The Guido Venosta Foundation collaborates with Teatro Franco Parenti on the performance “Chi come me”

Project Happy: a Community Project for the Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents

Article published on 25/09/2024 -

“HAPPY diventare capaci” is a prevention and support intervention project aimed at enhancing the psychological well-being of adolescents in the Milan metropolitan area and the province of Monza and Brianza.

Among the various activities we plan to offer, we particularly want to involve the young people in both creating and attending theatrical performances. The therapeutic value of theater is well known, and “Chi come me” by Roy Chen—directed by Andrée Ruth Shammah—tells the story of five young individuals undergoing treatment at a mental health center in Tel Aviv. This performance powerfully conveys that our youth are not alone in facing the traumas of the future and their overwhelming anxieties. In this perspective, the Foundation is collaborating with Teatro Franco Parenti for “Chi come me,” which will be staged from October 1 to December 1, 2024.

Press Release – Teatro Franco Parenti

In collaboration with the Guido Venosta Foundation

October 1 – December 1, 2024 | Sala A2A

CHI COME ME

by Roy Chen
Adaptation, direction, and costumes by Andrée Ruth Shammah
Translation from Hebrew by Shulim Vogelmann
Featuring, among others:
Sara Bertelà, Paolo Briguglia/Fausto Cabra, Silvia Giulia Mendola, Pietro Micci
and also:
Amy Boda, Federico De Giacomo, Chiara Ferrara, Samuele Poma, Alia Stegani
Scenic design by Polina Adamov – Lighting by Oscar Frosio
Music by Brahms, Debussy, Vivaldi, Saint-Saëns, Schubert … and Michele Tadini
Produced by Teatro Franco Parenti
Duration: 1 hour and 50 minutes

Andrée Ruth Shammah, following sold-out performances and high praise from critics in the last season, returns to the stage with “Chi come me,” her new production. The text originated from the author’s 2019 encounter with the medical staff and several young guests at a Tel Aviv mental health center, when he was invited to participate in a theater workshop. From that initial meeting grew a strong bond and the idea of creating a theatrical piece. The show premiered in 2020 at Teatro Gesher in Jaffa, achieving great success, and it has been on the repertoire ever since.

The protagonists are five adolescents, aged between 13 and 17, who are patients in the youth ward of a mental health center due to various psychiatric disorders (anger outbursts, autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, gender dysphoria). These young performers bring to life a play about youth distress that deeply engages and moves the audience. Samuele Poma plays Barak (16 years old); Federico Di Giacomo portrays Emanuel (14 years old); Chiara Ferrara plays Alma (17 years old); Amy Boda takes on the role of Tamara/Tom (15 years old); and Alia Stegani plays Ester (13 years old). The young actors are supported by Silvia Giulia Mendola, who plays Dorit, the new theater teacher, and by Paolo Briguglia (alternating with Fausto Cabra) as Dr. Baumann, the ward director, while Pietro Micci and Sara Bertelà portray all of the protagonists’ parents. The students participate in theater classes led by the young teacher—appointed by the institute’s director to help them express their emotions. Initially reluctant, they gradually become capable of sharing what they feel. They achieve this through theater, where they find their peace in a delicate and poetic performance that discovers its intensity within lightness.

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