On Saturday, February 9, my wife Vinita and I were guests of the Academia Teatrale Francesco Campogalliani in Mantua, Italy, at the opening night of their revival of Assenze, the Italian translation (by Antonia Brancati) of Absence. As noted in my previous post, this was the company that had premiered this translation two years ago, when I was unable to attend.

It was a magnificent performance, powerful and moving, with a brilliant cast anchored by a heart-stopping performance by Francesca Campogalliani (the granddaughter of the company’s founder!) as Helen. The designers created a beautiful world in the intimate theater, under Mario Zolin’s solid direction.

But more than the play itself, Vinita and I were moved by the warmth and generosity of everyone at the theater, who invited us to have dinner with them after the show and made us feel completely at home. The two of us spoke little Italian, and many of the people there spoke little English, but we were able to make our mutual admiration known!

I was also happy to meet Antonia Brancati herself. We’d been e-mailing each other for years, but we at last got to meet face to face! (She’s a talented playwright in her own right.)

It’s always an honor to have my work performed in translation, but it’s also humbling to see “my” work performed successfully with words that aren’t actually my own.