Snapshots from the direction of Ferdinando Ceriani

We're making our debut with the workshop's final show at the Teatro Valle in Rome, thanks to an agreement between the university and the Ente Teatrale Italiano. Before we take over the theater, we’re filled with great emotion and excitement. And then the rush—almost superhuman, thinking about it now—to set up the show in the few hours we had. We go on stage at 9 PM, following the afternoon show that ends at 7 PM. Lights, backstage, dressing rooms, entrances and exits, light checks, sound checks—all happening simultaneously, with a flurry of questions from the students, who are disoriented but happy. A celebration of colors and sounds, welcomed by a large and delighted audience.

Created and directed by Ferdinando Ceriani and Angelo Guidi

May 30, 2004, 9:00 PM

Teatro Valle, Rome

At the end of last year’s workshop, as often happens in our profession of “doing theater,” Angelo Guidi and I were already wondering which show to choose for the next course, what approach to take for the upcoming production. And as we were having dinner with the students, celebrating and listening to them attentively, we realized how wonderful it was to hear this “potpourri” of accents from Campania, Puglia, Sicily, Abruzzo, Calabria, and Basilicata. That’s where the idea came from to create a show that could capture the festive spirit we felt that evening, so characteristic of the South. So, Angelo Guidi began a long and careful selection process among all the texts by Southern authors that seemed suitable to us. Our choice, from Brancati to Totò, from Eduardo to D’Annunzio, from Alvaro to Joppolo and De Roberto, most of which were adapted by Angelo Guidi, aims to present an ironic, and sometimes dramatic, portrait of the vices and virtues of our South, seen through the lens of some of Italy’s greatest Southern authors. But what matters most to us is to preserve, as much as possible, the folk spirit of this literature. This includes the interplay of dialects (think of D’Annunzio’s Abruzzese or Eduardo’s Neapolitan), the frenetic pace of the curtain-raiser (Totò, Mimì Maggio), traditional music (Sicilian Modugno, emigrant songs, tarantellas, Italian folk), and the sense of play and celebration that also reflects our joy in doing theater. A show that is therefore also, and above all, a theatrical celebration that sweeps through the stalls, engages the audience, partially removes the fourth wall, and expands the stage space. It is a great honor for us to present our work at the Teatro Valle, one of Rome’s most beautiful theaters, as part of the agreement between Luiss Guido Carli University and the Ente Teatrale Italiano. This collaboration will see the two institutions work together to promote theater among students during the upcoming theater season. But now, folks, let's let them speak; let's hand the stage over to the actors so they can tell their stories under the alluring light of the Mediterranean sun.

Students | Key Players

• Francesco Amorosino
• Valentina Baglieri
• Caterina Bongs
• Orsola Briglia
• Teresa Cordaro
• Marco Cozzolino Coletta
• Silvia Crisalli
• Riccardo Crocetta
• Pietro Dattola
• Flavia De Lipsis
• Francesca Di Maio
• Carmelo Dragotta
• Alessandra El Hariri
• Edoardo Faraci
• Giampaolo Filauro
• Andrea Gagliano
• Umberta Gentile
• Giuseppe Guglielmino
• Maria Guglielmino
• Sara Hassan
• Roberto Lato
• Giuseppe Lo Papa
• Antonella Mancusi
• Alessandro Marrone
• Viviana Merlo
• Adriano Missori
• Sergio Montanino
• Delia Nicotra
• Simone Oddo
• Alessandra Peduto
• Federico Roli
• Pamela Sammartano
• Fabio Massimo Silvetti
• Camilla Stefanizzi
• Laura Toro
• Tortorici, Dèsirée
• Alessandro Tribulato
• Yang Dixi