Event Details
Wed, November 29, 2017
18:00 – 19:30
Teatro della Pergola
Via della Pergola 12/32
50121 FIRENZE, Italia
Seven is a theatrical work conceived by Carol Mack with the support of Vital Voices Global Partnership, and written by award-winning playwrights Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith and Susan Yankowitz. It is a documentary play originating from the collaboration between the seven playwrights and seven women activists from all over the world who tell their stories of struggle against enormous obstacles to bring about real changes in the lives of women.
It makes its Italian debut at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on November 29th, during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. NYU students and students from the Stanza dell’Attore acting school will read parts in English and in Italian, and will be joined by American actor André Holland, who has been seen most recently in 2017 Best Picture Oscar-winner Moonlight, Selma, and numerous American television productions, and Cindy Dyer, Vice President for Human Rights at the Vital Voices Global Partnership.
The performance is produced by New York University Florence under the direction of Jacob Olesen.
Part of the Festival of Rights by Comune di Firenze.
A Reading of the Documentary Play – Una lettura dell’opera documentaria teatrale
Introduction by
Cindy Dyer, Vice President, Human Rights, Vital Voices Global Partnership
Ellyn Toscano, Executive Director, NYU Florence
Syanne Rios, NYU Florence Student
André Holland, Oscar winning-Best Picture film Moonlight Star and NYU Tisch Graduate Acting Program Alum
Jacob Olesen – Actor, Director
NYU Florence Students:
Bianca Waechter / Ruolan Chen / Matilda Mahne
La Stanza dell’Attore:
Giovanni Micoli / Marta Fantechi / Eleonora Gemmi
(In Italian and English)
Seven is a theatrical work conceived by Carol Mack with the support of Vital Voices Global Partnership, and written by award-winning playwrights Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith and Susan Yankowitz. It is a documentary play originating from the collaboration between the seven playwrights and seven women activists from all over the world who tell their stories of struggle against enormous obstacles to bring about real changes in the lives of women.
It makes its Italian debut at the Teatro della Pergola in Florence on November 29th, during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign. The performance is produced by New York University Florence under the direction of Jacob Olesen.
Seven è un’opera teatrale ideata da Carol Mack, realizzata con il supporto di Vital Voices Global Partnership, e scritta dalle premiate drammaturghe Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith e Susan Yankowitz. E’ una sorta di teatro documentario che nasce dalla collaborazione tra le sette drammaturghe e sette attiviste provenienti dagli angoli più disparati della terra che raccontano la loro personale storia di lotta contro le avversità per apportare cambiamenti reali nella vita delle donne.
Fa il suo debutto italiano al Teatro della Pergola di Firenze il 29 novembre, durante la Campagna dei 16 Giorni di attivismo contro la violenza di genere. Lo spettacolo è prodotto da New York University Florence con la regia di Jacob Olesen.
NYU Florence EDI Committee: Maurice Bensmihen, Michael Davidoff, Lilly Gabay, Marly Lake, Paola Martinez Parente Beristain, Syanne Rios, Papa Yaw B Sencherey, Karen Wang.
Featured Biographies
Jacob Olesen
ACTOR, DIRECTOR
Dual Danish/Swedish national Jacob Olesen has been acting in Italy and abroad for more than thirty years with the Donati&Olesen Company, in which he is actor, author, musician, and often director. His lengthy, distinguished artistic career began at The Commedia School in Sweden and continued in Paris at the L’École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. Later, in Rome, he also acquired a teacher’s diploma in the Feldenkrais Method. In 1981, he founded the Donati&Olesen Company, for which he produced twenty different shows with artists Giorgio Donati, Ted Keijser, Giovanni Calò and Iaon Gunn. The most successful productions, including Buona notte brivido and Three Men in a Boat, have been performed over 2,500 times in Italy and abroad. In 2007, he began creating his own productions in parallel with the company work. The first was My Name is Bohumil, followed by Oibò sono morto, for which he was awarded the Teatro del Sacro prize in 2009. In 2014, produced by Enrico Carretta, he created with Giovanni Calò the monologue Primo, taken from Primo Levi’s If This is a Man, which he is presently touring and presenting in national and international festivals. With six languages at his command – Italian, English, French, German, Danish and Swedish – he has been able to perform throughout Europe and in North Africa, South America and Asia. He has appeared in many short and feature-length films and worked on numerous radio and television programs as well. He teaches acting, stage presence, Commedia dell’Arte and clowning both in Italy and abroad. Since 2011, with Jim Calder, he has collaborated with New York University in Florence, teaching, creating Commedia dell’Arte performances, and helping to stage productions with professional actors, graduates of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
André Holland
ACTOR
André Holland is an alum of New York University’s Graduate Acting Program. Since receiving his MFA in 2006, André has appeared in numerous plays, films, and television shows. His most recent film and television credits are the Oscar winning film, Moonlight and Oscar nominated film Selma in which he played Andrew Young; and, the HBO/Cinemax series The Knick, directed by Steven Soderbergh. His recent stage appearances include, All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It (all at the New York Public Theatre/Shakespeare in the Park); The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet (with the Continuum Company); The Whipping Man (Manhattan Theatre Club); Wig Out (Vineyard Theatre); The Brother/Sister Plays (NY Public Theatre); Blue Door (Playwrights Horizons Theatre); In the Red and Brown Water (Alliance Theatre, Atlanta). André has also appeared on television in Burn Notice, 1600 Penn, Friends with Benefits and Law and Order among others. And his additional film credits include; Miracle at St. Anna (directed by Spike Lee), Bride Wars (with Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson) and Sugar (HBO). He also co-starred in the Warner Brothers film 42 in which he portrayed sportswriter Wendell Smith who chronicled Jackie Robinson’s career.