Call for Pirandellian Dramaturgies, 3rd edition – Comical and Grotesque Short Stories to Drama
PSA, the Journal of the Pirandello Society of America, seeks submissions of short dramatic pieces (5 to 30 minutes of expected performance time) inspired by Luigi Pirandello’s short stories, for publication in the next or future issues. Scripts should be previously unpublished and unproduced for the stage except for staged readings.
Given that the previous issue highlighted more serious topics, this one will privilege short stories that have a comical and/or grotesque tone.
An essential requirement is that proposed dramaturgies draw inspiration from Pirandello’s short stories, for example those recently translated and available at https://www.pirandellointranslation.org/, a project led by Pirandello scholars Lisa Sarti and Michael Subialka that aims at the translation of all Pirandello’s short stories into contemporary English.
Dramaturgies could take several shapes such as:
adaptations for the stage of a single short story
adaptations that combine two or three stories
dramatic development of a section of a short story
monologues/dialogues of characters who appear in the short stories
dramatic situations that entail the reading/recitation of passages from the short stories
Importantly, each play should stand on its own without requiring previous knowledge of the short story or its characters.
Plays that simply reference Pirandello by “being metatheatrical” won’t be considered. Dramaturgies should also avoid adapting the following, already used for theatre in some form by Pirandello himself, specifically “The Doctor’s Duty,” “The License,” “The Jar,” “The Imbecile,” “Sicilian Limes,” “Think It Over, Giacomino!,” “A Character’s Tragedy,” “Death Is Upon Him,” “The Changeling,” “It’s Nothing Serious,” “Farewell, Leonora!,” “The Lord of the Ship,” “Mrs. Frola and Mr. Ponza, her Son-in law,” “The Friend to the Wives,” “Interviews with Characters,” and “Characters.”
Instead, inspiration should derive from any of the other stories, already translated on the website https://www.pirandellointranslation.org or read in other translations, that have not yet found a dramatic form.
Please e-mail submissions by January 31, 2024 to Stefano Boselli, PSA Theatre and Performance Editor: Stefano.Boselli@unlv.edu. If accepted, scripts will be published in the next issue (XXXVI, 2024) or scheduled for publication in a following issue.