The Italian American Playwrights Series part 3

The Italian American Playwrights Series aims to spotlight authentic Italian American voices and stories that reflect the diverse experiences, heritage, and cultural intersections of the Italian American community. Five selected plays are given a public reading at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ at NYU and at the Calandra Institute for Italian American Studies.

Lifting the Veil by Maria Brandt

When Silvana goes to confession to reconcile a rift with her granddaughter, she is visited by the “ghost” of Jane Addams, forcing her to confront what she’s forgotten through assimilation. The play reflects on memory, loss, and the immigrant experience.

Maria Brandt is a writer, playwright, and educator whose work has appeared in Arts & Letters, VIDA, and Cleaver. Her collection New York Plays was produced by Out of Pocket Theatre, and her novella All the Words won the Grassic Short Novel Prize. She teaches Creative Writing at Monroe Community College in Rochester, NY.

Loving Crazy by Theresa Carilli

A powerful exploration of sisterhood and mental illness through the lens of Italian American family dynamics, this play examines how assimilation and cultural expectations shape identity and understanding within families.

Theresa Carilli, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Communication and Creative Arts at Purdue University Northwest. A prolific scholar and playwright, she has edited numerous books on media and culture, and her plays have been produced internationally. Her recent works include Performative Memoir and Intersectional Media: Representations of Marginalized Identities (Lexington Books, 2021).

Organizers: Kairos Italy Theater, Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ at NYU and the Calandra Institute for Italian American Studies. The series is supported in part by UNICO-Brookhaven.

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