Mario Fratti
{{Short description|Italian playwright (1927–2023)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mario Fratti
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1927|07|29}}
| birth_place = L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2023|04|15|1927|07|29}}
| death_place = New York City, New York, U.S.
| occupation = Playwright
| years_active = 1959–2023
}}
Mario Fratti (29 July 1927 – 15 April 2023) was an Italian playwright and drama critic. In his lifetime, he produced over 70 works, which were translated into over 20 languages and shown worldwide.{{Cite web |title=Mario Fratti |url=https://www.concordtheatricals.co.uk/a/1724/mario-fratti |access-date= |website=Concord Theatricals |language=en-uk}} He was best known for writing the first script for the musical Nine.
Life and career
Born in L'Aquila, Fratti graduated in foreign languages and literatures at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice.{{cite news |title=Morto Mario Fratti, autore del musical 'Nine' e leggenda italiana a Broadway |url=https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/teatro-danza/2023/04/15/news/morto_mario_fratti_autore_del_musical_nine_e_leggenda_italiana_a_broadway-396314896/ |access-date=29 April 2023 |work=La Repubblica |date=15 April 2023 |language=it}}{{cite news |title=Addio a Mario Fratti il drammaturgo italiano che conquistò Broadway con "Nine" |url=https://www.lastampa.it/spettacoli/palcoscenico/2023/04/15/news/addio_a_mario_fratti_il_drammaturgo_italiano_che_conquisto_broadway_con_nine-12755772/ |access-date=29 April 2023 |work=La Stampa |date=15 April 2023 |ref=st |language=it}} In 1962, Fratti presented his one-act play Suicidio at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, and Lee Strasberg, a guest of the festival, was impressed by it and invited him to stage it at the Actors Studio. Fratti eventually decided to stay in New York, where he found work as a professor of Italian literature at Columbia University. In his later life, he was named as professor emeritus of Italian Literature at Hunter College.{{Cite web |last= |date=17 April 2023 |title=Mario Fratti, playwright, critic, past ATCA member, dies at 95 |url=https://americantheatrecritics.org/mario-fratti-playwright-critic-past-atca-member-dies-at-95/ |access-date= |website=American Theatre Critics Association |language=en-US}}
Fratti was an avowed communist.{{Cite web |date=26 August 2014 |title=Mario Fratti, un comunista a Broadway |url=https://lavocedinewyork.com/gallery/2014/08/26/mario-fratti-un-comunista-a-broadway/ |access-date= |website=La Voce di New York |language=en-US}} He died in his home in Manhattan on 15 April 2023, at the age of 95.{{Cite web |date=15 April 2023 |title=Mario Fratti, Famous Italian Playwright, Dies at 95 |url=https://lavocedinewyork.com/en/new-york/2023/04/15/mario-fratti-famous-italian-playwright-dies-at-95/ |access-date= |website=La Voce di New York |language=en-US}}
Mario Fratti Award
Since 2014, the theater company KIT - Kairos Italy Theater together with the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo' of NYU and In Scena Theatre Festival have created the Mario Fratti Award in his honour.{{Cite web |last=Peterson |first=Tyler |title=Carlotta Corradi Wins In Scena!'s First Mario Fratti Award for Emerging Italian Authors |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Carlotta-Corradi-Wins-In-Scenas-First-Mario-Fratti-Award-for-Emerging-Italian-Authors-20140523 |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}} The prize is awarded to an unpublished theatrical text by an Italian author. Among the winners are Carlotta Corradi, Pier Lorenzo Pisano, Emanuele Aldrovandi, Paolo Bignami,{{Cite web |date=2017-05-15 |title=Teatro a due voci: Mario Fratti incontra Paolo Bignami |url=https://lavocedinewyork.com/arts/2017/05/15/teatro-a-due-voci-mario-fratti-incontra-paolo-bignami/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=La Voce di New York |language=en-US}} the couple Chiara Boscaro and Marco Di Stefano,{{Cite web |last=Musbach |first=Julie |title=Winners Announced for 2018 Mario Fratti Award for Excellence in Italian Playwriting |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Winners-Announced-for-2018-Mario-Fratti-Award-for-Excellence-in-Italian-Playwriting-20180328 |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2018-05-19 |title=Chiara Boscari and Marco Di Stefano from Milan to New York with The City Rises |url=https://lavocedinewyork.com/en/arts/2018/05/19/chiara-boscari-and-marco-di-stefano-from-milan-to-new-york-with-the-city-rises/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=La Voce di New York |language=en-US}} Tobia Rossi,{{Cite web |last=Internazionale |first=Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione |title=Premio Mario Fratti – Serata di Chiusura di InScena! |url=https://iicnewyork.esteri.it/it/gli_eventi/calendario/premio-mario-fratti-serata-di-chiusura/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=iicnewyork.esteri.it |language=it-IT}} Giorgia Brusco, Luca Garello and Andrea Cioffi.{{Cite web |title=MARIO FRATTI AWARD {{!}} In Scena NY |url=https://www.inscenany.com/mario-fratti-award-2/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |language=en-US}} After Mario Fratti's death, the award was renamed In Scena! Playwright Award{{Cite web |last=Rabinowitz |first=Chloe |title=IN SCENA! ITALIAN THEATER FESTIVAL NY Launches Mentorship Program For Emerging Directors |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/IN-SCENA-ITALIAN-THEATER-FESTIVAL-NY-Launches-Mentorship-Program-For-Emerging-Directors-20250127 |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=BroadwayWorld.com |language=en}}
Plays
- Il campanello (1958)
- Suicidio (1962)
- La menzogna (1963)
- Il rifiuto (1965)
- La gabbia (1962)
- L'Accademia (1964)
- La vedova bianca (1972)
- I Seduttori (1964)
- I frigoriferi (1964)
- Eleonora Duse (1972)
- La vittima (1972)
- Che Guevara (1970)
- L'ospite romano (1971)
- Mafia (1974)
- La famiglia (1972)
- Chile 1973 (1974)
- Six Passionate Women (1978)
- Nine (1981)
- AIDS (1988)
- Porno (199)
- Amanti (1991)
- Avventure erotiche a Venezia (Tangentopoli) (1996)
- Candida e i suoi amici (2001)
- Cecità (2004)
- I nove martiri (2009)
- LGBT (2011)
- Obama 44 (2011)
- Beata, la figlia del Papa
- Attori
- Terrorista
- Sete
- Anniversario
- Missionari
- Garibaldi
- American Dream
- Suicide club
- Dead Men's Bluff
- Brooklyn
- Hugo, ispirata a Hugo Chávez
- Paganini (Musical)
- Puccini (Musical)
- Dialogo con Marilyn
- Teatro dell'Imprevedibile
- Unpredictable Plays
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fratti, Mario}}
Category:20th-century Italian dramatists and playwrights
Category:21st-century Italian dramatists and playwrights
Category:Ca' Foscari University of Venice alumni
Category:Columbia University faculty