THE MARTIN E. SEGAL THEATRE CENTER ANNOUNCES
THE FINAL SELECTION OF ITALIAN PLAYS FOR
THE 2015/16 ITALIAN PLAYWRIGHTS PROJECT

December 7th, 2015, 6:30 pm at

The Segal Theatre

The Graduate Center City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue, (at 34th Str.) New York, New York 10016
www.thesegalcenter.org

(NEW YORK June 20, 2015) The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the Graduate Center, City University of New York announces the final selection of Italian plays for the 2015/16 Italian Playwrights Project.

The Segal Center has invited Italian Artistic Director Valeria Orani from 369gradi (Italy) and Umanism (NY) to collaborate in this ambitious new translation, performance and publishing initiative. “Valeria’s initiative is the most significant Italian playwright project in the last two decades in the Americas, and we are honored to be able to support this project,” states Segal Center Executive Director Dr. Frank Hentschker. Valeria Orani adds: “We have a truly fantastic selection of some of the most significant contemporary Italian playwrights working today and we believe that American audiences will connect with the themes in their works.”

The Segal Center’s Italian Playwrights Project has three principal goals:

•                To raise the awareness of contemporary Italian writing for the stage in the Americas and to foster the development of collaborative relationships between playwrights from Italy and American theatre artists.

•                After the December readings, the launch of a Contemporary Award-Winning  Italian Theatre Festival in New York with fully staged productions of the selected plays.

•                The publication of a translated anthology of the selected Italian plays.

The Segal Center, in collaboration with an advisory committee, chose from a pool of recent winners of some of the most prestigious playwriting awards in Italy: The Ubu Award, The Riccione Award, and The Hystrio Award. The selected plays include:

Ce Ne Andiamo per non darvi altre preoccupazioni  by Daria Deflorian & Antonio Tagliarini; Il Guaritore by Michele Santeramo; I Vicini by Fausto Paravidino; Origine Del Mondo by Lucia Calamaro.

All of the playwrights have been invited to participate on December 7,th to a day of excerpts from the plays and a roundtable discussion, as part of The Segal Center’s World Theatre Series. The readings and the workshop are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED basis.

Project Co-Presenters of the Italian Playwrights Project :Valeria Orani, 369gradi Contemporary Culture Production in Italy, Umanism NYC, Contemporary European Culture in USA and Frank Hentschker, Segal Theatre Center, The Graduate Center, City University of New York.

About the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center: The Segal Center bridges the gap between the academic and performing arts communities through dynamic public programs and digital initiatives that are free and open to all. Home to theatre artists, scholars, students, performing arts managers, and the local and international performance communities, the Segal Center provides a supportive environment for conversation, open exchange, and the development of new ideas and new work. Year round, the Center presents a wide variety of FREE public programs which feature leading national and international artists, scholars, and arts professionals in conversation about theatre and performance. Programs include staged readings to further the development of new and classic plays, festivals celebrating New York performance (PRELUDE) and international plays (PEN World Voices), screenings of performance works on film, artists in conversation, academic lecture series, televised seminars, symposia, and arts in education programs. In addition, the Center maintains its long-standing visiting-scholars-from-abroad program, publishes a series of highly regarded academic journals, as well as single volumes of importance (including plays in translation), all written and edited by renowned scholars. www.theSegalCenter.org

About Umanism NYC: Umanism is a movement representing the desire to promote Italian contemporary culture professionals from art and craft world in New York City. An open platform to connect Italy to USA recognizing and expanding the creative potential of projects by Italian artists from all over the world, supporting them in each step of the production in the larger and more challenging context of New York  www.umanism.com

About 369gradi Contemporary Culture Production: In 2003, Valeria Orani founded "369gradi", a production and curatorial company as well as a center for the promotion and distribution of Italian culture, based in Rome, Italy. "369gradi" mission is to investigate new possibilities in contemporary art, performing arts and drama. In 2013 alone 369gradi produced over 12 award-winning ensembles pieces, presented at major Italian theatres and festivals. 

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