News: In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY Announces International Artists for 2026 Festival

Closed for the Holiday. Photo by Azzurra Primavera
The New York City-based Kairos Italy Theater along with Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU and the Italy-based KIT Italia will present the 13th season of the In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY, New York City’s premiere festival of Italian theater, taking place in all five boroughs of NYC, from May 5-19, 2026. Admission to all shows and events in the festival is completely FREE. All shows will be performed in Italian with English supertitles, unless otherwise noted. Participating venues and the full schedule of performances will be announced at a later date.

Each year In Scena! showcases some of the best Italian theater from Italy, in New York City. The festival features productions that have already toured in Italy as well as readings of Italian plays in translation, mentorships, and exchanges between Italian and International artists. The goal is to promote greater awareness of Italian theater and Italian artists among New York City theatergoers, and to build a bridge between the artistic scenes in Italy and the US. This year's plays are:

CLOSED FOR THE HOLIDAY
Written, directed and performed by Matteo Porru
Artistic advisor: Marleen Scholten
Presented by 369gradi

Many dream of stepping inside a writer’s mind. But what if it’s “closed for the holiday”? In a dazzling carousel of characters and stories, balancing the carnivalesque with the dramatic, Matteo Porru—winner of the Campiello Giovani Literary Award—invites readers to wander through the empty spaces of imagination and the restless paths of thought, where creativity never sleeps. Running Time: 50 min. In Italian with English supertitles.

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES
Written by Gloria Riggio
Performed by Gloria Riggio (voice), Riccardo Riggio (original live music)
Presented in collaboration with Dominio Pubblico

A performative journey where words and music collide, blending poetry, sound, and melody. Conditional Sentences is a performative poetry show with music, where the texts and voice of 2023 Italian Poetry Slam Champion Gloria Riggio - the first woman in the national history to hold the title - rest on the sonic landscapes created by musician Riccardo Riggio. Running time: 75 min. In Italian with English supertitles.

Patria - The Town of Cain and Abel. Photo courtesy of Centro Teatrale MaMiMò
PATRIA – THE TOWN OF CAIN AND ABEL
Conceived by Fabio Banfo, Giacomo Ferraù & Giulia Viana
Dramaturgy by Fabio Banfo
Directed by Giacomo Ferraù
Performed by Fabio Banfo
A co-production by Centro Teatrale MaMiMò/Eco di fondo in collaboration of the Flamigni Archive

Patria is a small town everyone wants to leave, yet almost no one manages to escape. It is a town like countless others—its mayor, its priest, its schoolteacher, its bar, its school, and its cemetery. But it is also a place of mysteries, injustices, and blood: the town of Cain and Abel. A tragicomic tale, Patria retraces the history of Italy from the postwar years to the present, seen through the eyes of two brothers who find themselves mysteriously entangled with some of the bloodiest episodes of Italian terrorism. From Centro Teatrale MaMiMò, the company that brought Alfredino to In Scena! 2025. Running Time: 60 min. In Italian with English supertitles.

The Show. Photo courtesy Sementerie Artistiche Elsa Denti

THE SHOW
Written by Manuela De Meo

Directed by Luigi D'Elia

Performed by Elisa Denti
Presented by Sementerie Artistiche & Elisa Denti

Adele is cynical, shy, and sharp-tongued, with an inner beast stirred by life’s discomforts. When she joins a wrestling class, we follow her intimate thoughts, her clumsiness, and her courage. The Show is a warm, witty, and moving story of change and the right to be happy. Running Time: 60 min. In Italian with English supertitles.


Tale of a Potato. Photo courtesy of Batisfera Teatro.

TALE OF A POTATO
Written & Directed by Angelo Trofa
Performed by Valentina Fadda
Assistant Director Leonardo Tomasi
Voice-over by Chiara De Giorgi,
Original music by Luca Spanu
Translation and revision by Chiara De Giorgio and Daniela Innocenti

On a small stage, the life of a Potato is revealed. Its journey unfolds through dirt, vegetables, and a knife—an ironic quest through life and death, exploring our roots and what makes us truly alive, for humans and tubers alike. From Batisfera, creators of the Award winning miniature epic The Gummy Bears’ Great War (In Scena! 2023) comes a new immersive, moving and poetic tabletop theater show. EFFTA AWARD WINNER (Edinburgh Fringe Theatre Awards). Running Time: 35 min. Presented in English.

Traviata. Photo courtesy of Bottega di Cyrano
TRAVIATA - A FREE PROSE OPERA
Written, directed, & performed by Andrea Caldi, Fabio Fassio, & Elena Romano
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Based on La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils
Produced by Bottega di Cyrano – Teatro degli Acerbi

Three actors, with no sets or opera singers, choose to tell the story of La Traviata by relying solely on the evocative power of theatre. Through Bottega di Cyrano’s original method, A Free Opera In Prose, Verdi’s music becomes a dramaturgical soundtrack, famous arias are reborn through spoken performance, and the story of Violetta and Alfredo becomes universal. Irony and pathos, lightness and tragedy intertwine in a performance capable of moving audiences anywhere. Running Time: 70 min. In Italian with English supertitles.

TROVATA UNA SEGA! - LIVORNO, MODIGLIANI, AND THE LEGENDARY PRANK OF SUMMER ’84
Written & performed by Antonello Taurino
Presented by Teatro della Cooperativa

A storytelling for “Actor and Projector” of the infamous 1984 prank in Livorno: the recovery of alleged Modigliani sculptures hailed as masterpieces, only to be revealed as fakes by three students. Amid deceived critics, unresolved mysteries, and unintended comedy, it paints a vivid portrait of an Italy ready to believe the legend, never losing its taste for the absurd—truly, “the prank of the century.” Running Time: 80 min. In Italian with English supertitles.

White Noise. Photo courtesy of Vitruvio Entertainment

WHITE NOISE: CONFESSIONS OF AN UNSUSPECTED SERIAL KILLER WITH A BACKGROUND HISS
Written & performed by Danilo Napoli
Directed by Yari Gugliucci
Presented by Vitruvio Entertainment

A serial killer of transgender women recounts the repression and homophobia he endured from his family from an early age. Victim before perpetrator, he faces his mother, exposing denied love, stifled identity, and cycles of violence. A story that questions the fragile line between pain and guilt. Running Time: 55min. In Italian with English supertitles.

Visit In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY at  www.inscenany.com.

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