​The Politics of Laughter

The Politics of Laughter: A Tribute to Dario Fo and Franca RameThursday, December 8 at 6 pm at The Buttonwood Tree, 605 Main Street, Middletown, CT
Admission Free. Donations welcome. ARTFARM invites theater activists, comedy enthusiasts and the curious to gather to honor the life & legacy of the iconic Italian actor/playwright/activists Dario Fo and Franca Rame. This tribute will take place at the Buttonwood Tree in Middletown on Thursday, December 8 at 6 pm.

Photo of Dario Fo and Franca Rame by Nicole Bengiveno, New York Times, 2000.

The Politics of Laughter: A Tribute to Dario Fo and Franca Rame will include an introduction by Wesleyan Theater Professor and Fo scholar Ron Jenkins, comments by Hartford Courant Theater Critic Christopher Arnott, and readings of selected works of Fo and Rame by ARTFARM Ensemble members. This will be a short evening of comedy, memory and celebration. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Italian actor/playwright/director/painter/designer/activist/Nobel Laureate Dario Fo died on October 13 of this year at age 90; his wife, actor/playwright/activist Franca Rame, passed away in 2013. They had been married and creating theater and havoc together in Italy and throughout the world since 1954. Their unique brand of satirical theater serves as an inspiration for activists and theater makers around the globe, not only for the past sixty years but into the future. Up to their deaths Fo and Rame remained as thorns in the side of Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a billionaire turned politician who was repeatedly accused of misogyny, womanizing, corruption, and was ultimately brought down by a tax evasion indictment.

Ron Jenkins is Professor of Theater at Wesleyan University and a Visiting Professor at Yale. He had been the chief American translator of Fo and Rame (both for their written work and in performance) since the 1980’s, and is one of the pre-eminent scholars on their work in this country. He will discuss their work and legacy, as well as share some video selections of Dario Fo onstage at the Joyce Theater in New York. Chris Arnott will share some memories of Fo and Rame’s influence on the radicalization of small American theater companies in the 1970’s and 80’s, and members of ARTFARM’s Ensemble, including Artistic Director Marcella Trowbridge, Executive Director Dic Wheeler, and actor John Basinger (known to Shakespeare in the Grove audiences as King Lear in 2014) will read some scenes and monologs from the couple’s works. Attendees are welcome to bring short selections or Fo/Rame experiences to share, or simply to come and listen.

ARTFARM is a Middletown-based non-profit theater company, founded in 2001, which cultivates high-quality theater with a commitment to simple living, environmental sustainability and social justice. For more information, or to reserve a seat, contact info@art-farm.org or call (860) 346-4390.