America

In the organizer's words:

by Giorgio Ferretti

// Winner of the exil playwright prize 2022

The longing for America makes the main character in Giorgio Ferretti's play restless and drives her on. Describing America is not easy - whether it is possible to find America one day is not entirely clear either. However, the search seems to be many things at the same time: hopeful, desperate, painful, fulfilling and full of pleasure. In episodes ranging from the confusion of early puberty to the uncertainty of adult life in her mid-thirties, family, classmates, friends, the boss and other people involved have their say when asked or unasked about the topic that drives the character so much: the longing for America. Gianna Nannini sang about it over forty years ago and caused a scandal: To search for America, to feel it, to touch it and to reinvent it again and again. On the album cover, the Statue of Liberty confidently held up a dildo instead of a torch. Giorgio Ferretti transforms this metaphor from the search for eroticism to the longing for self-discovery, career, excess, security, love and also leads his main character to America itself. You could say that "America" starts out from masturbation and turns into self-questioning.

Giorgio Ferretti was awarded the exile playwright prize by the WIENER WORTSTAETTEN in 2022 for "America". The jury said: "What particularly distinguishes the text is the melancholy humor that runs through all the chapters. With 'America', Giorgio Ferretti has created a condensed play, a play that deals with longings that all people feel and yet which always remain mysterious for most, because they are as individual and fleeting as real life."

Venue: discotheque

Read more: America (UA) | Schauspiel Leipzig