ITALIAN PLAYWRIGHTS PROJECT
EVENING PRESENTATION
Istituto Italiano di Cultura – London
39, Belgrave Square
7:00 pm, August 24, 2017
Featuring excerpted reading in english and italian from
"A Notebook for the Winter" (UN QUADERNO PER INVERNO)
by Armando Pirozzi
"Best playwrighting" Ubu Award 2017
Followed by a conversation with
the project’s curator Valeria Orani, and freelance journalist and translator Monica Capuani
The Italian Playwrights Project brings some of the brightest, innovative, and most engaging playwrights from Italy to New York to develop their pieces through translation into English and public readings of the work.
After the success of the first (IPP, 2015/16) and second (IPP, 2017/2018) edition of the Italian Playwrights Project and a special evening dedicated to the work of Stefano Massini in 2017 and 2018, Valeria Orani, Director of Umanism NY, with Frank Hentschker, Director of the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (Graduate Center – CUNY) forge forward their collaboration to present the Project in London with the support of the Istituto Italiano Di Cultura di New York e con la media partnership di Radio3 Rai
For this first appointment we chose to bring one of the chosen plays for the second edition of IPP including "The Horizon of Events" by Elisa Casseri, "My Hero" by Giuliana Musso, "The Great Walk" by Fabrizio Sinisi, and the play that will be read "A Notebook for the Winter" by Armando Pirozzi thanks to the presence of the anglo-italian actors Marco Quaglia and Stefano Patti who will be on stage from August the 27th till September the 8th at the Tristan Bates in London with "Echoes", a play written by Lorenzo De Liberato (www.echoes-edfringe.com)
The Play:
"A Notebook for the Winter" is a two-actor-piece which in three acts and tells the story of an introvert professor of literature who finds a burglar on his way back home. The knife-wielding burglar wants something unexpected from him: it is a question of life or death. During the entire night, the two characters talk, exchange ideas, feelings, ask painful questions out of hope and desperation, in a completely new and unexpected atmosphere. They will meet again years later, both affected by that night. Although their personal memory of that night is different, yet it may have triggered a change in both of them, by offering a further comprehension and awareness of each other. The key idea is based on the power of writing as a way to directly impact reality: the wonder resilience of poetry is not seen as a literary exercise, but rather as a vibrant force which affects life.
"A Notebook for the Winter" received the “Best italian playwrighting - @UBU Award 2017 “ (Associazione Ubu per Franco Quadri)
The Author:
Armando Pirozzi was born in Naples on the 4th of October 1973. He wrote and directed “Cronache da un Tempo Isterico” which obtained the special production award “Nuove Sensibilità 2008” and went onstage during the Turin Teatro a Corte Festival of 2009.
His piece “La Prima della Sera” opened the Theatre Fringe Festival in Naples, Italy, in 2009. His following piece “Attraverso il Furore”, was written on Meister Eckhart and directed by
Massimiliano Civica; it was premiered at the Armunia - Inequilibrio Festival of Castiglioncello in July 2011. “Soprattutto l’Anguria” was shortlisted at Premio Riccione of 2009 and then brought onstage by Massimiliano Civica during the Romaeuropa Festival. His 2013 work “Hard Times” was shortlisted at Premio Riccione. “Altamente Volatile” was written in 2015 for the school recital for the end of his third year at the Accademia Nazionale D'Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico - Teatrino. It was directed by Massimiliano Civica. Pirozzi wrote “Il Cielo in una Stanza”, with Emanuele Valenti in 2016, who brought it onstage with
the troupe Punta Corsara at the Napoli Teatro Festival Italia.
“Un Quaderno per l’Inverno” ("A Notebook for the Winter") premiered at the Teatro Fabbricone in Prato, under the direction of Massimiliano Civica, in March 2017.
His letest play "Bestie" also directed by Civica premiered at Teatro Metastasio in Prato on April 2018.
The Actors:
Stefano Patti graduated in acting from the Academy of Dramatic Arts at the Teatro Quirino in Rome. He earned national attention for his portrayal of Ernest in Antonio Latella’s acclaimed production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Stefano will soon be seen in the lead role of Marco Cassini’s new film La Porta Sul Buio.
Marco Quaglia, after graduating from Italy’s national drama school (Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio D’Amico), Marco has enjoyed a varied career across theatre, television and film. Most recently, Marco can be seen in Tom Fontana’s TV series, Borgia, and Medici – Masters of Florence, directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan.
The Relators:
Valeria Orani founded in Italy 369gradi (2003) as a center for innovative services to promote and distribute Italian culture, particularly contemporary art and the performing arts. In 2009, 369gradi turned to producing, working every year for about fifty Italian artists and technicians on productions staged throughout Italy and abroad.
In 2014, Valeria Orani established a transoceanic pilot project which aimed to promote the work of professionals in the contemporary world of Italian arts and crafts in New York City. She founded Umanism LLC in 2015. “Umanism” is the crasis or combination of the Italian word “umanesimo” and the English word “humanism.”
Valeria Orani is curator with Frank Hentschker, Director of The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the CUNY Graduate Center of The Italian Playwrights Project. This is an ambitious new translation , performance, and publishing initiative now at its second edition.
On 2017 they also launched the American Playwrights Project, dedicated to promote American dramaturgy in Italy.
Monica Capuani is a freelance cultural journalist for important Italian magazines such as L’Espresso, L’Europeo, io Donna, Elle. She is also a literary translator from English and French, having translated more than seventy novels, and of English and American Drama, bringing several plays to the Italian stage, most recently The Pride by Alexi Kaye Campbell, directed and interpreted by Luca Zingaretti.
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