I learned about Laura Caparrotti during my late-night, on-line researches. My recent obsession is traveling theater, which immediately brings to mind Shakespearean times with small troupes traveling from town to town, or Roman-style colossal theaters where audience members interacted with the performers. That just may be my romanticized version of it when, in truth, repertory theaters have been and still are the cornerstone of theater, though they are dwindling in numbers. They are the training ground for the actor, who learns the craft and most importantly, the application of it through practice and osmosis watching their senior company members play night after night. As I researched these types of theatrical companies, suddenly a myriad of companies and languages emerged on my search engine: Israeli Theater Company, Russian Chekovian and Italian. As an Italian myself, I took interest. Enter Laura, the artistic director of KIT Theater in New York City. She is steeped both in Italian and American culture and often serves as a liaison for the two, acting as a US correspondent for numerous Italian Film Festivals and television shows. As an artist, she directs (most recently at Lincoln Center), acts and created her own brand of theater called Theater & Italian, with the goal of sharing Italian culture with the US. She seemed like the perfect candidate for my exploration of a more global perspective of theater. Here is our interview:
Can you tell me a little bit of your artistic background?
I was born and raised in Rome where I was exposed since my childhood to art, cinema and theater. I always acted. When I was 6 or 7 years old I started producing, directing and acted in plays presented in my own home, I even did the box office. When I was older I did classical studies at school focusing on Italian Literature. When it was time to apply to the University of Rome I discovered the Theater Department and immersed myself in acting both at the university and privately. I had the opportunity of studying and working with Dario Fo (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997) and the great Italian actor Mario Carotenuto, chose me to be part of his company.
Can you talk about the experience of working with these great artists and what you learned as an artist and performer?
What did I learn…. The art of synthesis… Doing less to do more… Dario Fo and Mario Carotenuto were my masters. I have developed with them the sense of the stage. A rapidity in understanding a character. Actually not understanding, more feeling a character… I’ve developed (I had to) an animal instinct on stage. Dario taught me how to look at theater, at any kind of theater. How to see the core of a play, the key of the story and how to tell that story. Mario Carotenuto taught me how to be on stage and how to feel the audience. How to master the stage from acting to technical aspects while you are on stage. I guess each of the people I have ever worked with gave me something, and its difficult to define what they gave me in details. But I am grateful that they did.
You mentioned Dario Fo taught you how to look at theater. Can you elaborate on that?
He taught me to first look for the key of a story in a play and to understand where the ‘ribaltone’ is (the moment when a story takes the necessary change of direction). He terms KEY the story line that you should be able to tell in few words, ten or less. This is what I do every time I face a script; I force myself to tell the story in just 10 words. I succeed only if the play has a clear Key. Otherwise, it means that the play is not going to work. At least, it’s not going to work for me. Once I have clear what the key is – for instance in Romeo and Juliet is about two people in love but with families hating each other -, I look for the ‘ribaltone’, the moment where the story takes a dramatic turn, in the case of Romeo and Juliet is when the monk gives the false news of Juliet’s death. Once I have these two points clear in my mind (the Key and the Ribaltone) I am ready to face the play. Then I can adapt the play to my ideas, always keeping in mind the core of the play, meaning, again, the key and the Ribaltone.
What did you learn from your experience working with Mario Carotenuto?
I worked with him as an actress – my first official job on stage. He was the leading actor, and the artistic director, that is to say he was also the director. He directed us and directed the audience changing the performance every night, but never betraying – again – the play. He tried new lines, new jokes, new scenes in front of the audience, without telling us first. He was re-writing the script and directing all long the tour. He was exactly what Dario Fo described as old tradition of Italian theatre: a person able to see theater as a whole, from writing, to directing and acting. In five months of performing Il Burbero Benefico by Goldoni, the show stretched from only 90 minutes to 3 hours. We never rehearsed additional scenes, yet all of us followed the “driver”, Mr. Carotenuto, in an unknown path. I have never had such an experience again, as the old theatre disappeared, but it is one I will surely never forget.
In starting KIT Theater and specifically Theater & Italy you yourself are creating your own lineage, sharing Italian culture and art in the U.S. and worldwide. Can you talk about that?
When I had started, I just presented the authors I liked more… then year after year I can say that yes, I do follow a path: I go for satyrical or political themes and authors… sometime, though, I read plays or monologues by great authors and I love them so much, that I cannot avoid to work on it… I have presented Ennio Flaiano, Eduardo de Filippo (a never seen play), Franca Valeri, Pasolini, the theatrical adaptation of the very famous book ‘Gomorrah’, (we are going to bring on stage “Gomorrah”), a play on the death of Pier Paolo Pasolini, and then monologues by Dino Buzzati… all US premiere, also very important to me… you see, our theatre is full of treasures, and my job is to present them all, one by one… it will take sometime, but I guess it’s worth it!
Please talk about your experience as an Italian artist living in the U.S. and sharing Italian culture through art.
My main goal is to have been and always will be myself, always Italian, without falling into a stereotype that it didn’t represent me, and without trying to imitate other styles that weren’t mine. I had to fight against the stereotype: if I had presented the usual Pirandello, the usual Goldoni (done in the usual, comfortable way it’s been done in the US), or some other authors known in the US, it could have been maybe easier. Yet, I stayed with the many authors completely unknown in the US, I wanted to show the audience and other artists the so much we have, the so much that doesn’t arrive to this part of the ocean, and the so much even my American colleagues miss. One of my dreams is to see other companies do again, in different ways, on various stages, in many cities, the plays we are presenting for the first time in the US, and ultimately to see these plays published… to stay finally here!
As I looked over my interview with Laura, I felt a little nostalgic towards her memories of the old theatre disappearing. I could see how these great cultural icons colored her world and guided her towards the fulfillment of her craft and development as an artist. Yet, I am encouraged by the future and how artists like Laura continue to nourish a broader, more global communication through art. It is our hope with zoetic artists project that we can play a role in this process and we encourage you to participate as well. Please post any response/feedback from wherever you are in the world.
________________________________________________________________________
Nowadays Ms. Caparrotti continues working and touring as representative of the de Curtis Family as an actress, voice-over talent, director, Theater&Italian teacher, lecturer, and consultant. She does this all while serving as President and Artistic Director of KIT, the Kairos Italy Theater Inc., whose ultimate goal is to spread the Italian Culture and to create an Italian Culture Network in order to maintain and grow the knowledge of Italy in the States, and vice versa. In 2008, Ms. Caparrotti started KIT in the city, a bi-lingual online news-magazine dedicated to cultural and every-day events in New York and Rome.
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| Laura Caparrotti and Marta Mondelli |
I was born and raised in Rome where I was exposed since my childhood to art, cinema and theater. I always acted. When I was 6 or 7 years old I started producing, directing and acted in plays presented in my own home, I even did the box office. When I was older I did classical studies at school focusing on Italian Literature. When it was time to apply to the University of Rome I discovered the Theater Department and immersed myself in acting both at the university and privately. I had the opportunity of studying and working with Dario Fo (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997) and the great Italian actor Mario Carotenuto, chose me to be part of his company.
Can you talk about the experience of working with these great artists and what you learned as an artist and performer?
What did I learn…. The art of synthesis… Doing less to do more… Dario Fo and Mario Carotenuto were my masters. I have developed with them the sense of the stage. A rapidity in understanding a character. Actually not understanding, more feeling a character… I’ve developed (I had to) an animal instinct on stage. Dario taught me how to look at theater, at any kind of theater. How to see the core of a play, the key of the story and how to tell that story. Mario Carotenuto taught me how to be on stage and how to feel the audience. How to master the stage from acting to technical aspects while you are on stage. I guess each of the people I have ever worked with gave me something, and its difficult to define what they gave me in details. But I am grateful that they did.
You mentioned Dario Fo taught you how to look at theater. Can you elaborate on that?
He taught me to first look for the key of a story in a play and to understand where the ‘ribaltone’ is (the moment when a story takes the necessary change of direction). He terms KEY the story line that you should be able to tell in few words, ten or less. This is what I do every time I face a script; I force myself to tell the story in just 10 words. I succeed only if the play has a clear Key. Otherwise, it means that the play is not going to work. At least, it’s not going to work for me. Once I have clear what the key is – for instance in Romeo and Juliet is about two people in love but with families hating each other -, I look for the ‘ribaltone’, the moment where the story takes a dramatic turn, in the case of Romeo and Juliet is when the monk gives the false news of Juliet’s death. Once I have these two points clear in my mind (the Key and the Ribaltone) I am ready to face the play. Then I can adapt the play to my ideas, always keeping in mind the core of the play, meaning, again, the key and the Ribaltone.
What did you learn from your experience working with Mario Carotenuto?
I worked with him as an actress – my first official job on stage. He was the leading actor, and the artistic director, that is to say he was also the director. He directed us and directed the audience changing the performance every night, but never betraying – again – the play. He tried new lines, new jokes, new scenes in front of the audience, without telling us first. He was re-writing the script and directing all long the tour. He was exactly what Dario Fo described as old tradition of Italian theatre: a person able to see theater as a whole, from writing, to directing and acting. In five months of performing Il Burbero Benefico by Goldoni, the show stretched from only 90 minutes to 3 hours. We never rehearsed additional scenes, yet all of us followed the “driver”, Mr. Carotenuto, in an unknown path. I have never had such an experience again, as the old theatre disappeared, but it is one I will surely never forget.
In starting KIT Theater and specifically Theater & Italy you yourself are creating your own lineage, sharing Italian culture and art in the U.S. and worldwide. Can you talk about that?
When I had started, I just presented the authors I liked more… then year after year I can say that yes, I do follow a path: I go for satyrical or political themes and authors… sometime, though, I read plays or monologues by great authors and I love them so much, that I cannot avoid to work on it… I have presented Ennio Flaiano, Eduardo de Filippo (a never seen play), Franca Valeri, Pasolini, the theatrical adaptation of the very famous book ‘Gomorrah’, (we are going to bring on stage “Gomorrah”), a play on the death of Pier Paolo Pasolini, and then monologues by Dino Buzzati… all US premiere, also very important to me… you see, our theatre is full of treasures, and my job is to present them all, one by one… it will take sometime, but I guess it’s worth it!
Please talk about your experience as an Italian artist living in the U.S. and sharing Italian culture through art.
My main goal is to have been and always will be myself, always Italian, without falling into a stereotype that it didn’t represent me, and without trying to imitate other styles that weren’t mine. I had to fight against the stereotype: if I had presented the usual Pirandello, the usual Goldoni (done in the usual, comfortable way it’s been done in the US), or some other authors known in the US, it could have been maybe easier. Yet, I stayed with the many authors completely unknown in the US, I wanted to show the audience and other artists the so much we have, the so much that doesn’t arrive to this part of the ocean, and the so much even my American colleagues miss. One of my dreams is to see other companies do again, in different ways, on various stages, in many cities, the plays we are presenting for the first time in the US, and ultimately to see these plays published… to stay finally here!
As I looked over my interview with Laura, I felt a little nostalgic towards her memories of the old theatre disappearing. I could see how these great cultural icons colored her world and guided her towards the fulfillment of her craft and development as an artist. Yet, I am encouraged by the future and how artists like Laura continue to nourish a broader, more global communication through art. It is our hope with zoetic artists project that we can play a role in this process and we encourage you to participate as well. Please post any response/feedback from wherever you are in the world.
________________________________________________________________________
Nowadays Ms. Caparrotti continues working and touring as representative of the de Curtis Family as an actress, voice-over talent, director, Theater&Italian teacher, lecturer, and consultant. She does this all while serving as President and Artistic Director of KIT, the Kairos Italy Theater Inc., whose ultimate goal is to spread the Italian Culture and to create an Italian Culture Network in order to maintain and grow the knowledge of Italy in the States, and vice versa. In 2008, Ms. Caparrotti started KIT in the city, a bi-lingual online news-magazine dedicated to cultural and every-day events in New York and Rome.
