INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY 2013
On the occasion of Remembrance Day 2013, the play 1938 L’invenzione del nemico will be launched at the Embassy of Italy. The evening will include an illustrated lecture on the racial laws of 1938, which constitute the historical background on which events unfold and the lives of the characters entangle. Author Tonino Tosto will be at the presentation and excerpts from the play will be read and sung by Edward Gero and other notable Washington actors of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. The play will be performed in various venues in the DC area.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE (arranged by SMATCH)
January 26 at 7PM
Presentation, Cong Tifereth Israel – 7701 16th Street NW, Washington, DC
for info, please contact: Eitan@tifereth-israel.org or the TI office at TIAdmin@tifereth-israel.org.
January 28 at 7PM
Presentation, Theater J – 1529 16th Street NW, Washington, DC
for info, please contact: TheaterJ@theaterj.org or 202-777-3210.
January 30 at 7PM
Presentation, Nyumburu Cultural Center – University of Maryland – College Park, MDfor info, please contact: Prof. Giuseppe Falvo – gfalvo@umd.edu
RSVP
Please click on “Make a Reservation” by January 24, 2013 at 2 PM
RESERVATION IS REQUIRED FOR OUR EVENTS FOR SECURITY REASONS. A RESERVATION IS NOT A GUARANTEE OF A SEAT. WE WILL ACCOMODATE GUESTS ON A FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVED BASIS.
DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 PM AND CLOSE AT 7 PM PROMPTLY
PHOTO ID REQUIRED
LOCATION:
Embassy of Italy/Italian Cultural Institute
3000 Whitehaven st Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
“The laws to defend the race approved by the Council of Ministers”
Corriere della Sera daily newspaper (November 11, 1938)
1938. L’INVENZIONE DEL NEMICO (abstract)
As is typically the case with Tonino Tosto’s Gruppo Teatro Essere productions (see below), The Invention of the Enemy: 1938 deals with “heavy” themes, but at the same time it portrays life as actually experienced by ordinary people, as they live through extraordinary times, buoyed by the humor and afflicted by the absurdities that daily life can bring. In this play we see the intentional vilification of, and accompanying consequences for, Italy’s Jews as the Fascist regime converts them from fellow citizens, friends and neighbors into enemies of the state. While describing this process and its broad human cost can and does fill volumes, the play delivers its message reproducing events taken from the life of a single person — a real person (prominent Jewish actor Arnoldo Foà) — survivor of the period and protagonist in this “theater of memory.”
TONINO TOSTO
Born in Rome, Tonino Tosto is an Italian journalist, author, academic and dramaturgist. He is Vice President of the Università Popolare of Rome, where he teaches courses in theater. Concurrently he heads the Gruppo Teatro Essere (GTE), an ensemble focused on “theater of memory”. Among his many fields of interest, a particular place is taken by the history and special traditions of the city and people of Rome. In 2004 he published 4 Giugno 1944, Roma Libera (June 4, 1944 Rome Is Free), a collection of stories and interviews on ordinary daily life in Rome during the nine months under Nazi occupation (September 1943 – June 1944). The play 1938 l’Invenzione del Nemico appeared in 2008 and in the same year Tosto and GTE presented Con Licenza di Rappresentazione (a play in the commedia dell’arte tradition) at the Kogod Theater, College Park, Maryland.
EDWARD GERO
Edward Gero is Associate Professor at George Mason University’s Theater Department. He is also a fourteen-time nominee and four-time recipient of the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for his work in Shakespeare, contemporary and musical theater. His 30 year performance career includes appearances in over 75 productions with the Shakespeare Theater Company, downtown Washington, as well as with Ford’s Theater, The Studio Theater, Round House Theater, Arena Stage, Olney Theater Center, Theater J and other stages across the nation. In 2012 he completed a critically acclaimed production of John Logan’s Tony Award-winning play Red at the Goodman Theater in Chicago and Arena Stage here in Washington and was Scrooge in A Christmas Carol at Ford’s Theater. In 2011 he appeared in The Chosen by Chaim Potok at Arena Stage and as Salieri in Amadeus at the Round House Theater, Bethesda. In conjunction with Nello De Blasio, he has collaborated with Tonino Tosto to translate and adapt The Invention of the Enemy: 1938, which he directs, to the American stage.
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