BIO (English version)

Luisa Mariani in 7 moments: actress, director, author, artistic director of festivals, documentaries and short films.

Education
Attended: Degree course in Humanities at the “La Sapienza” University of Rome, the Alessandro Fersen Academy of Scenic Arts, the Manuela Mezzelani Professional Training Centre qualifying as a cameraman.

Artistic Director
Director of more than thirty international, music, dance and theatre festivals funded by Mibact (Ministry of Fine Arts, Cultural Activities and Tourism and other public bodies; including the Tivoli “Rassegna sull’acqua”(eight editions), the“Festival dei linguaggi popolari” (Palermo-Teatro Dante), the “Festival Internazionale Tivoli città d’arte” (the Greek Theatre of Villa Adriana 1992), the “Festival delle Colline” in Villa Medicea at Poggio a Caiano – Florence – (eight editions), the Anagni “Festival della città dei Papi” (five editions), the “Kroton Festival” (four editions), “Estate Leccese” (four editions), the Fasano “Egnatia Festival” (one edition), “Capalbiamente teatro” (inaugural edition at Capalbio 1998), “Ust – Ust” (first multimedial Estate Romana edition 1999), the Review of the Interdisciplinary Theatre “Grandi Personaggi per Grandi Dimore” (inaugural edition Cerveteri-Roma 2013).

Curator of the programme of the Film Festivals:

“Ust Ust” Estate Romana 1999 (Rome Summer Season) and “Prati Movie” (inaugural edition. Rome 2008).

Responsible for the promotion and diffusion of Italian culture abroad, both as a consultant for the Cultural and Scientific Affairs Advisor of the Israeli Embassy, Pinchas Avivi and by presenting at the “Festival of Paris 1988”, the Koros Dance Theatre, directed by Massimo Moricone and Patrizia Natoli and at “Piazza Italia”, an event organised in New York to mark the 1994 World Cup Finals, the Maria Monti and Ettore De Carolis concert.

She has introduced to Italy a number of international dance companies: “Lar Lubovitch Dance Company”, “Elisa Monte Dance Company”, the “ètoiles” of the “National Ballet of Canada”, “Moshe Efrati Kol Demama Dance Company”, the celebrated New York Experimental Theatre Dance Company “La Mama E.T.C.”, the Israeli “HAIFA Municipal Theater” a number of highly eclectic concert performers including Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Curator of several photographic exhibitions:

“Dans les rues du monde” directed by Sandro Spina in Clervaux Castle, Luxembourg (2007); “Foto di scena” (Scene Photos) by Marco Scalise at the Centro d’Arte Opera Don Orione (2008); “Il Cammino dell’Uomo” (The Journey of Man) by Sandro Spina in the intercultural section of the “Caffè Letterario” of Rome (2009); “L’occhio sul mondo” (The Eye on the World) by Sandro Spina in the Teatro/Studio of the Auditorium – Parco della Musica di Roma (2009); the exhibition-event “Senza confini: spiritualità a confronto” (Without Borders: Juxtaposed Spiritualities at the Roma Capitale Library “Casa del Parco” (May 2013 – October 2013).

Other interdisciplinary events-exhibitions:

“Violin d’Auteur” in the Villa Torlonia – Casina delle Civette museum (June 2013 – September 2013); “Metros de Creatividad” (Metres of Creativity), international collective exhibition in cooperation with the Polythenic University of Valencia (Spain) – Faculty of Fine Arts– (April 2013) and the Roma Capitale Library “Casa del Parco” (December 2013 – January 2014).

Cinema

She has written and directed a number of short films with the artistic cooperation of the RAI Director Sandro Spina, including:

“Ierofanie” (2004), a surreal, arcane and metaphysical journey mingled with the presences of a mythical and supernatural world via the art of a painter and the mysterious gaze of a woman.
40 minute short scripted together with Sandro Spina. Directed by Sandro Spina, starring Luisa Mariani and the award-winning painter Maestro Gianpistone,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghjxi9GWgy0

Scriptwriter and Director:

“Il viaggio del Patriarca” (The Patriach’s Journey) a documentary film, written and directed to mark the visit to Italy of Poet and Writer Jaroslaw Jwaszkievicz, Andrzj Wajda’s film scriptwriter, to receive the 1979 Mondello Prize;

– “Urla di Argilla” (Cry of Clay), drawing inspiration from “Presepi di guerra” (War Cribs) by Faenza Ceramist Muky.
A 30 minute short film, which she wrote, directed and starred in, winner of the 2007 Mazzocco Prize at the FEDIC Festival of S. Giovanni Valdarno, selected for the Izmira Kisa Short Film Festival (Turkey) and the “Garden of Shorts” Festival, finalist of the 2006 New York Short Film Festival;



– “Un Musulmano a Roma” (A Muslim in Rome), the social interplaying mechanisms and undercurrents during the everyday life of Karim, a Moroccan getting to grips with the realities of living in the eternal city.
A 30 minute short film, scripted and directed by Luisa Mariani, screened at the Short Film Market of the 35th Turin film Festival 2017.

“Maree della Memoria” (Tides of Memory) (Tides of Memory) short film of about 30 minutes written, directed and starring Luisa Mariani together with an international cast of more than 20 actors, winner of the Best Short Film Gold Award at the INYFF – International NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL 2020.
An award rekindling a rethink about how life is lived today the world over. This year’s Festival was for the first time held online due to the pandemic, highlighting the importance of art as a window onto free thinking, faith in and the hope for a change.

Work in progress: the docu-film entitled “Flussi e Riflussi” (Ebbs and Flows), whose video teasers are here attached:
Teaser 1 – FLUSSI E RIFLUSSI (italiano)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9MzWpQ3rFA


Teaser 2 – FLUSSI E RIFLUSSI (inglese)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLz1VNG-HrA
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Teaser 3 – FLUSSI E RIFLUSSI (inglese)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4k30vh2-EA

Video clips e advertising spots :

“Isetnis” or “Le voci del Verde” (Verdi’s Voices) a short musical (2008) written jointly with Maria Monti and Eros Vasconi for Voices and Orchestra, performed by the “Arturo Toscanini” band, vocals Maria Monti, Daniela Auciello and a children’s choir, Conductor Maestro Eros Vasconi, Director Luisa Mariani;

https://youtu.be/PCzW0GKpJj4

-“Sprazzi di Pace” (Glimpses of Peace) (2017), a sound and song journey through the emotions of life. Promo of Maria Monti’s CD of the same name, scripted and directed by Luisa Mariani 
 choreographed by Vladimir Derevianko;

-“Satyrus” (2017) – Premium Temporary Bar, Permanent suggestions – in the magic wood of Valle Giulia, in front of the National Gallery of Modern Art of Rome.

“10 June 2018 #Via Libera“, advertising spot, 4 episodes to promote a new cultural approach to mobility, screenplay by Luisa Mariani and Giovanni Pirri, directed by Luisa Mariani, broadcast on the platform of Consulta Cittadina per la Sicurezza Stradale (the City Council for Road Safety website and official facebook page)

https://www.facebook.com/consultasicurezzaroma/posts/203070960313377
https://www.facebook.com/1752305485060915/videos/553082201794935


“Leonardo Boutique Hotel Rome” advertising spot (2020) – scripted and directed by Luisa Mariani. An international group of four star hotels situated in the most sumptuous settings in Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Spain, Israel…200 hotels in over 100 locations in 18 countries;


https://www.facebook.com/101732484596955/videos/150268823539262

“Suzuki Autosport Rome” advertising spot (2021) scripted and directed by Luisa Mariani – an exclusive Suzuki car dealer in Rome with 4 showrooms for sales, assistance, spare-parts. Top Hybrid models for a green mobility;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KpSnz29K-o

“Il Sorriso degli Avi” social clip (The Smile of Our Forefathers) (2021) about the emergencies facing our planet, script, photography and direction by Luisa Mariani, music composed and performed by Paolo Rozzi, singer Giorgia Di Stefano with Ruben Galafate Orlandi in the role of Cambiamondo (Worldchanger) and Francisco Chagas as Chief of the Amazonian People the Apurinã.

https://youtu.be/An_HhtFRfn4

Curator of several photographic exhibitions:



– “Dans les rues du monde” (In the streets of the world), by Director Sandro Spina in the Clervaux Castle in Luxembourg (2007);
– “Foto di scena” (Scene Photos), by Marco Scalise at the Centro d’Arte Opera Don Orione (2008);
– “Il Cammino dell’Uomo” (Man’s Journey), by Sandro Spina in the intercultural section of the “Caffè Letterario” of Rome (2009);
– “L’occhio sul mondo” (The Eye of the World), by Sandro Spina in Theatre/Studio of the Auditorium Parco della Musica of Roma (2009);

– The Event-Exhibition “Senza confini: spiritualità a confronto” (Without Borders: Juxtaposed Spiritualities) at the Roma Capitale Library “Casa del Parco” (May 2013 – October 2013).

Other interdisciplinary events-exhibitions:

– “Violino d’Autore” (Author Violin), in the museums of Villa Torlonia – Casina delle Civette (June 2013 – September 2013);

– “Metros de Creatividad” (Metres of Creativity), international collective exhibition in cooperation with the Polythenic University of Valencia (Spain) – Faculty of Fine Arts– (April 2013) and the Roma Capitale Library “Casa del Parco” (December 2013 – January 2014).

Art Events on Video.

Including:

– G.A.M. – Gallery of Modern Art of Rome – Exhibition “Le tute e l’acciaio” (The Overalls and Iron), by Antonio Bernardo Fraddosio;

– COMPLESSO DEL VITTORIANO – Rome – Exhibition “Il Tempo dell’Angelo” (The Time of the Angel), by Marcello Mariani;

– MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art Rome – Luisa Mariani’s interviews with Michelangelo Pistoletto and Giorgio de Finis, who conceived the experimental project Macro Asilo.

Her articles in her column “In Punta di Naso” (On the Tip of the Nose) – sounds, smells, tastes, perceptions, outlooks – on the Scenario / On-scene Online: conversations with Hungarian Literary Doyen Nemes László, notes on Concha Velasco, Spanish actress, singer and television presenter, on Elio Pandolfi and Silvana Stefanini, 2016 Nastri d’Argento Best Actor Winners in docu-films section.

Her articles in her column “In Punta di Naso” (On the Tip of the Nose) – sounds, smells, tastes, perceptions:
meetings with Writer and Journalist Ludina Barzini, with Pakistani Princess Saniya Syed, with Giuliano Frittelli, Territorial President of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired (UICI) of Rome, with Mario Barbuto, UICI National President, during the XII Louis Braille National Day Conference and with Antonella Rita Roscilli, Brazilian journalist, for the Centenary marking the birth of Primo Levi.


Her videos on “In Punta di Naso” – sounds, smells, tastes, perceptions, outlooks, include: meeting with Writer and Journalist Ludina Barzini, with Pakistani Princess Saniya Syed, with Giuliano Frittelli, Territorial President of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired (UICI) of Rome, with Mario Barbuto, UICI National President, during the XII Louis Braille National Day Conference and with Antonella Rita Roscilli, journalist, specialist in Brazilian affairs, for the Centenary of the birth of Primo Levi.

Work in progress: docu-film entitled “Flussi e Riflussi…maree della memoria” (Flow and Reflow….tides of memory).

Expressive Exploration

Attended meetings on theatrical communication at the La Sapienza University of Rome. Promoted gatherings and debates on the techniques and methodologies of performing arts between groups of Italian, Israeli and Egyptian university students, respectively at the Universities of Tel Aviv and Cairo.
Nel 1982, created the “Progetto: Goccia Perduta in Estensione” (Project: A Drop Lost in Extension), at the “Pianeta Junior” Teatro Tenda in Viale Maresciallo Pilsudski, Rome and from 1977 to 1981, responsible for theatre projects in summer camps organised in Rome’s municipalities by the Teatro di Roma.

Theatre

Founder and Artistic Director of the “LUISA MARIANI NEW THEATRE COMPANY”, prioritising her work exploring new fields of contemporary drama, which has for the past 39 years been formally recognised by the Ministry of Fine Arts and Cultural Activities.

Winner of the “Brutium Poesia – Incontro città di Tropea 1991” Prize, founded by Rina Li Vigni Galli by Walter Pedullà for putting on stage theatrical works taken from poetry.
On referring to her work, she said “often, I have gone down paths fraught with questions and I have patiently gone about my excavating work. A labour which has been rewarded with the discovery of precious gems: unsung texts by great writers such us Giovanni Verga’s Rose Caduche, Ugo Betti’s La Padrona, Alfonso Gatto’s Il Duello, Domenico Rea’s Le Formiche Rosse, nwhich she staged in partnership with such top talents as Goffredo Petrassi, Gino Negri, Ennio Morricone, Giantito Burchiellaro, Renato Guttuso, Bruno Caruso, Neno Piana and others.”

Actress and Director:

“La Padrona” by Ugo Betti, scenography by Giantito Burchiellaro, original music by Gino Negri and Alvin Curran; “Arcicoso” by Robert Pinget, scenography by Neno Piana, choreography by Franca Bartolomei in 1977 and by Ilza Prestinari in 1978 ; “All’Uscita” by Luigi Pirandello, scenography by Neno Piana; “Rose Caduche” – world première – by Giovanni Verga loose remake by Enzo Gatti, introduction by Leonardo Sciascia, scenery and costumes by Bruno Caruso, music by Ennio Morricone; “La liberazione di Ruggiero dall’isola di Alcina”, comic opera by Francesca Caccini, performed in 1980 in the villa Medicea of Poggio a Caiano (Firenze) in cooperation with the orchestra and chorus of the Musical Academy of Katowice; “Io Abramo” – world première – by Renato Lipari, Winner of the Vallecorsi Prize; “Le Formicole Rosse” – world première – by Domenico Rea , music by Gino Negri; “Un Sultano in vendita” –Italian première – by Taufiq Al Hakim, choreography by Saad Ismail, scenery and costumes by Gabriella Di Trani; “Dolfuss: Operazione Tiro al Bersaglio” Winner of the I.D.I. Prize – world première – by Gennaro Aceto, music by Ennio Morricone, scene changes by Jacqueline Chenal; “L’Ultimo Arabo” – world première – by Gennaro Aceto, theatrical fantasy made up of mime, dance and extracts of Arabic- Sicilian 9th-11th century poetry, choreography by Bob Curtis, costumes by Gabriella Di Trani; “Pitagora” – world première – choreography by Elio Pecora, coreografie di Moshe Efrati, music by Sona Ardontz; “Scene da un adulterio” – world première – by Daniele Luttazzi, direction by Paolo Montesi, with Luisa Mariani and Paolo Montesi, music by Ettore De Carolis.

Author

Member of SIAD (The Italian Association of Drama Authors) and
Ce.N.D.I.C (The Italian National Contemporary Drama Centre)
For ten years, Artistic Director of the interdisciplinary experimental expressive research workshops organised at the “La Sapienza” University of Rome (Eduardo de Filippo Theatre) and in cooperation with the Faculty of Arts Ain Shams University of Cairo and the School for Theatre Arts of State Teachers College Seminar Hakibutzim of Tel Aviv.
She has for several years worked in theatrical writing workshops, held in Italy’s regions within the framework of Goal 1, such as Calabria. In line with one of her work programme policies, aimed at the social integration, training, promotion and widespread diffusion of theatre, a number of performances were staged for the young in cooperation with schools and universities. Her efforts have been especially concentrated on striving for interactivity with the local territory by creating an evocative rapport with theatre productions organised in historically and artistically reminiscent locations, such as the Castle of Squillace and the archaeological site at Simeri Crichi.
At Catanzaro and other cultural centres in the same province (Botricello, Chiaravalle, Cropani, Davoli, Gasparina, Marcellinara, Montauro, Sellia Marina, Simeri Crichi, Squillace, Soverato, Settingiano, Taverna, Tiriolo…..) she staged the following works in her capacity as an author and director:

“Né con te” (Neither with you), the story of a Man rather flirtatiously living with his own ever-changing double: his accomplice in this chameleonic game is a “Nurse”. However, the other characters, oblivious to the way he is, permeate his daily routine and upset this apparently childish amusement so that the protagonist must find some other way of doing things. Procrastinating is none other than running away from facing up to what lies behind his malaise: his fear of opening himself up to others, of having a mature relationship and of changing his own life… In these moments, inertia and passivity seem to offer a much-needed break, then the fear of growing mounts and so one behaves convinced that change is capable of erasing a past which has fallen short of our expectations. The script attempts to monitor Man’s impulses, without dwelling on the possible consequences deriving from them. It picks up messages from his body and mind skimming, primed on the brink of the imaginary. The Nurse, the sole witness of any worth, accepts and indulges his own particular way of life (20 performances in 2000);

“E ricomincio” (And I Begin again) meanders through moments of sensuality and meditations, nostalgia and the future, observing the present: a handbook in order to live and not just survive. A sensory reawakening from the lethargy of emotive vibrations so as to achieve “being” through the body, immediately satisfying our instincts.
Sensations removed from a society fleeing from sentiment and founded on progress, on the myth of intelligence and lucid cynicism; similarly moving away from mysticism, a blurring, which is a typical flaw of a certain kind of oriental speculation rooted in the false premise that the truth can be revealed, dismissing knowledge as a dynamic process and one of relationships. Lara, looking for thrills, in between one dose of St. John’s Wort and another defrosting her emotions, together with Dan tottering on the brink of dangers, opening various windows onto the imagination, they offer us the viaticum (20 performances in 2001).

“Sette Porte nello Spazio” (Seven Doors in Space), takes place within a week. It all starts with a shooting meteorite that falls to Earth, where it splits open a chasm in the shape of the number Seven. A television crew arrives on the scene, which immediately moves off on the trail of another phenomenon: the tracks of an unseen Being, whose presence is sensed by the abnormal sound of its footsteps, crushing dry leaves, making a clearing through the reeds in the shape of the number of Seven. It is a journey, virtually devoid of any stopovers, inside a never-ending tunnel which has been dug out in the form of Seven; a momentary respite, leaving aside for an instant the world of videos, computers, satellites, scientific and technological progress… in search of a need to love and be loved, to escape the banality of an existence bereft of a credo or spirituality, driven by a continual and deep-rooted longing for knowledge and to overcome that divide between the world of men and the supernatural (15 performances in 2000);

“TRIS” – Camminando…oltre la Maschera – (“TRIS” – Walking…Beyond the Mask) a metropolitan story denouncing a society founded on the business of imagery, symbolically redeemed by a woman named Sara.
A name not casually chosen. (“It derives from the Hebrew שָׂרָה (Sarah), meaning “lady” or princess”; it is a name with a biblical tradition, being that of the wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. A name changed by God, in that the wife of Abraham was originally named שָׂרָי (Saray, Sarai), in all likelihood meaning “quarrelsome”. The name also belongs to another character, taken from the Book of Tobit, an apocryphal text. She was a woman, living in Ecbàtana, possessed by the demon Asmodeus, who killed every woman she joined with. However, Tobit arrived and freed her from the curse. A mutant name from time immemorial. Whereas, our main character, not by chance, has no name, but is called “Marketing Director” and is identified through her social role. She is a many-sided character inspiring anger and empathy as she is seductively devious and at the very same time a likeable know-all (15 performances in 2002);

“Ust Ust”, sigla che sta per ustionati e ustionanti, (Ust Ust stands for burnt and burning) is a parable raising the alarm about those Burnt in today’s world, those diseased by the burn out syndrome. It tells the story of the inhabitants of an imaginary plant from which the play takes its name. In this metaphorical microcosm, the victims and victimizers explore the possibility of a dialogue seeking an epiphany for change by launching into a harmonious merger with the elements of nature (31 performances in 2003);

“Urla di Argilla” (Cries of Clay) is a drama drawing inspiration from the works of “War Cribs” and the relative poetry of Muky, a highly talented ceramist, a major socially-committed artist, who brings memory to life, vitalises the rebirth and awareness of everyone’s rights; all of which are values that Woman, the main character is forgetting. In fact, her asking as to why to bring children into such a violent world, along with her nightmares resulting from a tragic event she herself witnessed and her dreams for a future where “every opposite may join together in an equilibrium of contrasts”, turn into a daily merciless existential stage. Her journey through childhood recollections, swaying between the icy light of the darkness of her own oneiric world and fragments of daily routine, is one where utopic and obsessive visions prevail….by means of which Woman will be able to distance herself from the bloodbaths, theatres of war of today and yesterday (from Lebanon, from Israel, from the Museum of the Bell of the Fallen in Rovereto and from the first world war trenches dotted about the province of Trento). She circles above lands where creativity is ablaze, because Art and Culture alone offer the possibility to speak to the world and to hear it and, gliding over Muky’s building in Faenza, she takes the breath from the clay she has herself shaped so as to light up places stricken by mourning, to bring peace and freedom to yoked men, by now reduced to mere mannequins enslaved by false ideals. During this encounter with Muky’s expressive universe, Woman will allay her anxiety to embark on a transformation of her own being (31 performances 2004)

“Urla di Argilla” and “Ierofanie” – the latter, never performed on stage, written together with Sandro Spina – have been adapted to be filmed in two shorts.