About Us
Our Story
KIT-Kairos Italy Theater is internationally recognized as the Italian Theater Company in NY. KIT’s mission is to spread Italian Culture and to create an Italian Culture Network in order to maintain and spread the knowledge of Italy in the United States. KIT has produced performances and events over the years, collaborating with Off-Off and Off-Broadway theaters and with US Institutions (The Kitchen, The Fringe Festival, the Abrons Art Center, Film Society at Lincoln Center, Dahesh Museum of Art, NY Hall of Science, the Flea Theatre, Theater for the New City, Montclair State University, Suffolk County Community College, the Bernie West Theater at Baruch College, the cell theatre, Access Theater, Cherry Lane Theater just to name a few). Never-before-translated works by major Italian playwrights have been presented to US audiences, who have grown in appreciation and in number since KIT’s first production in 1997. KIT has also created the Double Theatre Experience, where One-Act plays are performed first in English and then in Italian in the same evening, by different casts. KIT offers workshops on Commedia dell’Arte and other traditional Italian theater techniques. In 2013, KIT inaugurated In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY, the first Italian Theater festival to take place in all 5 New York City Boroughs. In 2019 KIT joined KIT Italia and International Theater to present OnStage! the first American Theater Festival in Rome, Italy.
KIT is the Theater Company in residence at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ at NYU
Our Mission
KIT’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil the artistic and creative sides of each country, with special focus on Italy and the US.
In the United States, KIT’s mission is to promote the performance of and education concerning the Italian dramatic arts, culture and language in the United States, as well as to foster collaboration between US-based and international artists, authors, performers, and directors.
- Embracing: seeking to understand the “other” in order to discover differences and similarities
- Collaborative: sharing experiences and learning from each other in order to create something universal
- International: promoting art without boundaries and not grounded in stereotypes.
Our Team
LAURA CAPARROTTI, Founder and Artistic Director, is a director, actress, journalist, lecturer, consultant, dialect-coach, grant panelist, curator with an Italian accent. She has a degree from the University in Rome and studied independently with Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo. After ten years of professional theatre in Italy, she relocated to the US, where she continues to direct and perform. Laura is the Founding Artistic Director of the Italian Theater Company in NY Kairos Italy Theater and of In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY, that takes place in all 5 NYC Boroughs. She is member of the Director’s Lab at Lincoln Center, of SDC, of LIT and the co-founder of the international directors’ collective the World Wide Lab. Laura is the recipient of the Dante Award 2016 from the Association of Teachers of Italian and in 2021 of the DC Italian Cultural Society for her work and dedication in spreading Italian culture in the States. In 2019 Laura cofounded OnStage! the American Theater Festival in Italy. In 2021 Laura directed her first documentary Tutti In Scena on the history of Italian theater in NY. The documentary was a finalist at The Russo Brothers Film Forum and won Best Director at the Sidney World Fest.
MASSIMO ZORDAN, Actor/Educator graduated from the Accademia d’Arte Drammatica in Palmi, Italy, and trained with Dario Fo, Anatoly Vassiliev among others. For 10 years, he has been a core part of Teatridimare, a sailing theater project. In NY, he was director as well as Teacher of the Theater Department of the Italian International School in New York. There Massimo started developing the innovative Italian language integration method now available in the States. Massimo has won awards such as: “La resistenza in cucina” (The resistance in the kitchen) directed by Massimo Zordan winner of the prize by IACE in collaboration with the Italian Consulate of NYC, “2019 AIAE Teacher of the Year Award” from the Association of Italian American Educators and The State of New York Office of the State Comptroller, the Second Prize for the play “La patente”at the “Uno, nessuno e centomila” 2023 international contest in Agrigento, Italy. Since 2023 he’s a trainer for CIVIS, a training project for teachers on education for active citizenship through art.
CARLOTTA BRENTAN, Director/Translator is a bilingual theater artist specializing in new play development as an actor, producer, director and translator. Stage highlights: World Premieres of Frank J. Avella’s Lured (also co-directed, Theater for The New City and OnStage! Festival in Rome), Paolo Bignami’s The Journey I Never Made (also translated from the original Italian, Cherry Lane Theatre), Erik Ehn’s Clover (La MaMa E.T.C.) A proud member of Kairos Italy Theater, Carlotta is also a film actor, prolific voiceover artist & award-winning audiobook narrator. carlottabrentan.com
ALICE LUSSIANA PARENTE, Actress/Educator, an award-winning Italian actress, voice over talent and commedia dell’arte teacher. She had her Theatre debut in Italy with the National Theatre of Rome in the leading role of Annika in the Italian production of Pippi Longstocking which toured for 2 years in Italy and on the big screen with Peter Greenaway. Thought her career she has worked in theatre both in Europe for National Tours and in the US (Off-Broadway). She is a resident actress, curator and jury member at Kairos Italy Theatre and resident actress at The Fled Collective and Blind Cupid Shakespeare Company. Alice is also the host and jury member of the Oniros Film Awards and NYIFA. She worked both for cinema and television including ABC/ Rai TV/ Disney Channel and as a voice over actor for national commercials (Salvatore Ferragamo/Norton), audiobooks (Audible/ Fabler/ Mondadori) and more. Most recently she played the leading role in the Netflix’s immersive show Money Heist the experience in New York City where she is currently based. Alice holds a BA in Cinema and New Media from University of Turin and trained at Adler Studio of Acting. alicelussianaparente.com
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
LAURA CAPARROTTI, President
BRUCE RABINOWITZ, Vice President
MASSIMO ZORDAN, Treasurer
ROCCO SISTO, Board Member
FRED GARDAPHE’, Board member
Our Partners
Our Network
