OnStage! Festival is back. The first American Theater Festival in Italy, presented by KIT Italia and The International Theatre in collaboration with Kairos Italy Theater in New York, Music Theater International and Roma Tre University. 

The 2022 edition of OnStage! Festival, focused on Human Rights, will be held from 18 to 24 November in Rome, Pescara, Cagliari, in collaboration with Global Campus of Human Rights (Venice), Mauro Rostagno Festival – Diriti in scena (Rome), Lucidosottile (Cagliari), Teatro di Roma / Teatro del Lido di Ostia, Florian Metateatro (Pescara), The Tank NYC(New York).  

Since 2019 “OnStage! Festival” has been presenting “Off Off” American Theatre in Italy, with the aim to enhance an intercultural dialogue and the creation of an international professional network, starting from the cultural exchange  between Italy and the USA. OnStage! Festival 2022 focuses on the role of the theater in the defense of Human Rights, and includes an international live streaming conference, aimed to explore the role of theatre as a means of advocacy. Organized by OnStage! Festival in collaboration with Global Campus of Human Rights and Mauro Rostagno Festival – Diritti in scena, the event will present American and Italian contemporary artists working on and fighting for human rights.

The live 2022 program presents the show OPEN by CRYSTAL SKILLMAN, directed by JESSI D. HILL, with Lily Ali-Oshatz, produced by The Tank in partnership with The Flying Carpet Theatre Company. The show will be presented (with supertitles) on November 18th in Cagliari as part of the Lucido Festival, curated by Lucidosottile, November 20th and 21st at the Lido di Ostia Theater, November 22nd at the Florian Espace in Pescara and November 24th in Rome in the frame of the Mauro Rostagno Festival - Rights on stage, organized by ÀP - Popular Academy of anti-mafia and rights, with the artistic direction of Compagnia Ragli and the collaboration of Associazione daSud.

OPEN is a Queer love story on love and lost, deeply related to New York City.

What are magic tricks but distortion of reality? Here a woman called The Magician presents a myriad of tricks for our entertainment, yet her performance seems to be attempting something more impossible than illusion—to rescue her girlfriend from death after a vicious hate crime. The play asks its audience to revel in the joy of queer love, yet grieve and process the trauma of fighting against intolerance in this timely, cathartic story. OPEN has since been produced across the U.S with other theatres in NM, MN, LA, FL and OH.

The premiere production was filmed live in June 2019 at The Tank in a co-production with All for One in New York City, Featuring Drama Desk Award nominee Megan Hill. The 2019 film of the live performance OPEN received an encore seven day showing with All for One for one week as part of The Tank’s June, 2021 Pridefest, streaming on demand to acclaim. In 2021, The Flying Carpet presented the film as part of the 2021 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was nominated for an Off West End Award.

In 2022, the Italian tour will be anticipated by a preview at The Tank Theatre in New York, on November 14th.

In Italy, OPEN will be an occasion for US artists, local artists, and audience to meet and discover how the Italian and America contemporary societies are distant, yet quite close.

PR - Maresa Palmacci mobile +39 348 0803972; [email protected]

OnStage! Program

NOVEMBER 2022

Friday 18 – CAGLIARI, Lucido Festival

              9:00 “Rights on stage” meeting with local schools

21:00 OPEN

Sunday 20 – OSTIA, Teatro del Lido

              17:30 OPEN

Monday 21 – OSTIA, Teatro del Lido

              10:00 OPEN

              11:00 “Rights on stage” meeting with local schools

              15:00 Human Rights OnStage!

(International live streaming conference)

Tuesday 22 – PESCARA, Florian Espace

              20:45 OPEN

Thursday 24 – ROMA, Festival Mauro Rostagno

              21:00 OPEN