E' buona ha? Squisito ha? Ancora!
English translation: "It's good, right? Tasty right? More!" That was just one of the phrases listed in the press information for Blood Type: RAGU, a solo comedy that played at the Belmont Playhouse in Bronx, NY back in 2000.
Frank Giano Ingrasciotta is the writer and performer of the piece, about a family that emigrates back and forth from Sicily to America. Dante Albertie, who staged Shyster, directed the original RAGU, which spans 29 years and features 32 characters.
Since its debut, Ingrasciotta has performed the piece at several theatre around the country, and he'll bring his acclaimed show to Connecticut's Polka Dot Playhouse on Saturday, June 22 at 8 PM and Sunday, June 23 at 2 PM. Tickets are priced at $30 for the Saturday performance and $25 for Sunday's show. The theatre is located at 177 State Street in Bridgeport, Conn.; call (203) 333-3666.
* Author-actor Ingrasciotta, an acting teacher trained in the Meisner technique, developed RAGU at Off-Off Broadway's Dixon Place. He told Playbill On-Line in 2000 the show was about "the first-generation child as a go-between two cultures. It should resonate with any ethnic group that's experienced this." Asked how much of the show was autobiographical and how much was fictional, Ingrasciotta replied, "It's 80 percent true, 10 percent my wife's story combined into mine, and 10 percent heightened for drama. Ultimately I'd like it to be a movie; that's the eventual vision.”
Oh, and some other "Sicilian and Bastardized English Translations" used in the show? How about:
* Dio mio, ora l'uova — "Oh my God! Now the eggs."
* Managia l'America — "Damn this America."
* Pezza di tsoccola senza marito — "You piece of whore without a husband."
* Porca femmina americanizata — "An Americanized pig woman"
...and finally,
* Ayo una bruchura allu stomacu, mi fa guare gure, mi fria — "I have a burning in my stomach that fries me like a drop of fire."
For tickets ($10) and information on Blood Type: RAGU call (212) 501-4751.
— By Andrew Gans and David Lefkowitz
