Playwright Fabio Banfo Will Be Awarded 2024 Mario Fratti Award by In Scena! Italian Theater Festival

In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY will present their annual Mario Fratti Award to playwright Fabio Banfo for his play El Desaparecido. The award will be presented to Mr. Banfo as part of the Closing Night Ceremony for the In Scene! Italian Theater Festival NY 2024 on Monday, May 13 at 6:30pm at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ at NYU (24 West 12th Street New York, NY 10011). A reading of his play, translated by Carlotta Brentan and directed by Laura Caparrotti, will be presented as part of the ceremony. 

The winner of the Mario Fratti Award receives an English translation and reading of their play the day of the award ceremony, publication of their play, and the possibility of a future off-off Broadway production.

Héctor German Oesterheld, one of the greatest comics authors of all time, who disappeared in 1978, is the protagonist of a play that intertwines the tragic events of an artist and his family with the most iconic character created by the author, the Eternauta, who in the homonymous comic had prophesied a dark and violent future for Argentina. The theatrical text uses the author's own imagery to tell the story and to represent the violent dynamics of the dictatorship, also evoking the connection with Italian history in the secret organization of P2, which had a sad role in the advent of the military junta of Argentine coup. A work in which fantasy and reality mix seamlessly to tell the story of an exceptional artist and one of the darkest pages in the history of the last century.

“Smooth writing, effective and courageous, marked by a clear and precise structure, in which originality and imagination are well used to serve the plot. The writing provokes empathy and involvement, the continuous contrasts are the winning feature of this delicate and moving piece.”- Mario Fratti Award Jury 

The 2024 Mario Fratti Award Jury includes composer Massimo Garritano (In Scena! Artist 2023), actress and writer Laura Lamberti, producer Elena Sartor, journalist and writer Sabrina Sciabica, and producer Sabrina Zavaglio (Zavaglio Productions).

Fabio Banfo (Playwright) Born in Vercelli in 1975, Fabio Banfo studied acting at the “Paolo Grassi” School of Dramatic Arts in Milan. He has worked between Italy and South America (Chile and Argentina) as an actor, playwright, director and pedagogue. Member of Guido Ceronetti's Teatro dei Sensibili, Fabio works permanently with the MaMiMò Theater Center of Reggio Emilia. He has received several awards and recognitions for his plays and performances. In his works he mixes reality and imagination, taking inspiration from historical facts of the past or events of the present. His latest show "Patria - the country of Cain and Abel" tells the story of the years of lead in Italy.

In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY In 2013 Kairos Italy Theater, the preeminent Italian theater company in New York City, together with the Italian KIT Italia,  created In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY, the first Italian theater festival to take place in all five boroughs of New York City and beyond. The festival’s first edition was part of the 2013 Year of Italian Culture in the United States and it was supported by the Embassy of Italy in DC and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ at NYU that became right after one of the organizers. The festival has since become an annual event. 

Each year In Scena! presents a survey of the best Italian theater from Italy, in New York City. The festival features full productions that have already toured in Italy as well as readings of Italian plays in translation, lectures, and exchanges between Italian and International Artists. The goal is to promote greater awareness of Italian theater and Italian artists among New York City theatergoers, and to build a bridge between the artistic scenes in Italy and the US. www.inscenany.com