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TEATRO IN PIAZZA: Theater and Talks at the Embassy of Italy – Dhana and the Rosebuds

TEATRO IN PIAZZA

Theater and Talks at the Embassy of Italy

 Dhana and the Rosebuds

 

Please join us for the performance of Scene-49 from the original screenplay Dhana and the Rosebuds by Federica Cellini and Giulia Corda previously premiered at Studio Theatre, Washington, DC.

Directed by Federica Cellini. Starring Lia Johnson, Ali Evarts, Valerie FentonLauren KielerSue Struve. Music composed and improvised by Irene Jalenti.

The performance will be followed by a Q&A with director, Federica Cellini, writer, Lorenza Pieri, and astrophysicist, Eleonora Troja.

LOCATION

Embassy of Italy – Auditorium
3000 Whitehaven Street NW 
Washington, DC 20008

REGISTRATION REQUIRED

DOORS OPEN BETWEEN 5:30PM AND 5:55PM

PLEASE NOTE: RESERVATIONS ACCEPTED EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH EVENTBRITE. NO PHONE OR EMAIL RSVP AVAILABLE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING.

 


MORE INFO:

The Scene: Looking for her grandmother Sham, Syrian-born American Dhana travels to the Balkans at the heart of the migration emergency, across border walls, and through refugee camps, train stations, makeshift shelters, but even in such dramatic circumstances life goes on.

Inside a tent within a refugee camp, a young Syrian is getting married and all the women around her participate in the ritual to prepare her for this special moment. While seeing such particular circumstances unfolding, Dhana finds herself trapped in a suspended dreamlike reality. All women in her present and in her past surround her and merge: her Syrian childhood memories resurface, the ones no bomb could destroy. 

The Story: A young Syrian woman lives in New York City and forgot all about her past, but when she thinks she saw her estranged gradma on television amoung the Balkan borders, she decided to go find her. It will become a spiritual journey to rediscover her roots and her own identity. Dhana is a sort of upside down Greek heroine: she doesn’t return home after the war, but runs away from peace to find home again in the war. 

Actresses

Lauren Kieler is a skilled actress, with a deep and emblematic way of using movement and body language Lauren as worked as an actress for different theatre companies. Credits: Silver Spring Stage, God of Carnage; Studio Theatre, Cock (u/s); Synetic Theater: Don Quixote (u/s), King Lear (u/s), The Master and Margarita.  Training: The Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory

Sue Struve is a DC-area actress who has performed at Spooky Action Theater, Peter’s Alley, Perisphere Theater, Annapolis Shakespeare Company, and Compass Rose Theater–where, in a one-woman show, she played Eleanor Roosevelt and more than a dozen other characters.

Valerie Fenton has performed with many area theatre companies and arts organizations, including the National Gallery of Art, The Columbia Orchestra, Olney Theatre Center for the Arts, National Players, WSC Avant Bard, Source Theatre Festival, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Young Playwrights’ Theater. She is a founding company member of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, a Rorschach Theatre company member, and is Director of Community Engagement for the new Ally Theatre Company. Valerie is featured in regional commercials and acts in training scenarios for the military, police, and emergency first responders. Valerie can be seen next at Katherine in Taming of the Shrew with Chesapeake Shakespeare. 

Ali Evarts is a professional actress working on stage and in film. Favorite roles include Ophelia in Hamlet (Compass Rose Theater), Arachne/Philomela in Tales from Ovid (Kenan Theatre Company), and Alison in Redmonton (independent web series). See www.alievarts.com for full list of credits. B.A. Dramatic Art, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Lia Johnson is a filmmaker and actress. She produced the Tribeca short film “Spanish Boots”, as well as the award-winning feature film “I’m Through With White Girls” which sold for North American distribution and premiered on Showtime Networks. Lia’s directorial debut “Tennis For Two” won the Most Original Film Award at the International Tres Court Film Festival in Singapore (2010). Her narrative short “American Refugee” was shot in Cambodia, and won the Best Short Film Award at CTFF in Long Beach, CA (2015). The film addresses cultural and international politics, against the backdrop of the global spread of hip-hop music, dance and culture. As an actress, Lia has appeared in several Off-Broadway shows, numerous short films, network and cable television series, and independent features.  She is a member of all performer unions and several of her performances have garnered awards, including Best Actress at the Atlanta International Film Festival. 

Pianist

IRENE JALENTI
Irene Jalenti’s deep voice and unique sound are rooted in Italy and have traveled and performed for over 15 years throughout Europe and the United States.

Jalenti has earned an Bachelor degree in Jazz performance at Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and she is finishing her Master degree at Howard University in Washington, DC where she also performs with the multi-award winning a capella jazz ensemble Afro Blue.

She has performed at the White House, the Kennedy Center, and the Apollo Theater of NY. More recently she has sang with Esperanza Spalding at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. She has shared the stage with Patti Austin, Lizz Wright, Cassandra Wilson, and many other jazz artists. She has also sang with pop artist Kelly Clarkson, gospel artist Yolanda Adams, rap phenomenon Chance the Rapper, and Latin American singer Marc Anthony.

Her eclectic personality effects the music making it unique, fresh, and never predictable. Her scat singing is infused of sounds from Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, and Carmen McRae, while her natural and unexpected deep tone is a reminiscence of Cassandra Wilson, Lizz Wright, and Nina Simone. 

The singer has a natural feeling for the stage, where her goal is not only to share the essence of a tune, but also to bring to light her individuality and her life experience, along with her always present sense of humor.

— It’s rare to find an Italian singer (the outstanding Irene Jalenti) who is able to convey with such strength and intensity [Angelo Leonardi for All About Jazz Italia]

— Jalenti is strong and individual and [colors with] some very striking vocals [Donald Elfman for New York City Records]

— She adds an extraordinary, heartbreaking sheen to the instruments – an inspiring touch! [Bob Doerschuk for Downbeat]

Screenwriter

Giulia Corda

After a childhood filled with Wilder movies and too much Nutella, Giulia Corda, a proud citizen of Trastevere, the very heart of Rome, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Rome with a BA in Anthropology. After an early career working for Rai, the Italian national TV station, she was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and moved to Los Angeles where she earned an MFA in Screenwriting from USC. Giulia specializes in writing “coming of age at any age” stories, because no matter the ages of her characters, they always have to struggle to find their place in the world and to reach a deeper knowledge of themselves, even if this means facing their hidden fears and dealing with sides of their personality that they despise. Giulia is still trying to figure out how Lubitsch would do it, but she combines heart and soft humor, while shaping her stories with the refreshing perspective of an Italian woman bouncing between Hollywood and the Eternal City.

Screenwriter and director

Federica Cellini

A documentary director and author of art installations, Federica Cellini, defines herself as a storyteller above all. Telling stories is her passion and she believes that every story needs to be told in a different way.

Her long and creative professional journey is an evolving experiment on trying to achieve her goals in presenting each story in a specific manner. She uses various media in her research, exploring them all to the fullest, mostly focusing on social issues and current affairs.

She directed several award-winning documentaries.  Her experience includes also various television shows she wrote and hosted, on the Italian public channel RAI. She was also a Vogue contributor and had diverse collaborations with Italian magazines.

 

  • Organizzato da: Embassy of Italy/Italian Cultural Institute