Tag Archives: Italian Cultural Institute

John Welle – The Set with the Diva: Pirandello and the Film Novel

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Tuesday, March 8, 2005

6:30 p.m. Room C 201

The Doctoral Specialization in Italian and the Ph.D. Program in Comparative Literature Graduate Center

City University of New York

365 Fifth Avenue

Lecture by John Welle

THE SET WITH THE DIVA: PIRANDELLO AND THE FILM NOVEL

This lecture compares Luigi Pirandello’s novel on the alienation of a film cameraman, Si gira! (1915) with other contemporary Italian novels set in the world of early cinema. Read together, these “popular” or “mid-cult” film novels, Ettore Veo’s Fantasio Film (1917-18), and Enrico Roma’s La repubblica del silenzio (1918) shed light on Pirandello’s more philosophical narrative and on the cultural reception of cinema in Italy during the critical years surrounding WWI.

John Welle is professor of modern Italian literature, history of Italian cinema, and translation studies. He is the author of The Poetry of Andrea Zanzotto (1987) and the editor and translator (with Ruth Feldman) of Peasants Wake for Fellini’s Casanova and Other Poems by Andrea Zanzotto (1997).

Tuesday, March 8, 2005

6:00 p.m.

Italian Cultural Institute

686 Park Avenue New York, NY

Dacia Maraini in conversation with Jane House and Ingrid Rossellini

about Maraini’s new book Colomba

RSVP 212 879 4242, x 368

Eduardo DeFilippo’s Souls of Naples (Questi fantasmi) – Panel Discussion

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Eduardo DeFilippo’s Souls of Naples (Questi fantasmi)

Panel Discussion, moderated by Mimi D’Aponte, featuring actor John Turturro & translator Michael Feingold

March 17, 2005, 6:30 p.m.

Italian Cultural Institute, 686 Park Avenue New York, NY

RSVP 212 879 4242, Ext 370

Symposia: On April 30 and May 7

Mimi D’Aponte, Professor Emerita of Theatre at Baruch College and CUNY Graduate Center, will moderate a symposium about Souls of Naples.  These conversations will include John Turturro and Roman Paska.   The symposia are free of charge.

If you have any questions regarding the production or would like to arrange tickets, please phone (212) 229-2819 ext. 15 or email selkashef@tfana.org

John Turturro in Cecè by Luigi Pirandello

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The Pirandello Society of America, The Players & the Italian Cultural Institute

are proud to present a reading of Cecè, a one-act play by Luigi Pirandello,

starring John Turturro on Tuesday evening, April 25th at 8 pm at The Players.

A wine and cheese reception will follow.

Tickets are $40 per person. Seating is limited.

Please mail checks, payable to THE PLAYERS/PSA, by Thursday, April 20th.

at 16 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY 10003.

Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) wrote Cecè in 1913. This one act play offers in nutshell fashion its author’s greatest artistic trademarks: fascinating central character, surprising plot twist, indelible humor, and some sense of regret about the human condition.

John Turturro

The highly talented Italian American actor John Turturro, acclaimed internationally for  striking performances in such successful films as Do the Right Thing (1989), Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), offered a stirring stage performance in 2005 of Souls of Naples by the renowned Neapolitan actor-playwright, Eduardo De Filippo. Turturro recently brought this New York, English-language production, to Naples for a week’s run performed in the famous Teatro Mercadante.  Now he benefits the Pirandello Society of America with a reading of Cecè, presented at New York’s oldest and most historic actors club, The Players.


Founded in 1888 by Edwin Booth, The Players houses some of the finest theatrical art and artifacts in the country. Its membership has included such theatrical luminaries as Mark Twain, the Barrymores, Eugene O’Neill, Helen Hayes, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Lord Laurence Olivier, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra. Walt Disney, Carol Burnett, and Tony Bennett.  The Italian Cultural Institute, dedicated to strengthening the cultural links between Italy and the United States, is pleased to share sponsorship of Cecè with The Players and The Pirandello Society of America.

Since 1958 when it was established by Marta Abba and George Freedley, The Pirandello Society of America has been championing the works of Luigi Pirandello. It recently published volume XVIII of the annual, PSA. Both on page and stage, the Society offers Americans avenues into the extraordinary output of Italy’s most renowned modern playwright, an artist who has profoundly influenced the course of world theatre.