IN SCENA! Italian Theater Festival Back With A Very Special Edition

The New York City-based Kairos Italy Theater along with the Italy-based KIT Italia and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU announce the return of In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY.

Play it again In Scena! A very special coming back edition of the Italian theater festival taking place in all five boroughs of NYC, May 3-19. Participating venues include The Calandra Institute for Italian American Studies (25 W 43rd St Suite 1700 New York, NY 10036), The Italian Cultural Institute in NY (686 Park Ave, New York, NY 10021), The Tank (312 W 36th St, New York, NY 10018), Culture Lab LIC (5-25 46th Ave, Queens, NY 11101), St. John's Lutheran Church (81 Christopher Street, New York, NY 10014), Bernie Wohl Center at Goddard Riverside (647 Columbus Avenue, NY 10024), CIMA - Center for Italian Modern Art (421 Broome St 4th floor, New York, NY 10013), BAAD! - Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (2474 Westchester Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461), Greek Cultural Center (2680 30th Street b2, Astoria, NY 11102), and I Am Books (124 Salem St, Boston, MA 02113). Admission to all shows and events in the festival will be FREE for some shows and ticketed for the plays winners of the Mario Fatti Award at The Tank.

All shows will be presented in Italian with English supertitles, unless otherwise noted. The supertitles, as well as the translation of Crumbs of Joy, are provided by In Scena! in collaboration with Civic School of Translators and Interpreters Altiero Spinelli, Milan, as part of a tutored educational project. For more information, visit www.inscenany.com.

Laura Caparrotti, artistic Director, stated: "This year, the Festival in its coming back edition looks like the times we live in. We put together piece by piece by adding week by week a new event while waiting for what else was opening and when. We ended up with a hybrid version of the Festival including two locally produced Mario Fratti Award winners plays, the Mario Fratti Award 2020, 2021 and 2022 ceremony and three shows coming from Italy. Even if slightly different, we still bring the best of Italy to the United States and we cannot wait to share it with our audience."

PRODUCED IN NY SHOWS - In English
General Admission Ticket $25

THE PLAY WINNERS OF THE Mario Fratti AWARDS AT THE TANK

Presented by Kairos Italy Theater in collaboration with the Tank

THE LAND OF SWOLLEN FACES

Winner of the 2017 Mario Fratti Award
Written by Paolo Bignami, Translated by Carlotta Brentan
Directed by Laura Caparrotti and Jay Stern
Starring Joseph Franchini*
Set Designer Sarah Edkins

Presented also in collaboration with the Puffin Foundation
Based on an industrial workplace accident in Italy, The Land of Swollen Faces features one rising voice, alone and essential, that denounces it. A one voice live narration of tragic events portrayed with heart breaking lyricism to highlight a vulnerable underdog's love for life, in the face of powerful people and their reckless arrogance.
May 6-8, 11, and 13 at 7:00PM, May 5 and 12 (ASL interpretation) at 9:30PM, May 15 at 3:00 PM @The Tank NYC

HIDE AND SEEK

Winner of the 2019 Mario Fratti Award
Written by Tobia Rossi, Translated by Carlotta Brentan
Directed by Carlotta Brentan
Starring Joseph Monseur and Michael Luzczak
Set Designer Sarah Edkins
Giò is a gay teenager firmly convinced that nobody loves him. Not his parents or his teachers, let alone his schoolmates, who mock him constantly and inflict him with humiliating tortures and cruel violence. He therefore decides to escape from that hostile world and hide in his secret shelter. Everyone is looking for him for days without success, until Mirko, one of his classmates, finds him by accident during a walk. Giò begs him to preserve his secret, making him an accomplice to his plan, which forces their relationship to take an unexpected turn.
May 5 and 12 at 7:00PM, May 7 and 8 at 3:00PM, May 7, 8, 11, 14 at 9:30 PM @The Tank NYC

FROM ITALY - In Italian with English Supertitles

FREE ADMISSION

THE BAREFOOT WIDOW (LA VEDOVA SCALZA)

Written & Directed by Maria Virginia Siriu

Based on the book by Salvatore Niffoi (Campiello Award 2006)

Performed by Carla Orrù, Fabrizio Congia & Andrea Vargiu

Presented by Theandric

A performance in the very ancient sardinian language from the Barbagia area. 1930s, life is ordered by traditional rules and the Fascist ones. The protagonist, Mintonia, is an out of the ordinary woman as she reads great books and chooses her own spouse. Something will dramatically change Mintonia's life and she will show that she is no victim. Run time: 60 min
Sat 5/14 at 3pm @Bernie Wohl Center at Goddard Riverside; Wed May 18 8pm @Greek Cultural Center

EXILE (CONFINO)

Written & Performed by Alessandro Tampieri

A story inspired by real events about the life of Angelo, a man who was arrested and exiled under Fascism for being gay. A fictional character that becomes a symbol for homosexual persecution everywhere, in any time.

Special mention at Premio Antonio Caldarella for contemporary dramaturgy, special mention of committee & under 35 at Words Beyond Contest 22 for contemporary dramaturgy

In partnership with the Cassero LGBTI+ Center & Centro di Documentazione Flavia Madaschi. Run time: 60 min.

Sun 5/15 6PM @St. John Lutheran Church; Mon 5/16 6:30PM @CIMA; Tue 5/17 7PM @BAAD.

LITTLE FUNERALS (PICCOLI FUNERALI)

Written by Maurizio Rippa

Performed by Maurizio Rippa (voice) & Amedeo Monda (guitar)

Presented by 369gradi

A spoken and musical score that alternates little funeral rites and songs dedicated to the departed. An offering that is an act of love, a gift and a goodbye, an intimate and personal moment, which finds strength in music. Each song brings back a memory. Each funeral is conducted by the deceased themselves, and takes a journey through the life they lived. Little Funerals is a moving and sweet show capable of welcoming pain and turning it into a rebirth. Run time: 60 min
5/15 8PM @St John Lutheran Church; 830PM @BAAD.

SPECIAL EVENTS

Mario Fratti AWARD CEREMONY AND OPENING NIGHT

Award Ceremony of In Scena! Award to Angelina Fiordellisi and Susan Macaluso and of the Mario Fratti Awards with Readings of the winners of the Mario Fratti Award for emerging Italian playwrights in 2020 (Crumbs of Joy by Giorgia Brusco), 2021 (When men were men by Luca Garello) and 2022 (Apartment 2B by Andrea Cioffi) . In English.

Mon 5/4 at 6pm @The Italian Cultural Institute in NY

THEATER AND IDENTITY

A DISCUSSION AMONG ITALIAN AND ITALIAN American Playwrights

Tuesday 5/3 6PM @The Calandra Institute for Italian American Studies

An informal discussion among Italian and Italian-American playwright on the meaning and importance of identity in their work.

Moderator: Laura Caparrotti - Guests: Tobia Rossi (Winner, Mario Fratti Award 2019), Luca Garello (Mario Fratti Award 2021), Andrea Cioffi (Winner, Mario Fratti Award 2022), Tamara Bartolini (playwright), Frank J. Avella (playwright and screenwriter), Franco D'Alessandro (Playwright), Tamara Bartolini (Playwright), Francesca Spedalieri (Translator and Dramaturg) and a special video appearance by Emma Dante (Playwright, Director)

During the event, Francesca Spedalieri will present the BOOK
mPalermu, Dancers, and Other Plays (Swan Isle Press, January 30, 2020)

Written by Emma Dante, Translated by Francesca Spedalieri

Emma Dante's lyrical storytelling stems from a visceral need to undertake an irreverent subversion of the status quo. The seven plays anthologized in this volume confront familial and societal realities in contemporary southern Italy, oscillating between the humorous and the tragic aspects of everyday life to challenge stereotypes and question economic disparity and gender inequality.

READINGS

HIDE AND SEEK

Written by Tobia Rossi, Translated by Carlotta Brentan

Directed by Chiara Durazzini
With Ryan Baker and Jack Miller

Thu 5/5 @7PM I AM BOOKS, BOSTON, MA

CRUMBS OF JOY

Winner of the 2020 Mario Fratti Award
Written by Giorgia Brusco
Translated by Aurora Magnani, Michela Medici e Maria Chiara Sangalli, Civic School for Translators and Interpreters Altiero Spinelli, Milan.
Directed by Caterina Nonis

The apartment of Ida and Paolo, an elderly couple. Paolo, who's not allowed to eat sugar because of his diabetes, attempts to eat a Nutella sandwich in secret. He nearly chokes. His wife finds him struggling to breathe, and she thinks the stains on his shirt are blood stains. She begins to panic, convinced that Paolo's on the verge of death. She runs out onto the street to look for help. While she's gone, Paolo manages to swallow his sandwich, and settles back down like nothing happened. That's when Ida returns, still in her confused state, bringing with her a passerby who offered to help. But the passerby can't understand what the problem is...

Mon 5/9 @6PM St John Lutheran Church

APARTMENT 2B

Winner of the 2022 Mario Fratti Award
Written by Andrea Cioffi, Translated by Caterina Nonis
Directed by Tess Howsam

In Apartment 2B lives Aimo, a thirty-year-old like many others: precarious work, rented apartment, unpaid bills and a disturbing vision with human features but monstrous proportions, that keep appearing around him, pills in hand, suggesting the way to go: suicide. His only contact with the outside is a shower of voice messages haunting him with deadlines and responsibilities. Nothing seems to distract him from his languishing, until the apartment door opens, letting new people, afflicted by his own mania, enter the studio and his life. Will our modern Hamlet be able to face his ghosts?

Tue 5/10 @7PM Culture Lab LIC

WHEN MEN WERE MEN

Winner of the 2021 Mario Fratti Award

Written by Luca Garello, Translated by Carlotta Brentan
Directed by Annie G. Levy

Flavia is the owner of a detective agency. In 1996 an elderly woman named Giulia Graf hired her to investigate Pietro Montali, a soldier who went missing during the Second World War. A few years later, Flavia tells the story of what she found out to a journalist. The investigation, following the thread of the official documents, testimonies and correspondence of Montali, leads Flavia to shed light on a dark and tragic past. At the same time, the flashbacks of Giulia and Pietro's life tell of a love suffocated by the advent of the Racial Laws. A love that, thanks to Flavia's work, finds a new, unexpected, ending.

Fri 5/19 TBA

Each year In Scena! presents a survey of the best Italian theater from Italy, in New York City. The festival features full productions that have already toured in Italy as well as readings of Italian plays in translation, lectures and exchanges between Italian and International Artists. The goal is to promote greater awareness of Italian theater and Italian artists among New York theatergoers, and to build a bridge between the artistic scenes in Italy and New York.

In 2013 Kairos Italy Theater, the preeminent Italian theater company in New York City, created In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY, the first Italian theater festival to take place in all five New York City boroughs and beyond. The festival's first edition was part of the 2013 Year of Italian Culture in the United States. The festival has since become an annual event. www.inscenany.com