright Marco De Simone Wins 2025 In Scena! Playwright Award

In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY, New York City's only festival of Italian theater happening in all five boroughs, has announced La regola dei terzi by playwright Marco De Simone as the winner of their 2025 In Scena! Playwright Award (formally the Mario Fratti Award).

The play, translated by Caterina Nonis, will receive a reading as part of the closing ceremony of the 2025 In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY on Monday, May 19 at 6pm at the Italian Cultural Institute of NY (686 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065). Admission to the awards ceremony and reading is FREE.

La regola dei terzi is inspired by a real event recounted in the autobiography of Robert Capa. Southeastern Sicilian hinterland, at dawn on Saturday, July 10, 1943. A farmer welcomes war photojournalist Robert Capa into his farmhouse after he parachuted onto the island the night before the Allied landing. Their dialogue highlights the photographer's strong personality and his wealth of anecdotes, shaped by firsthand experience in war zones. In the background, the farmer becomes the voice of the "thirds"-the vast mass of civilians who remain outsiders to the warring factions. Like the photographic rule suggests, these individuals demand to be brought into focus to tell another story-their own-hidden beneath the Grand Historical Narrative.

"A refined text that, through clear and effective writing and well-crafted dialogues, successfully blends history, introspection, and cinematic imagery," said the Jury Members of the 2025 In Scena! Playwright Award. "Its strength lies in its connections to Italian historical memory, which evolve into a universal reflection on war, remembrance, and the representation of reality. The use of photographic metaphor applied to the narrative structure adds originality and provides various directorial insights."

The 2025 In Scena! Playwright Award Jury included theater artisan Beppe Allocca (In Scena! Artist 2024), theater director, actress, and acting school director Roberta Provenzano (In Scena! Artist 2024), creative producer and journalist Mila Tenaglia, and theater artist Sonia Villani.

The 2025 In Scena! Playwright Award Finalists include La Regola dei terzi by Marco de Simone, Che ci importa del mondo by Irene Canale, and Market by Irene canale

Since 2014, In Scena! introduced the Mario Fratti Award for emerging Italian authors. Every year, a play is chosen by an international panel of experts. The winning playwright is presented with an especially created painting made by Victora Febrer, a visual artist who uses wine to create her paintings. The winning play is awarded with the English translation, published in the Award Collection, and with its reading. Since 2022, the Award readings and plays in NY have been directed or co-directed by a female-identified director as part of KIT's commitment of hiring more female directors in their productions and according to Mario Fratti's interest and respect to female characters.

In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY In 2013 Kairos Italy Theater, the preeminent Italian theater company in New York City, together with the Italian KIT Italia, created In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY, the first Italian theater festival to take place in all five boroughs of New York City and beyond. The festival's first edition was part of the 2013 Year of Italian Culture in the United States and it was supported by the Embassy of Italy in DC and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo' at NYU that became right after one of the organizers. The festival has since become an annual event. www.inscenany.com