by Davide Mamone
(Translation)
It was New Year’s Eve in 1990 when Valeria Orani first discovered the streets of Milan. She was working on the end-of-the-year show that however finished before the midnight: “I didn’t know what to do and I hadn’t made any plans so I ended up in Duomo Square”. Thirty years later, that young girl from Sardinia lost in the streets of Milan has become a theater producer in New York. She is the organizer of an event taking place at the Italian Institute of Culture during the week dedicated to the Italian language featuring Italian actress Isabella Ragonese.
She knew she wanted to work in Theater since she was 14 and lived in Cagliari. However, it was only when moved from Sardinia that she felt she had started something that was her own. “In Milan, the city that “lives” representing the more elegant image that the city developed after the years of the “Milano da bere (Milan to drink)* I collected many stories that stimulated my imagination”. Her master was Fulvio Fo, brother of the famous Dario Fo. “Theater made me realize that everything is ephemeral, even richness: this is the foundation of my love for this job”.
She started as an assistant and organizer in a theater company. These were the years where in Milan, even if you were young, you could make a lot of money with culture. Everybody called me “the child” because I was always the youngest in the company. The youngest yet with a lot of responsibilities.: “My challenge was to make them accept the idea that although, younger I was their boss”. The turning point was when I met the actor Alessandro Benvenuti.
“I spent my years in Milan trying to understand what I wanted to become: thanks to Alessandro I finally understood it. After the stint in Milan, Valeria moves to Rome where she becomes executive producer in Benvenuti’s company. Here she understands her vision of theater. “ Merging innovation with tradition: I could never stand the duality between rich and poor and I believe there shouldn’t be borders between the two”
The years in Rome are busy ones. In 2003 she founds an association, that eventually is incorporated into a company, 369gradi. The company is presented as a case study at the first edition of Good Practice of Paolo Grassi School of Theater in Milano, “a place where budding artists could move their first steps”. In 2009 she takes over Benvenuti’s company. In 2014 she takes the plunge, a little accidentally: Manhattan. “I saw in this city the opportunity to widen my artistic vision”.
Valeria moves to New York after a tourist trip. She is fascinated by “the artistic turmoil of the pop culture”, but when she moves there she is a little overwhelmed. The idea of New York I had was very different from the reality I found there. New York is a truly difficult city but it has a quality that I haven’t found anywhere else not even in Milan: it is dialogs with people who are able to live in it and rewards the brave”.
In New York, Valeria continues to work for his Italian company and establishes Umanism, a consultancy company that focuses on culture and that collaborates with partners such as the Italian Institute of Culture. “I haven’t still been able to fully understand this city, it certainly is not so open to innovation as I thought. However, it is an environment where you don’t have any other alternative but to grow”. Valeria present is split between Manhattan and Milano, where she is producing a new show with Antonio Marras. What about tomorrow? “I’m intrigued by the idea of going back to Cagliari, I have been traveling a long time”. However, I’m also thinking about Milan that is now my new point of reference in Europe”.
AT THE ITALIAN INSTITUTE OF CULTURE
“The show “On a Solitary Beach” is a voyage in tribute to the Italian language in the theater, and, in particular, to Camilleri”. The event, that took place at the Italian Institute of Culture in New York, is part of “The Week of the Italian Language in the World” ending tomorrow. Actress Isabella Ragonese from Palermo was the protagonist of the event organized by Valeria and part of the Italian Playwrights Project.
THE ANECDOTE
Milan as she knew it as a girl was full of anecdotes. She remembers one in particular with a smile: a time when Fulvio and Dario Fo, Giustino Durano and Mario Carotenuto spent the night dressed as sheiks. They did not change after the show and took 20 cabs with 20 ballerinas pretending to want to book hotel rooms like that”. “It did not end well, they were taken to the police station”
THE NEW MILAN
In the last months Valeria increased her visits to Milan for the production of the show “My heart I’m suffering, what can I do for you” by Antonio Marras. “It feels like going back to the little girl from Cagliari in 1990”
*a description coined during the 80s that originated as a slogan for commercials but that soon became a byword for a milieu where, under the sleek glittering surface of fashion, hot spots and nightlife, a world of unprincipled young go-getters, businessmen and corrupt politicians started emerging.