"In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY," New York City’s premiere festival of Italian theater, is back. Held in all five boroughs of NYC now through Monday, May 19, the festival features full—and free!—productions that have already toured around their native Italy, as well as readings of Italian plays in translation, lectures, and exchanges between Italian and International artists. (Yes, the bulk of events are in Italian with English subtitles.)
Among the calendar of shows, you’ll find MATER FAMILIAS by Pier Lorenzo Pisano (the winner of the 2025 In Scena! Playwright Award); LAMPEDUSA BEACH written and directed by Lina Prosa (a solo show on migration performed by Nadia Kibout); and IN THE NAME OF MARY (NEL NOME DI MARIA), a show inspired by an old mafia story set in early-1980s Palermo that involved the death of a young Sicilian policeman.
The 12th anniversary season of the festival is hosted by The New York City-based Kairos Italy Theater along with Italy’s KIT Italia and Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at NYU.