L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY " Call me! Federico Fellini wants to see you." When actres s D ina M orrone received this message from her agent, s he didn't think much of it and believing it was just a joke, she didn't call her back. But the famous Italian director w as indeed looking for a blonde girl for his first ever commercial. It was for Banca di Roma, and he wanted to audition the Italian- Canadian actress who, at that time, was living in Rome. "When I found out it was true, I bought a dress, put on a scarf and went to Cinecittà to meet him," Dina recalls with emotion. "I didn't get the part, which made me sad: when you are going through things you think 'why did it not work out?' Only later in life you realize that there's always a silver lining. And in that case, it was my s how ." The s tory of her encounter with Federico Fellini, in fact, became the motivation to write her first one-woman show, The Italian in Me. Entirely writ- ten and performed by Dina, the show recently won the Valley Theater Award for Best One Per- son Show. Dina, it looks like this show is autobiographical. It is semi autobiographical. 70% of my show is pretty much what happened and how it hap- pened. The third act is more of a fantasy about something that I wanted to do, and I am glad now that I didn't do. The whole show comes full circle: it's about a young Italian-Canadian raised in Canada with her grandmother, who wants to go working in Italy, in the world of cinema. She manages to do it, and then comes back home. During the show, she meets Federico Fellini. He was the man everybody wanted to work with. Tell me more about this encounter. When we met for the audition, he opened up to me about his life. I was there to talk about my work and myself, and it became about him! But not in the way one would think, considering he was so famous, but in a very humble and self-deprecating way. He was at a point in his life where he felt like work was about to slow down. I was sitting there, wondering why he was telling me all those personal things. How did that meeting become the motivation to write The Italian In Me? I told the story of that meeting over and over again from the day it happened! Everybody would say: "Have you ever written a one-woman show? Your stories are so fascinating and this Fed- erico Fellini story is amazing." So I started writing all my sto- ries, all told in the first person. I thought I could do something with that, so I took the Fellini story and I built the whole show around it. I didn't know I had a piece of gold sitting in my lap. There is a great punch line in the show that he said during our meeting! Can you tell us more about this punch line? I can't reveal too much about it. You have to come see the show to hear it in Fellini's voice. Fellini had a great sense of humor. One of the things we Ital- ians have is our sense of humor, no matter the circumstances! And I grew up with that. He reminded me a lot of my grand- father. How was the process of writing it? The show wrote itself when I moved to LA, which is where "The Italian in Me" was devel- oped. It was a collection of all of my experiences. I have been playing this character and it has been growing for 10 years! And I continue to work on it. How did it change over these years? For example, I talk about Sil- vio Berlusconi, in the context of an episode that happened to me. Back in the day, people in Los Angeles didn't know who he was so I had to explain, now they all do and wrap up in laughter! What kind of audience do you usually have? My audience is primarily Americans who love theater, Italy, and all things Italian. I also have a lot of film people, who understand my show because it is about people who want to work in this sector. There are also many Italians and they are my best audience, because when I say something in Italian they burst into laughter. My favorite audience is the one who gets the Italian jokes right off the bat: even if they are not Italian, they still get the references. I do trans- late some funny Italian words throughout the show. What was the best compli- ment you got? My favorite compliment was from Mel Brooks. He came to see my show one year ago. His late wife was Anne Bancroft, a brilliant Italian/America actress I so admired. He gave me the best quote, "One of the truly funniest nights I've spent at the theater." Another compliment came from Doris Roberts, who played the mother in Everybody loves Ray- mond. She was 91 years old when she came to see the show, and with emotions and tears in her eyes, she grabbed my hands and went on to compliment me about my work as an actress and the show. I was so overwhelmed by her outpouring of emotions and compliments. Especially because they came from a woman who had been a star in Broadway, on the silver screen and on TV. Do you feel very Italian in your daily life? I am very Italian. I grew up with very Italian parents and I started speaking English only when I was 6, when I went to school. Everything was Italian, my way of thinking, the supersti- tions, and the old fashioned, yet loving parents. When I finally got to Italy everything made sense. When I went to Calabria, where my relatives are from, in Pedace, near Cosenza, to be exact, I got very emotional, especially when I went to the cemetery where I saw all my paternal relatives, great- grandparents, and grandparents. The one thing about the immi- grant experience, about being a child of immigrants, is that you go to this new country and it sud- denly becomes your world. You see that everything you do and are comes from those people, some of whom you never even met. My story reflects who I am and these people are all a part of it. Give us some details about the show. I will be performing on November 10th at 8pm and 11th at 2pm at Theater West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd West, 90068. The show lasts 75/80 minutes. It's an evening of laughter and pure entertainment! I take people to Rome without having them get on an airplane. I love doing my show because I get to go to Italy, too. When I rehearse by myself in the dark, in the theater, I remem- ber, reflect, and get to re-live it all over again! SILVIA GIUDICI Morrone's show was entirely constructed around her meeting with Federico Fellini. Photo: Ed Krieger Dina Morrone's "The Italian in Me" wins the Valley Theatre Award

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