The Italian Institute of Culture in New York concluded yesterday the edition 2026 of In Scena!, the festival dedicated to Italian theatre in the United States, born in 2013 and became a point of reference for the promotion of Italian dramaturgy in North America. The final evening hosted the award ceremony of the In Scena! Playwright Award 2026, awarded to the playwright Marco Di Stefano for Via Crucis, text translated in English by Caterina Nonis and presented in the form of reading during the closing of the festival.
The conclusion of the festival comes after two weeks of programming spread in the five boroughs of New York, with shows, readings and free admission meetings. A format that is now part of the identity of In Scena!, as explained Laura Caparrotti, artistic director of Kairos Italy Theater and founder of the festival.
«Kairos Italy Theater is the leading Italian theatre company in New York. Our goal is to bring the Italian theatre to the United States and this, to the Italian Institute of Culture, is the last evening of the festival”.
Caparrotti also recalled the traveling vocation of the theatrical project: “Since 2013, when the festival was born, we bring the shows to all five boroughs. It is a choice that allows to reach different publics”.
At the center of the evening was the recognition to Via Crucis, a monologue in free verses built in 14 scenes. The text tells the story of a man of about thirty years who lives on the edge of society and who, after being arrested for possession of drugs, suffers violence during police custody until his death. The action takes place during a single day, from five am to midnight, crossing the streets, the police car, the rooms of the station and finally the morgue.
The work is inspired by events that marked the Italian public debate on the deaths in cautious custody, including the cases of Federico Aldrovandi, Giuseppe Uva and Stefano Cucchi.
With the award of Di Stefano, the edition of In Scena is closed! 2026.
Article A New York closes <i>In Scena!</i>, the Italian theatre festival comes from IlNewyorkese.