Marco Calvani

Writer / Director

Melissa Leo and Leïla Behkti in

The View From Up Here

written and directed for the screen by Marco Calvani

PLAYS

TESTIMONIALS

“

I admire Marco’s ability to craft smart, visceral characters: he is a tireless technician but always works with a sense of supreme confidence due to an innate trust of his instinctual talent.

NEIL LABUTE 

PLAYWRIGHT

With his work, Marco reaches across culture and society into humanity, and changes the way we look at ourselves.

“

ANDRÉA FERRÉOL 

ACTOR

“

Marco creates theater that shows us ourselves the only way an artist can: with a fierce dedication to the truth and with courageous originality. 

ESTELLE PARSONS

ACTOR/DIRECTOR

Un dramaturgo dotado de talento, rigor y espíritu de riesgo, capaz de generar e impulsar proyectos teatrales propios de amplia resonancia social.

“

JOSÉ SANCHIS SINISTERRA

PLAYWRIGHT

“

Marco’s work has provided a unique contribution to the modern interpretation of what theatre means today.

BRUCE WEBER

PHOTOGRAPHER/FILMMAKER

A courageous and

powerful playwright.

He explores with vivid starkness some of the most violent

and painful conflicts

of our contemporary society.

“

FRANCESCA DE SAPIO 

ACTOR/WRITER/COACH

BIO

photo by Michael McFadden

Marco is an Italian born award-winning playwright and director, proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Playwrights/Directors Unit at The Actors Studio.

Trained as an actor, since he was a teenager, Marco made his debut as a playwright in 2002 with Quasi, commissioned by the European Social Forum. Strong Hands was his first play to be performed to great acclaim throughout Europe. Commissions from Todi Art Festival, Phoenix Theatre of London, Teatro di Roma, Théâtre de la Ville of Paris, La MaMa Theatre of New York and Grec Fundaciò of Barcelone followed.

In 2012 Marco created with his fellow Neil LaBute the international project AdA – Author directing Author (Spoleto Festival, Fringe Festival Madrid, La MaMa Theatre, Biennale Venice, Grec Festival Barcelone).

In 2013 the Teatro Metastasio Stabile della Toscana organized a retrospective of his work for which he wrote and directed I am Dracula. 

Marco has collaborated in the position of Literary Advisor to the National Theatre of Scotland and is the founder and artistic director of Mixò (www.mixonline.eu) an international cultural center based in Rome, Italy, that brings together young actors and writers and promotes original works for stage.

He is the winner of the 2011 S.I.A.E. Prize for Best Playwright, of the 2013 Outstanding Playwright for his play Oil (Planet Connections Theatre Festivity Awards) and of the 2015 Calcante Prize for The Second Time. He’s also the recipient of the 2011 Cité Internationale des Arts Grant (Paris) and of the 2015 Writer Fellowship at the Edward F. Albee Foundation. He’s a permanent artist-in-residence at La MaMa Theatre. He teaches writing and acting in USA and in Europe. He translates from English and French into Italian and he’s an official translator of Theresa Rebeck, Bernard-Marie Koltès and Bryony Lavery. His work is translated and produced in nine different languages across the world.

​

His short film The View from Up Here (US/France 2017) - based on his eponymous play commissioned by The Actors Studio and directed by Estelle Parsons - stars Academy Award winner Melissa Leo and César winner Leïla Bekhti. He is currently working in Paris on his first feature film. 

Marco lives in Brooklyn, NY.

NEWS