The English Theatre of Rome, founded in 1996, is a division of Ford Entertainment dedicated to presenting plays in English from October through June. The theatre has become a significant platform for Italian and non-Italian directors, playwrights, and actors to showcase their talents to an international audience, and has successfully forged alliances within the Rome arts scene.
The repertory spans five categories each season: a classic, a contemporary author, a world premiere, a female playwright, and (since 2001) a bilingual production.
The (Not Only) English Theatre Program now selects at least one play per season to be performed in both Italian and English, offering audiences either the possibility of seeing the play twice, once in each language, or at times experiencing the play in both languages quasi-simultaneously.
Outstanding productions include our spring production of Dinner With Friends which sold out and was extended to satisfy public demand, Marathon by Edoardo Erba (2000), which moved to the Edinboro Fringe Festival winning the “Scotsman’s Award;” Freudian Slips and Other Underwear (2001), a world premiere developed by an American performance artist in collaboration with a Sicilian actor/comedian, which was remounted first at Teatro Colosseo (2002, translated into Italian) and then at Teatro dei Servi (2003); and David Ives’ Unamunda (2001), the first bilingual production, which later won second place for Best Direction at the Cremona Theatre Festival.
"It was a one-way system easy enough to get into. The only trouble was that, once in, you couldn't get out."