Italian Actor/Director Dario D'Ambrosi to Address UN Panel on 'Integrated Theatre of Emotion'

Italian actor/director Dario D'Ambrosi will speak his "Integrated Theatre of Emotion," a university-level program for mentally disabled people, at the United Nations on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 in a panel entitled "Communication as a Key for Inclusion and Participation," part of the Tenth Conference of States Parties to the Convenion on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The event will be held from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM at UNHQ, Conference Room E.

"The Integrated Theatre of Emotion" is a university program that academically and professionally prepares people for careers in theater arts who are schizophrenic, catatonic, manic depressive, autistic or born with Down Syndrome. The first ever university-level degree program in "Integrated Theater of the Emotion" was born in Rome in 2016 thanks to the communal effort of Pathological Theater, the University of Rome Tor Vergata and MIUR (the Italian Ministry of University and Research). Its objective is to increase and sustain education for those with mental or physical disabilities. The curriculum includes a compendium of theater-related courses: acting, playwriting, directing, set design, costume design, music therapy, singing and dance. Through these studies, disabled students acquire tools to help them approach the professional world and recover an often denied dignity. Thanks to the success of this course, the "Integrated Theater of the Emotion" curriculum is now spreading through universities in Italy and Europe.

Appearing on the panel with Mr. D'Ambrosi will be: Gabriele Lösekrug-Möller (Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs), Ms. Sharon Stuart (Department of Social Services, Australia) and Michal Rimon ("Pay It Forward in Sign Language," Access Israel). The panel will be moderated by Prof. Dr. Theresia Degener (Chair of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).

Info on the event has been announced recently by the Permanent Missions of Germany and Israel. More information is available at www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/conference-of-states-parties-to-the-convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-2/cosp10.html. International sign language interpretation, CART and a live webcast will be provided.

Dario D'Ambrosi is a former professional soccer player, one of Italy's leading performance artists and originator of the theatrical movement called Teatro Patologico. His plays investigate mental illness by grasping its vital artistic and creative aspects with the intention of restoring the "dignity of the fool."

In the '80s and '90s, D'Ambrosi marched irresistibly into the forefront of Italy's theatrical ambassadors, a cohort led by Pirandello, DiFilippo and Dario Fo. In 1994, he received the equivalent of a Tony Award in his country: a prize for lifetime achievement in the theater from the Instituto del Drama Italiano. D'Ambrosi first performed at New York's La MaMa Experimental Theatre in 1980 and has been in residence there nearly every year thereafter. He has written and directed over 16 plays, acted in 18 major films and TV movies, and written and directed three full-length films. Fifteen of his plays have had their American premieres at La MaMa. In the US, he has also performed at Lincoln Center, Chicago's Organic Theatre, Cleveland's Public Theater and Los Angeles' Stages Theatre, among others.

For more info on Mr. D'Ambrosi, visit www.jsnyc.com/season/D'Ambrosi_bio.htm, www.teatropatologico.org and www.facebook.com/teatropatologico.org.

Photo Credit: Nadia Kitirath