TRUTH-ING
cross-media performance
an Arterie production by Monica Ciarcelluti and Gisela Fantacuzzi
co-produced with Kultivarnica/Sabrina Zeleznik (Slovenia)

Truth-ing is a multilingual cross-media experimental performance (ita/spa/ingl/slo). An Italian-Slovenian co-production born during the pandemic distancing of 2020-2021.

Starting from the stories of the Madres y Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, who meet every Thursday to recover the identity and truth about their children and grandchildren who disappeared during the dictatorship in Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s. In a completely free and decontextualized manner, we have asked ourselves the questions: What does it mean to tell a story with “the mouth of truth?”. If one day they told you that you are not you? Who are the superheroes? the ones with the superpowers?. We answer those questions by telling stories of adoptions, of the disappeared, and of reunions. We talk about heroes who save the lives of other heroes and stories of resistance, heroes de verdad and identity.

The use of digital technology in the performance follows a dual path: the use of recorded video on one side where the ZOOM platform is transformed into a creative setup on stage, and on the side the use of a live camera in which the performer operates on stage to make real incursions while the other actress-narrator builds the story through vocal narration.

The stage, the digital and the audiovisual, all combined for a contemporary narrative that aims not only to tell a story but to stimulate reflections, crucial questions of identity and truth by passing through the limbic system. Remembering the recurrence of universal themes such as identity, belonging, and resistance is necessary just as the universality of emotions are expressed.

In the socio-economic and cultural contexts in which the performing arts are currently immersed, there is an entire theatrical universe that works almost underground and daily in the form of a “theatrical resistance” choosing to prioritize experimentation and process over results, seeking new forms. There are stories that need to be told and known which deserve to be passed on to new generations.

The show premiered with a preview on November 14, 2022, just a few days before Hebe De Bonafini, the historic leader of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo, passed away on November 20. Hebe De Bonafini is a symbol of resistance and the mothers’ struggle, who now became a “global symbol of human rights and the pride of Argentina.”

Diirection and dramaturgy: Monica Ciarcelluti
Performer / Dancer: Gisela Fantacuzzi
Digital performer: Pierlugi Lorusso
Video-performers: Monica Ciarcelluti, Gisela Fantacuzzi, Carmen Nubla, Rita Mosca
Musical contribution: Carmen Nubla
Communication: Michela Di Stefano
Photography and video scenes: Mazen Jannoun

Contacts: direzione@arterie.theater