Kairos Italy Theater to Hold 2nd In Scena! Italian Theater Festival, 6/9-24

Kairos Italy Theater, the preeminent Italian theater company in NYC, will present its second In Scena! Italian Theater Festival (www.inscenany.com) in all five boroughs from June 9 to 24, 2014. The event will feature six full productions and four readings. Production highlights include "Hanno tutti ragione" (Everybody's Right), performed by Iaia Forte, a leading actress in Paolo Sorrentino's film "The Great Beauty" (Best Foreign Language Film, 2014 Academy Awards). The play is based on a book by Sorrentino. Other programming highlights include a series of plays and readings dealing with soccer, celebrating the 2014 Soccer World Cup.

The In Scena! Festival was inaugurated last year as an official event of "2013 Year of Italian Culture" in the USA, under the auspices of the President of the Italian Republic with the Patronage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C. Events were mounted in all five boroughs and included three full productions that were US premieres, three special events and four staged readings, all playing to full houses. In Scena! is Italian for "on stage!" This year, six full productions and four readings are planned. All events will be bilingual.

The festival's Opening Night will take place from 7:00 PM on June 9 at the Arthur Avenue Market in the Bronx. The evening will be dedicated to playwright Eduardo de Filippo on the 30th Anniversary of his death. Special guest will be Iaia Forte (see above). Opening Night tickets are $75 and include a buffet dinner by Master Chef David Greco, regularly featured on Food Network, as well as drinks by various sponsors. Tickets are available for sale at www.inscenany.com. The evening will be a celebration of Italian theater, food and culture, and will also feature a raffle of authentic Italian products as well as theater tickets.

The festival will present the first Mario Fratti Award for emerging Italian authors. A play will be chosen by a panel including Mario Fratti (playwright), Alberto Bassetti (multi awarded Italian playwright, director Teatro Lo Spazio, Rome), Emilia Costantini (theater critic for Corriere della Sera and playwright), Francesco Foti (actor/playwright), Giovanna Marinelli (theater consultant) and Ernesto Orrico (actor/director/playwright). The winning play will be translated and staged as a reading or work in progress in NYC on June 23 at 7:00 PM at Theater for the New City (155 First Ave.).

The winning playwright will be presented with an especially created painting made by Victora Febrer, a visual artist who uses wine to create her paintings. The award ceremony will take place on June 24, during the Closing Night, at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, 686 Park Ave.

The Festival will present workshops and lectures with participating artists and it will travel on June 12 to the Embassy of Italy in Washington DC.

From June 12 to14, the famous Italian musical comedy "Rugantino" returns to New York's City Center after 50 years. To honor this production, the festival has not scheduled conflicting events for those three days.