by Rossella Menna
(Translation)
Valeria Orani is one of the bravest personalities of the Italian cultural sector. After working as a producer and theatre organizer for several public and private arts organizations for a few years, she set up 369gradi (http://www.369gradi.it ). 369gradi is a production, promotional and distribution business focussing on contemporary arts, which has so far promoted top-notch, innovative artists such as Punta Corsara and Lucia Calamaro. Over three years ago she moved to New York, where she set up Umanism NY (http://www.umanism. com/), a service company dedicated to ‘exporting’ cultural contents and which offers organizational, admin support, as well as promotional services to all talents who want to access the generous and complex market of the Big Apple - from performing artists to high-end artistry, fashion, design and food. The first project which Umanism has promoted is the Italian Playwrights Project, a two-year-long work which focuses on the promotion of Italy’s contemporary theater in the US. This involves the selection, translation and publishing of plays by a board of US experts. The pilot edition of the Italian Playwrights Projects further developed into the Italian and American Playwrights Project, (http://thesegalcenter.org/event/italian-playwrights-project-2) with the idea of creating a bi-directional bridge where Italian theater is conveyed for the US audience and viceversa with the American plays.
The project will be launched at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York, on December 4th, whilst the Martin Segal Theatre Center will host a presentation of the Italian Playwrights Project during which three selected texts will be performed onstage. Rome’s Teatro Vascello will instead host American authors onstage on December 14th. Such authors have been selected by a board of experts based in Italy. Translations of the works of the first edition were published by CUNY. As we wait to find out about the outcome of this extraordinary cultural exchange business, we took some time to talk directly to Umanism director about theatre, Italian theater dynamics and fundraising strategies.
What kind of resources did you have when you left Italy? What were your intentions and objectives?
I came to NY to see if Umanism was a feasible project: I wanted to carry out a marketing research for an idea I had on how to promote small and medium sized companies, startups and entrepreneurial talents, just like I had done with arts up until that moment. I had already produced theater in Italy, and I wanted to target a slightly different segment, such as high-end artistry and design. Performing arts did not seem to me the way one could easily access the US market.
But you cannot really get away from your fate: one of the very first people I met was Frank Hentschker (https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/Theatre?Faculty-Bios/Frank-Hentschker), director of City University of New York’s Martin Segal Theatre Center (http://thesegalcenter/org/) and once he found out I was in town, he asked to meet with me immediately. The Segal Center covers foreign theatre and Frank had long wanted to include Italian theater in his program but had not been able to find support. Finding adequate funding was the focal issue. Italy does not have the equivalent of the British Institute, Alliance Française or Goethe Institute, and the Italian Cultural Institute does not have adequate funds to support all arts. So we decided to finance the project without public funding. It is, however, desirable to access state funds at some point, but the fundamental question for me is that a project must start and go ahead even if those funds are not there.
This is a hot debate in Italy. Almost all theatrical work is financed with public funds and when these are suspended, a huge void is left.
This is one of the reasons why I’m here: learn new strategies to finance creative enterprises without having to wait for public funds. If the public funding is a condition, the public becomes - paradoxically - an arts producer, which makes no sense. An art project should be able to exist regardless. I realize that this point of view is not the one to which we are used to, and that this concept is very difficult to accept for many Italians, who complain about the lack of funds instead of creatively looking for solutions.
It is practically inevitable that we will need to learn how to apply for funds and create new innovative ways of self-financing theatre, and it’s true that many of us have not yet realized how important this is. However, we should not forget that public funds are allocated for culture, and that public institutions such as National Theaters receive money to pursue collective aims.
As a matter of fact, it is the whole funding mechanism that does not work. Investing in talents should be a commitment and an honor of public institutions. They should be looking for talents to invest in, not the other way round.
Can you give me an example of a strategy which has worked out?
When I funded 369gradi in 2003, nobody would have ever imagined that a new innovative theatre company could 'own’ its own press office. Nobody was charging less than E5,000, topped by further costs, such as the purchase of advertising space. That was the kind of money with which you could pay an entire production at that time. Companies used to get helped during a festival or via theaters which were somehow involved with the production. By that time, I had worked a lot with mainstream productions and loved innovation. I could not understand why nobody had adopted marketing strategies which could help initiatives emerge. I realized that my feelings were shared by many. Then I studied a way to make those services more affordable, and charge artists only 10% of what they should have paid for a standard customized service by building a network and changing the system. For instance, we stopped advertising on TV, which charged too much and worked more with other media. We focused a lot on editorials which launched the show on local newspapers - which for us was ‘free’ advertising. The relationship with journalists changed, we talked a lot about the value of innovative and emerging theater. Those who were not affiliated to us were charged E500, the rest paid E300. The latter could access extra services (e.g. a page on our Internet site with comprehensive information for press agents and audience) in return for a yearly membership.
With no public funds at all?
Only the ministerial funds, because those are the ones to which we are eligible. That money pays for a modest part of our taxes, we cannot use it for productions. We do not participate in local public tenders because of the ‘snare’ effect it may create: you never know when those funds are paid and in the meantime this delay may create a very difficult situation with banks.
How do you support yourselves, then?
By selling services. This is nothing new: I try to sell production and distribution services, I follow the theatre agent model. The idea of having a theatre manager may sound a bit old fashioned, because we are surrounded by art groups which make everything by themselves. An artist, though, may not have a comprehensive vision which includes managerial, organizational, authorial, artistic, directing and acting skills. It is a shame that an artist may want to continue not to have anything to do with mainstream artists, especially now that innovation is involving an area of the arts which is identified as the “Italian theatre”. I would like to remind that that’s where theatre professionals came from. What happens is that the figure of a costume designer or a scenographer are often erased from the production, and the direct consequence is that part of the organizational structure disappears, too. At that point, it is not always possible even for the most incredible artist to use his/her artistic skills to replace other professional skills. Companies are made up of two people to a maximum of four. Eight people would be an exaggeration. Typically an author only writes for specific actors who then have to organize, distribute, promote, do admin work, deal with lighting, costumes and sound. This means that if I do everything by myself and I have to determine the cost of my work, I can sell my services cheaply, and I get into a situation where I have to accept a very low wage because I am the only person to decide. So, I can produce a show for E500. This frame of mind has damaged the market and it has done so unwittingly.
The paradox of this paternalistic state-funded system is that Italians have learnt to do anything except coming up with strategies to deal with the lack of funds. However, I would like to make a distinction: the fact that an author exclusively writes for a group of actors or a director is also the author of his dialogues is not a pathology, but rather a feature of our own theatre. In other words, I believe that the one-man-business dynamic is due to economical reasons. In many cases, playwriting, direction and acting cannot be regarded as separate talents. When we think about the first edition of the Italian Playwright Project, for instance, the discussion immediately becomes intriguing: is it possible to have a text written by Deflorian/Tagliarini acted by actors who look and sound different?
This is an important question. In the first edition of the project (2015) the shortlisted plays were amongst those which received national awards such as Ubu, Riccione and Hystrio. I wanted to kick off with a number of powerful and diverse plays. Out of all the 14 plays which were submitted to the US, Fausto Paravidino’s The neighbors and Lucia Calamaro’s The Origin of the World were immediately picked. Marco Martinelli was also a very strong candidate, but I did my best not to have it included for two reasons: first of all, it had already been translated into English and secondly because I plan to host Marco as a guest next year, the same way we did with Stefano Massini in 2016. The third play that was picked was The Healer by Michele Santeramo, even though it raised a few questions regarding the use of the dialect. The last one, We decided to go because we don’t want to be a burden to you was chosen by the advisory board at Segal because of its reference to the theme of suicide of Greek pensioners. However, the text raised some concerns because of the misunderstanding in its interpretation by those who did not know already the work of Deflorian/Tagliarini.
What do you mean?
The US director who was in charge of the staging chose a group of elderly actors, who were not adequate for the play. The text does not require any particular staging and any attempt makes the play unrealistic. After its presentation I thought it would have been a mistake to translate it. Drama needs to be universal and easy to ‘export’ everywhere.
However, if a project aims to promote Italy’s new drama, then it should also take into consideration that our theatre is often directly linked to its author.
Perhaps even now we should ask ourselves a few questions: how well can a US artist do with a similar play? What sense or value does his/her work have, given that the play is acted and directed by the same person? Then perhaps a careful editing and specific strategies should be adopted so that a text can be not only translated into another language but also ‘explained’ with the use of footnotes and comments to better orientate the reader. Otherwise one ends up promoting drama which is exclusively expression of a specific idea of theatre as a staging process.
I have created a project which can help re-establish a bridge between the Italian and US theatre, which almost vanished in the last thirty years. I have passed it on to the experts. I am a cultural manager, I’m interested in finding Italian plays which can be produced in the States right now and which producers and directors can bring on stage. The whole cultural issue is something else. My selection is clearly limited and more precise, it has no specific or historical reference. Once the objectives and the structure of the project have been identified, I let more competent people deal with the quality of the work that we want to offer.
The collaboration between an expert and a manager who is able to create the right ‘scaffolding’ to facilitate the best outcome is the ideal situation which we should all refer to.
If I thought I could replace researchers, academics, theatre directors and writers, then I would be just like the director who acts, deals with the technical stuff and organizes the various phases of the project. I cannot make the same mistake I see other people make. I can potentially come up with endless strategic ideas, but I also know my limits and know where to stop.
The rules of the game have already become more complex in this year’s new edition of the project. The criteria used to choose the texts are different.
It’s true, we have created two advisory boards, one in Italy and one in the States. They each had to come up with a number of texts which are regarded as representative of each national drama. Then the Italian board has shortlisted the US texts and viceversa. Both groups are diverse and include academics, critics, theatre operators and researchers.
Who are the Italian playwrights whose texts will be presented in NY next December?
Fabrizio Sinisi, Elisa Casseri, Armando Pirozzi, Giuliana Musso. I believe that this is a very interesting ‘test bench’ since Sinisi had only been selected by one member of the Italian board, whilst the New Yorkers liked him better than other playwrights.
Who chose the playwrights?
University professors, editors, artists. You can find all names here (http://thesegalcenter.org/event/italian-playwrights-project-2/ )
Who are the Italian experts?
Simone Bruscia, Roberto Canziani, Graziano Graziani, Stefano Massini, Debora Pietrobono, Giulia Della Santi and myself.
Including theatre directors and producers.
Yes, my aim is to create a place for authors, a ‘real’ place, not just a virtual reality, where a text can be translated, published and distributed to producers. It would be ideal to create a place where authors, producers and playwrights can meet. This requires a lot of work on the short term, because it is important that playwrights themselves be less hostile to the whole idea.
Do you mean that authors are able to boycott themselves?
Correct, this happens! It is a consequence of the fact that texts are often tightly linked to actors and directors, so this triggers some kind of jealousy, a sort of fear that their own ‘creature’ may fall into the hands of others. Another issue is the fear of plagiarism and theft.
Theatre has been the focus of attention in the last few years. Rome-based promotional agency Pay (http://www.pav-it.eu) has just won the Creative Europe contest with Fabulamundi, and obtained a major European fund. Fabulamundi was also Ubu-contest nominated. Are you in touch with Fabulamundi?
We have not talked to each other yet, but we respect each other and I can openly say that Face à Face and Fabulamundi have been my first source of inspiration for the Playwright Project. There are obvious differences, because our project is self-funded and we always keep an eye on its financial feasibility: my intent is to sell texts to producers.
How have you funded the project so far?
During our first edition, we received donations from Teatro della Tosse in Genoa, from Elsinor production center, from Outis (Milan’s drama national center). The Italian Cultural Institute has given us a small contribution, the Martin Segal Theatre has taken care of all the technical and logistical aspects every time we had guests. The Italian Foreign Ministry has given us a grant for the translation work. A funding account with Fractured Atlas (https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/fiscal/profile?id=14893#about_project ) has been set up via the Segal Theatre to collect private funds in the form of fiscal sponsorship. We collaborated with the American University of Rome during our first edition of the American Playwright Project at Teatro Vascello by providing tickets for the American playwrights. We also have a network of different collaborations such as our partnership with Radio 3.
What’s in the pipeline?
The strategic part of my work is 369gradi, whose area of activity needed to be re-planned again. Our intention is to shift our work and focus on texts more in the next three years. We want to support, promote and fund theatre. It is not without reason that I have bought the copyrights of a format called White Rabbit Red Rabbit, great text which has given us the chance to shift our attention from the companies to the texts, and which is doing very well. Since we believe in team-work, the artistic direction of 369gradi will be shared with Emanuele Valenti, the director of Punta Corsara, the company in which we have invested a lot.
Will you stay in NY long?
As someone who grew up in an island like Sardinia, I never felt at home when I lived in Rome. I feel the same for NY. My roots are somewhere else. I am not a migrant, I never fled away, I’m here to do my work better.
What do you think of the longed-for entertainment law which has just been approved?
I have not been able to read it thoroughly, but as far as I know, it seems promising. The extension of the art bonus to cover all sectors of entertainment is a good sign and has reduced our distance with other countries. It allows an active participation of companies in the arts. We don’t have the right structure to raise funds in Italy yet, but I hope that this law will be able to support our sector, too, so that each entertainment initiative can be regarded as a small and medium sized business, where production and organization can be an indispensable part of good quality arts production in constant need of a strong, stable and supportive structure.