THE LAST SICILIAN At 13th Street Rep Reveals Plan For Extension

Actor/playwright Nick Albanese has found his stride and wants to take it a step further.

"Since I was in college as a theatre major, I've always wanted to do a one-man play," says the Rhode Island native, now playing his one-man show, THE LAST SICILIAN, at the historic 13th Street Repertory Theatre through the 29th of January. "But I was young," he adds, "and really didn't have much life experience to write about. As I got older I started writing down the stories about my family history as my parents would tell me them."

The Last Sicilian is an evening of true stories from Actor/Writer Nick Albanese. Stories about his childhood years spent in his family's bakery, how generations of his relatives met, married and overcame much to come to America. The audience is treated to some winning stories that have been passed down over raucous family dinner tables for year after year. There's some Sicilian history and the negative perception of Italian immigrants in America when they first came to the States and then switches back to the family stories.

The play, with a little help from the theater's Artistic Director, Joe Battista, has enjoyed its most recent run with a few changes and is looking to bring the play to the New York stage on a more regular basis. "I began the show 2 years ago in my home-state of Rhode Island and I performed it there for 2 years now," Says Mr. Albanese. "It began as a 50-minute show and then I begin to add more stories and cut out ones that didn't work and it went to 70 minutes and then in just the past 6 months I added more. Now it's a 80 minute show. I talked to Joe on the phone at first and told him the whole story and he loved it and he wanted to jump on board to direct the New York version. Dialogue storylines are all the same but Joe really came in and helped tweaked certain areas. He helped create stronger beginning and stronger ending. It works very well on the stage at 13th Street stage."

For Albanese, it's just part of a lifelong journey about his family's life and experiences. "I still plan on continuing the show when I head back to Rhode Island. I have two more dates already booked at my home theater, Theatre 82. Plus, I'll bring it around to other places in New England. Is very easy to bring a one-man play anywhere. But I am also working on a screenplay version. I don't think the whole play would fit into a film but definitely the family stories would make it very interesting and funny film."

For now, you have just a few more chances to catch the play at the 13th Street Repertory Theatre.

13th Street Repertory Theatre Company: 50 W 13th Street New York, NY 10011.

Final Dates for this run:

January 24th, 25th, 26th & 27th at 7:30pm. January 28th at 3pm

Tickets for the NY Performances are available at http://thelastsicilian.brownpapertickets.com/.

Also tickets and other info can be found at http://www.thelastsicilian.com.

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