They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay? – Press Release

 Press Releases  Comments Off
Jan 082016
 

Flashpoint, 916 G Street, NW, Washington DC 20001

Website:  www.aticc.org Phone: (703) 475-4036 Email: ambassadortheater@aticc.org

Washington, DC, January 17, 2016

–For immediate release—

 

Ambassador Theater

In Partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute  

Presents The Washington DC Premiere of

THEY DON’T PAY? WE WON’T PAY!

By Dario Fo

Translated by Jon Laskin and Michael Aquilante

Produced by Hanna Bondarewska

Directed by Joe Martin

Featuring: Hanna Bondarewska, Moriah Whiteman, Darren Marquardt, Mitch Irzinski and Peter Orvetti

Ambassador Theater is thrilled to celebrate the 90th birthday of Dario Fo, Italian satirist, playwright, director, actor, and composer, with the DC premiere of They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!

In the Nobel prize winner’s hilarious farce of civil disobedience, desperate housewives take justice into their own hands and become politically engaged. Based upon real life events — a worker’s uprising in Italy in 1974– direct action is needed when the government fails to protect citizen’s rights. Hugely popular and more relevant than ever, They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay! delivers a serious message in Fo’s signature absurdly comic style.

Meet Antonia, who during a food riot takes goods from a supermarket and must hide them from her law-abiding husband Giovanni, under her friend Margherita’s coat. Follow the chaos which ensues once Giovanni and Margherita’s husband learn of Margherita’s “miracle pregnancy.” You’ll be glued to your seat watching the farcical adventures of both couples in confrontation with the forces of the law.

This play reveals Fo’s roots in Commedia dell’Arte and Boulevard theatre. In awarding him the 1997 Nobel Prize for Literature, the Nobel committee remarked that Dario Fo “emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.” His plays have been translated into 30 languages and performed on every continent.

WHERE: Mead Theatre Lab at FLASHPOINT

916 G Street NW, Washington DC

WHEN: March 3 – March 26, 2016; Wednesdays – Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Matinees Sundays at 3:00 pm

Previews (Open Dress Rehearsals) March 1, 2 at 7:30 pm;

VIP Opening March 3 at 7:30 pm, Reception follows

Press Night: Sat, March 5, 7:30 pm; Special Q&A after the show with the Special Guest, Italian Actor, longtime collaborator of Dario Fo, Mario Pirovano, director, Joe Martin and actors

TICKETS: $20 – $40 Online: http://www.aticc.org/home/category/get-tickets

For 14 + Audiences

Media/Press: please e-mail us to reserve your tickets!

 

 

They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!

 Press Releases  Comments Off
Jan 072016
 

Flashpoint, 916 G Street, NW, Washington DC 20001

Website: www.aticc.org Phone: (703) 475-4036 Email: ambassadortheater@aticc.org

Washington, DC, January 7, 2016

–For immediate release—
In Partnership with the Embassy of Italy and Italian Cultural Institute

Ambassador Theater Presents

The Washington DC Premiere of
THEY DON’T PAY? WE WON’T PAY! By Dario Fo
Translated by Jon Laskin and Michael Aquilante
Produced by Hanna Bondarewska

Directed by Joe Martin

Featuring: Hanna Bondarewska, Moriah Whiteman, Darren Marquardt, Mitch Irzinski and Peter Orvetti

The Team of Ambassador Theater is thrilled to celebrate 90th Birthday of Dario Fo and present a DC Premiere of They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay! (Non si paga, non si paga!) This is one of the greatest European comedies of the 20th Century, which caused the future Nobel Prize-winning playwright Dario Fo to be brought to trial for incitement. This working class farce set during a time of economic collapse, begins with an episode of mass shoplifting by working class women from food stores, due to price hikes. It soon converges with the shipping of cheap contraband food from Asia as well as work stoppages and strikes. As a result of the “liberation” of food from grocery stores, a peculiar number of pregnant-looking women in coats are being pursued by the authorities everywhere. One of these working class women, Antonia, must deal with her legalistic husband, Giovanni—a union member who plays by the rule-book. She must also explain the unexpected “pregnancy” of his best friend Luigi’s wife, Margherita, a fact that  Giovanni in turn “reveals” to Margherita’s husband. But soon the raids by authorities seeking contraband food close in on their neighborhood, and chaos ensues.

Though the piece has been called a “comedy of hunger,” it is also about the bigger financial farce that results if the victims of financial collapse—brought about by capitalism run-amok—are asked to pay for the disaster while the guilty parties are bailed out. This play by a master playwright and performer, is both physical comedy and a comedy of wit, sometimes in “boulevard” style. Fo has roots in Commedia dell’Arte, and the influence shows in this modern farce. In awarding him the Nobel Prize for Literature—there is no theatre category!—the Nobel committee remarked in 1997 that Dario Fo “emulates the jesters of the Middle Ages in scourging authority and upholding the dignity of the downtrodden.”
WHERE: Mead Theatre Lab at FLASHPOINT916 G Street NW, Washington DC
WHEN: March 1 – March 26, 2016; Wednesdays – Saturdays at 7:30 pm; Matinees Sundays at 3:00 pm
Previews March 1, 2 at 7:30 pm;

VIP Opening & Reception follows March 3 at 7:30 pm
Press Night: Sat, March 5, 7:30 pm; Special Q&A after the show with the Special Guest, Italian Actor, longtime collaborator of Dario Fo, Mario Pirovano, director, Joe Martin and actors
TICKETS: $20 – $40 Online: http://www.aticc.org/home/category/get-tickets

For 14 + Audiences

Media/Press: please e-mail us to reserve your tickets!