Martin E. Segal Theatre Center to Launch 2015-16 Italian Playwrights Project This Dec

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, in collaboration with Italian Artistic Director Valeria Orani from 369gradi (Italy) and Umanism (NY), has co-curated a new Italian translation, performance, and publishing initiative.

Four plays were selected, in collaboration with an advisory committee, from a pool of recent winners of some of the most prestigious playwriting awards in Italy, including The Ubu Award, The Riccione Award, and The Hystrio Award. Supported by the Italian Cultural Institute of New York.

Opening Day of 2015/16 Italian Playwrights Project

An entire day dedicated to new Italian plays and European theatre in New York in the new millennium. Partner of the project is the Italian Institute of Culture of New York.

AFTERNOON EVENT: 12:00 pm, December 7, 2015:
Instituto Italiano di Cultura, 686 Park Avenue (btwn 68th and 69th), Manhattan.

ROUNDTABLE with producers, artistic directors and playwrights
with Giorgio Van Straten, Director of the Italian Institute of Culture NY;
moderated by journalist Graziano Graziani,

EVENING EVENT: 6:30 pm, December 7, 2015:
The Martin E. Segal Theatre, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
365 Fifth Avenue (btwn 34th and 35th), Manhattan.

Featuring excerpted readings:
Ce Ne Andiamo per non darvi altre preoccupazioni (We'll be off, to spare you further worry) by Daria Deflorian & Antonio Tagliarini. Translated by Janice Capuana;
Il Guaritore (The Healer) by Michele Santeramo.
Translated by Ana Candida De Carvalho Carneiro and Raquel Almazan;
I Vicini (The Neighbors) by Fausto Paravidino.
Translated by Jane House
Origine Del Mondo (The Origin of the World) by Lucia Calamaro. Translated by Jane House.

All playwrights, except Michele Santeramo, will be present.

The Segal Center invited Italian Artistic Director Valeria Orani from 369gradi (Italy) and Umanism (NY) to collaborate on this ambitious new translation, performance and publishing initiative. "Valeria's initiative is the most significant Italian playwright project in the last two decades in the Americas, and we are honored to be able to support this project," says Segal Center Executive Director Dr. Frank Hentschker. Valeria Orani adds: "We have a truly fantastic selection of some of the most significant contemporary Italian playwrights working today and we believe that American audiences will connect with the themes in their works."

The Segal Center's Italian Playwrights Project has three principal goals:

· To raise the awareness of contemporary Italian writing for the stage in the Americas and to foster the development of collaborative relationships between playwrights from Italy and American theatre artists.

· After the December readings, the launch of a contemporary Italian theatre festival in New York with fully staged productions of selected plays.

· The publication of a translated anthology of the selected Italian plays.

The Media Partner of Italian Playwrights Project is RAI Radio3 (www.radio3.rai.it).

The Segal Center bridges the gap between the academic and performing arts communities through dynamic public programs and digital initiatives that are free and open to all. Home to theatre artists, scholars, students, performing arts managers, and the local and international performance communities, the Segal Center provides a supportive environment for conversation, open exchange, and the development of new ideas and new work. Year round, the Center presents a wide variety of FREE public programs which feature leading national and international artists, scholars, and arts professionals in conversation about theatre and performance. Programs include staged readings to further the development of new and classic plays, festivals celebrating New York performance (PRELUDE) and international plays (PEN World Voices), screenings of performance works on film, artists in conversation, academic lecture series, televised seminars, symposia, and arts in education programs. In addition, the Center maintains its long-standing visiting-scholars-from-abroad program, publishes a series of highly regarded academic journals, as well as single volumes of importance (including plays in translation), all written and edited by renowned scholars. For more information, visit www.theSegalCenter.org.

Umanism is company dedicated to the promotion and support of contemporary Italian culture and its professionals in New York. A movement, an open platform connecting Italy to the USA recognizing and expanding the creative potential of projects by Italian artists, supporting them in each step of the production in the larger and more challenging context of New York. Go to www.umanism.com.

In 2003, Valeria Orani founded "369gradi", a production and curatorial company as well as a center for the promotion and distribution of Italian culture, based in Rome, Italy. "369gradi" mission is to investigate new possibilities in contemporary art, performing arts and drama. In 2013 alone 369gradi produced over 12 award-winning ensembles pieces, presented at major Italian theatres and festivals. Visit www.369gradi.it for more information.