Dignità Autonome di Prostituzione/The Brothel of the Arts

a theatre show by Luciano Melchionna

produced by Ente Teatro Cronaca Vesuvioteatro

Italy

The crew

theatre show by Luciano Melchionna

format created by Betta Cianchini, Luciano Melchionna

director Luciano Melchionna

assistant director Sara Esposito, Agostino Pannone

costume designer Milla

light designer Salvatore Palladino, Gianni Caccia

sound designer Luigi Di Martino

general assistant Antonio Cappelli

production Ente Teatro Cronaca Vesuvioteatro

in collaboration with Fondazione Teatro di Napoli

You pay me first.

And if you like it, you pay me again!

Description

Dignità autonome di prostituzione - The Brothel of the Arts is a phantasmagoric theatre show where

artists and performers play the role of prostitutes at the mercy of their audience.

Upon entering the Brothel people are provided with coins to make a deal with individual performers and

artists to procure their services.

The members of the audience become clients and, either by themselves or in small groups, they retire with

the artist chosen to a secret place - a car, a caravan, a bathroom, a toilet, a dressing room, an office…

There, they will receive what they have paid for: one pleasure pill, that is to say, a 15-minute-performance

of classical or contemporary drama, as much as dance, circus performances, music, artistic installation and

whatever else is possible.

In the course of their negotiations with potential buyers, the performers can argue with their colleagues in

order to make the best deal, or they can just refuse the deal itself. On the other hand, buyers are entitled

to evaluate and choose among the offered services : they can refuse a service or even leave a tip at the end

of it if they are really satisfied. In addition, they are free to leave the place and come back after a while.

Performances can take place at the same time in different locales based on audience demand. It may

happen that a single performer is called to provide her/his ‘service’ several times…it is a non-stop theatrical

magical machine that attracts the public and engage each spectator in a new, innovative, unusual and

thought provoking way to experience art and theatre.

WARNING: one night in the Brothel of the Arts can change the rest of your nights!

How and Why

Dignità Autonome di Prostituzione – The Brothel of the Arts is a format for a theatre performance which

can be repeated differently and yearly using different artists and different artistic contents. It has been

created and directed to serve various and sundry specific objectives, cultures and languages. It was for

example recreated and performed in English for the Louis Vuitton Maison Roma Etoile opening.

In effect it is an unlimited and always new theatre performance.

Our main goal is to create an unusual relationship between the theatre performance and the theatre goer.

Indeed, we transform our audience into modern ‘prosumers’, that is to say, into consumers and producers

at the same time!

Every night, every single theatre goer is the creator, producer, user and beneficiary of her/his own unique

show. S/he is free to use artists and arts, handle money ,make deals and enjoy artistic performances. S/he

is the main builder of her/his theatrical experience.

As prosumers, our audience can savor an awesome, unpredictable and inspiring adventure. Each member

of the audience has the opportunity to enjoy the amazing world of theatre art: performance by

performance, for either a few minutes or many hours, again and again, coming and going. We want our

spectator to learn that theatre arts are there to inspire, amaze, touch, give some pause for thought, change

minds and worlds.

Our main goal is to engage our audience by offering a wonder producing and unique theatre experience!

…so far

40 rendez-vous

387 performances

374.000 spectators

Dignità Autonome di Prostituzione – The Brothel of the Arts has been receiving the rewards of

audience approval since its very first performance.

During the last seven years, our show has been presented in many festivals and theatres all

around Italy. Among some of the most important Festivals and Theatres where it has been

presented are:

XXXI Festival Benevento Città Spettacolo

I International festival of Tarragona, Spain (Spanish version)

XXXII La Versiliana Festival

2009/10 – Teatro Franco Parenti, Milan

2011/12 – 2012/13 – 2013/14 – 2014/15 – 2015/16 Teatro Bellini, Naples

2012/13 – Teatro Ambra Jovinelli, Rome

2013/14 – 2014/15 – Teatro Paisiello, Lecce

2014/15 – Cinecittà Studios, Rome

2014/15 Teatro Brancaccio, Rome

2014/15 – Teatro Colosseo, Turin

2014/15 – Teatro Titano, San Marino

Awards

Best Direction, Best Idea, Best Actress - Golden Graal 2008

Nomination for Best New Theatre Show-Premio E.T.I. – Gli Olimpici del Teatro 2009

Best Theatre Show-Premio Napoli Cultural Classic 2012

Best Director -Premio Notte di Note Mediterranee, Salento

The casting

Dignità autonome di prostituzione – The Brothel of the Arts is based on a variable format.

It may be either long or short; it may offer dozens of performances per night or just few; it may feature up

to 50 performers but it can also shrink into in a mini-format of 10 performers.

It’s like an accordion which tunes itself with the needs and the demands of individual places and

audiences.

We always present the show with a number of actors and actresses from our company, but we like to

involve a number of local performers from the hosting area or from local theatre companies.

When possible, we organize preliminary workshops for young performers.

We believe that cultural and artistic exchange is the best way to make progress in our art as well as in our

lives.

As a consequence, if you ask “Who are in the cast?”, we reply that “The cast depends on our agreement”

Technical Needs

As mentioned above, the format is variable. Therefore the technical needs are variable too.

We have had various type of presentations where we had the chance to use different kinds of tools and

sound-video designs and services.

We’ll provide an ad hoc technical information file when we have details about the potential hosting place.

Spin Off

Thirty-two photographers have already viewed The Brothel of the Arts, and we put together a collection of

their photographs which are now shown together with the theatre presentation

Stéphane Ait Ouarab Nina Borrelli Luca Brunetti Angelo Campus Luigi Ceccon Sabrina Cirillo Gabriele Dell’Anna Alessandro Fanghella Flavia Fasano Marta Ferranti Paoloreste Gelfo Angelo Genovese Roberta Gioberti Giusy Iescone Mario Kiribiri Pino Le Pera Tommaso Le Pera Angela Loveday Luigi Maffettone Stefano Malandrino Piero Marsili LibellI Margherita Mirabella Fabrizio Nocini Laura Piattella Manuel Pietrangeli Giacomo Rosato Marcello Scopelliti Germano Serafini Carmen Sigillo Paolo Soriani Dario Toledo Weedeoz

The exhibition has been enriched over time, by the following art installations and performances:

I ritratti rifiutati, art installation by Alessandro Baronio Jellyfish, art installation by Cink Mea Culpa and Studio per un’orazione, art installation by Davide Orlandi Dormino Paintings by Enza Messini Il corpo di un tenore, la voce di un soprano, live performance by Adonay Mamo Difendi l'artista, musical live performance from Il filo intermentale, sung by Skuba Il teatro torna a casa" social issues advertising by Luciano Melchionna Art installations and scenic design elements createdand realized by the students of

Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli. Art installations by Davide De Filippo edited by MAD Paintings by Emmanuelle Stanziano In Equilibrio, videoclip featuring the singer Ilaria Porceddu Dignitosa Stanchezza, video performance by Luciano Melchionna

Luciano Melchionna He graduated from Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica “Silvio D’Amico”, Rome, in 1989. He worked as an actor with, among others, Lorenzo Salveti, Angelo Corti, Roberto Guicciardini and Luca Ronconi. Between 2010 and 2013 he was the Artistic Director of Accademia d’Arte Drammatica del Teatro Bellini di Napoli. He has recently received from the ‘Personalità Europea 2015’ award from the Capitol -Presidenza del Centro Europeo per il Turismo, Rome.

Biography

His first comedy drama, Rimozione forzata earned a Nomination at Premio IDI ’96 and it was presented as a mise en éspace at Festival di Trieste, acted by Lorenzo Salveti.

In 1997 he wrote and directed Non camminare scalza, Audience Award for the Best Screenplay at the Festival Corti Teatrali ’97, Teatro Vittoria, Roma.

In 1998 he wrote and directed Gas, Audience Award for the Best Direction at the Festival Corti Teatrali’98, Teatro Vittoria, Rome; Premio Riviera d’Ulisse “Giovani Protagonisti” (young players award) at Festival del Teatro Italiano and Premio Fondi La Pastora.

In 1999 he wrote and directed Lune a metà, Nomination for Premio Fondi La Pastora.

In 2000 he wrote and directed Pausa, ; Premio Riviera d’Ulisse “Giovani Protagonisti” (young players award) at Festival del Teatro Italiano and Premio Fondi La Pastora.

He wrote the monologue Raccontoduepunti, short film directed by Monica Stambrini.

He wrote and directed Nella, played by Lucia Mascino and Carolina Crescentini

He wrote L’ennesima Giovanna for the Amnesty International video campaign Mai più violenza sulle donne (No more violence against women).

He wrote about fifty short monologues, entitled ‘pills for a theatre reconciliation therapy’. He gives his pills anywhere!

Theatre direction: Caldo come il ghiaccio, by Luca De Bei

Ce n’è per tutti, by Luca De Bei

L’equilibrio, by Botho Strauss

Falso Doppio, by Lewis Theobald

Sottovuoto, by Sabrina Scucimarra

La vita è gioco, by Alberto Moravia

Un ragionevole dubbio, da La parola ai giurati, film by Sidney Lumet, in coll. Amnesty

International

Senza testa, by Alexandra La Capria

Cerco donna, by Alexandra La Capria

Sterminio, by Werner Schwab

In casa con Claude, by René-Daniel Dubois

Variazioni di morte, by Jon Fosse

La disfatta, by Gianni Guardigli

Brokeback Mountain ovvero Gente del Wyoming, by Annie Proulx

Porno-Teo-Kolossal, by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Elettra, based on Eschilo, Sofocle; Euripide, Hofmannsthal

Aiuto, by Fabrizio Bajec

Overture, by Fabrizio Bajec supported by Amnesty International

La stanza delle donne, by Gabriella Schina

Persone naturali e strafottenti, by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi

Muraglie, by Nello Calabrò

Post Partum, by Elisabetta Cianchini

L’anno del pensiero magico, by Joan Didion

Quelle due ovvero La calunnia, by Lilian Hellman

Ricorda con rabbia, by John Osborne

Parole incatenate, by Jordi Galceran

Dignità autonome di prostituzione, V.V.A.A.

Due Diversi, by Luciano Melchionna

L’amore per le cose assenti, by Luciano Melchionna

Cinema In 2005 he wrote and directed his first movie Gas Nomination Festival di Locarno 2005, ‘Cineasti del Presente’; winner of Fondo SIAE per il Nuovo Cinema Italiano at Festa Internazionale di Roma where Melchionna is presented as one of the ‘ Twelve European Talents’; Nomination for the Best Supporting Actress at Nastri d’Argento 2006; presentation at the N.I.C.E. Film Festival USA 2005 and Russia 2006; Best Film at Life is Cinema Film Festival, Mons, Belgium; Best Film for the Students Jury at Storie di Cinema Festival, Grosseto; Best Film, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor for a 100-students jury at Chieti International Film Festival. He worked as Assistat director in Il Papa Buono, tv production directed by Ricky Tognazzi He was Artistic director of the Short Film Festival ‘Lo sbarco dei corti’, Positano, Naples, Italy In 2006 he directed one episode in the film Niente Storie, produced by Unione Italiana Casting In 2007 he wrote and directed the short film Anni 30, Nomination at David di Donatello, Best Actor at Festa Internazionale del Cinema di Roma, Best Short Film and Best Cinematography at 11°International Short Film Festival in Sabina. In 2008 he directed the videoclip Non c’è contatto by Silvia Mezzanotte and, in the same year, he wrote and directed the social issues advertising Il teatro torna a casa, featuring Franca Valeri, produced by Ministero dei Beni Culturali-Dipartimento Spettacolo dal Vivo. In 2010 he directed his second movie Ce n’è per tutti featuring Stefania Sandrelli, Arnoldo Foà, Lorenzo Balducci, Ambra Angiolini, Giorgio Colangeli, Jordi Molla, Micaela Ramazzotti.

Ente Teatro Cronaca Vesuvioteatro

Limited Liability Consortium accredited and supported by Ministero dei Beni Culturali and Regione

Campania. It was founded in 2015 on the fusion between the historical ‘Ente Teatro Cronaca’ a

theatre production company which had been active since 1959 and which produced, among

others, Eduardo De Filippo, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Roberto De Simone, Piero Maccarinelli,

Werner Shroeter, Jose Quaglio, Franco Pero, Luigi De Filippo, Mariano Rigillo; and the younger and

modern theatre production company ‘Vesuvioteatro’ whose artistic work was focused on

innovation theatre and festivals and for which it received the important theatre awards Premio

Ubu 2012, Premio Girulà, Premio Bartolucci.

Our goals are to join forces to meet the economic challenges of theatre producing in Italy and

Europe and to maximize synergies and cross the limits of the Tradition/Innovation categories. We

want to create a dialogic relationship between the various forms of performative arts.

Producer and General Manager: Geppi Liguoro

Executive Manager: Dora De Martino

Artistic Director: Giulio Baffi

The staff

Production Assistant: Marica Castiello

Communication: Elena Cepollaro

Promotion: Dario Del Fosco

International: Francesca Liguoro

Secretary: Serena Rinaldo

www.enteteatrocronaca.it