L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2023 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano " In the end, this play is about personal, cultural, and gener- a t i o n a l c h a n g e . More specifically, it i s a b o u t t h e c o u r a g e t o change." Italian-Canadian actress, playwright, producer, and voice-over artist Dina Mor- rone is thrilled to present the new play she has written and produced, Moose on the Loose, a comedy about an Italian family and a Canadi- an moose. What is this play about? And why is a moose on the loose? "When a loose moose wanders into town holding a Molson Canadian beer and g e t s s t u c k i n t h e P o l i s h neighbor's camper trailer, four generations of an Ital- i a n - C a n a d i a n i m m i g r a n t f a m i l y s o o n r e a l i z e t h e m o o s e i s n ' t t h e o n l y o n e who is stuck, displaced, and confused." She explains. D i r e c t e d b y P e t e r Flood, the play will open on April 14th at Theatre West in Los Angeles and will run until May 21st. "I saw the moose on the loose as a per- fect metaphor for displaced people. The moose is dis- placed. Indigenous people are displaced. Immigrants in a new land feel displaced. A n d t h e c h i l d r e n b o r n t o immigrant parents feel con- f u s e d a n d d i s p l a c e d a n d don't know where they fit in. And sometimes you can't go home once you've made the big move because when you do go back, everything has changed for you, not just the place but your state of mind. A n d s o , w h e r e d o y o u b e l o n g , a n d w h o g e t s t o decide where you belong?" concludes the actress, who was born in Thunder Bay, a r e m o t e n o r t h e r n O n t a r i o city situated on the north- western tip of Lake Superi- or. D i n a , w h e n d i d y o u start writing Moose on the Loose, and how did it come along? In 2010, I was on the tele- p h o n e w i t h m y m o t h e r , Angelina, who speaks bro- k e n E n g l i s h w i t h a t h i c k Italian accent. We were dis- cussing earthquakes, mud- slides, and raging fires in LA. My mother said, "Well, w e d o n ' t h a v e t o w o r r y about any of those natural disasters up here in north- ern Ontario. It's cold, and we have a lot of snow, the most that can happen is that a moose wanders out of the b u s h . " I t h o u g h t s h e w a s being funny. She said that a f e w d a y s p r i o r , a l a r g e moose had wandered out of t h e b u s h f r o m a c r o s s t h e street and strayed into her Polish neighbor's backyard, where it got stuck in a small camper trailer. The situation caused quite a commotion in t h e n e i g h b o r h o o d , a n d i t was a big news story. My father said the moose was in the wrong place and didn't belong in the city. I argued that the moose was in the right place and that we were in the wrong place. And that m a n m o v e d i n t o t h e s e remote places, built homes on land once populated by nature, wildlife, and indige- n o u s p e o p l e , a n d p u s h e d large forest animals out of their natural habitat. And so, when a moose wanders into our neck of the woods, it's doing so because it was once home. And yet now, the moose is made to feel like it's in the wrong place. H o w d i d y o u r upbringing influence it, and how much of your life can we find in it? This play is not autobio- graphical. But clearly, there is a lot of me and my family, and many similarities. But ultimately, the play is about all the immigrant families I k n e w g r o w i n g u p i n m y small town. It's their story as much as it is mine. I grew up first-generation Canadi- an to Italian parents who were only supposed to stay i n C a n a d a f o r u p t o f i v e years. That was the plan. But sometimes, your plans don't always turn out as you had hoped. So anyway, I grew up i n C a n a d a , a n d a l l m y friend's parents spoke with very thick accents, whether they were Italian, German, Croatian, French, Scottish, etc. And all my friends spoke a n o t h e r l a n g u a g e . I t w a s beautiful to hear all these languages and accents. So even though we were differ- ent culturally, we had very similar experiences. With regards to how much of my life we can find in the play, well, the character Gina is sort of based on me. The show is an ensem- ble of 12 actors, while T h e I t a l i a n i n M e i s a solo show. How was it d i f f e r e n t f o r y o u t o w r i t e a o n e - c h a r a c t e r show as opposed to a 12- person play? When I first started writ- i n g t h i s p l a y , I t h o u g h t , ' hmmm... how can I make this a solo show and play all the characters?' I love doing solo shows! But as I contin- ued working on it, I thought, 'oh no, this is too funny. I need to add all the actors p l a y i n g t h e s e r o l e s a n d watch the dynamics of the story unfold.' I am a story- t e l l e r a n d l o v e t o s h a r e . With a play, I have to rely on other people to deliver my words, and in a solo show, i t ' s a l l a b o u t m e a n d t h e characters in my head, play- ing them the way I choose to play them. It's a lot more stressful for me to watch my plays than for me to be up on stage performing my solo shows. In one of the reviews, I read that it is like an Italian version of My Big F a t W e d d i n g . D o y o u agree with that, and if so, why? I a m f l a t t e r e d b y t h a t comment and comparison by that reviewer. Yes, my play is about family and cul- tural differences among gen- erations. It is about tradi- tions and customs that don't feel relevant to the kids born i n A m e r i c a , a n d y e t t h e grandparents and parents are trying to hold on to them tightly. But there is no big f a t G r e e k w e d d i n g i n m y play. And there isn't an Ital- ian one either. But yes, fami- ly, love, and laughter are all there. What should the audi- e n c e e x p e c t f r o m t h e s h o w ? W h a t m e s s a g e would you like for peo- ple to take away from it? The audience can expect t o h a v e a g o o d t i m e . T o laugh and even to be moved. It's a show the whole family c a n s e e . A n d i t ' s a s h o w m o s t o f u s c a n r e l a t e t o b e c a u s e i t ' s a b o u t ' l a famiglia.' I have chosen to write what I know and make it an Italian family, but I have had people from all dif- ferent ethnicities come up to me and tell me this is their story, too. A man walking out of the theater after having seen the show told me this was his story. I asked where he was from in Italy. He said, "No, I am from Iran, this is just like my experience." Moose on the Loose: an Italian immigrants story SILVIA NITTOLI The poster of Moose on the Loose, which will be in LA from the 14th of April to the 21st of May LOS ANGELES ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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