An original, bilingual, thought-provoking & heart-warming One-Act Play
PLAY’S LOGLINE
Pane Di Casa, A Taste of Home is an original bilingual play (English-Italian), written and directed by Carlotta Migliolo, that wants to shed light on the everyday struggles that new migrants go through in these modern days.
We know plenty about what happened in the past, but… what about today? How do the new CaLD migrants go about settling down in Australia? Have all integration issues been solved? Have we fixed racism?
This thought-provoking and heart-warming play encourages the audience to reflect on the individual and collective benefits of choosing kindness when approaching others, and it does so through comedic moments and hilarious scenes. Be ready to smile, cry and… laugh hard!
PLAY’S SHORT SUMMARY
Pane Di Casa, A Taste of Home follows the story of Elena, an Italian woman, and her migration and settlement process in Australia. Over the course of the play, we can see the difficulties she’s facing and her need to connect with others going through the same journey.
Thanks to her zoom calls with other immigrants, she soon finds out that her struggles are the same struggles that most individuals moving to Australia go through.
The play utilises two languages, English and Italian. The beauty of it, is that there’s no need for the audience to actually speak Italian to understand what’s going on: the author wrote the play so that every English-speaking member of the audience will be able to understand every single thing that the Italian character is saying (very satisfying!).
The choice of the author to alternate the use of the Italian and English languages is not only driven by her desire to allow for a wider audience to enjoy the play, but also to show an additional barrier and aspect of difficulties that a migrant faces when trying to integrate and become a part of a different culture.
The story aims to have the audience empathise with the character and reflect on how their actions impact others. The ultimate goal is in fact to spur everyone to make positive changes on their mindset, their behaviour, and finally change the society we live in for the better.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Pane Di Casa, A Taste of Home is a One-Act Play of approximately 50 minutes, and its cast is composed by 5 actors who perform live on stage, and 3 additional actors (the “zoom friends”) who have been pre-recorded and are projected on a screen during the play.
MORE STUFF ABOUT THE PLAY!
Pane di Casa was first brought on stage in November 2023 during the Peridot’s One-Act Play Season and had great feedback from both audience and the critic.
The whole team was particularly pleased that the VDL theatre critic who came to watch the play, perfectly highlighted the main message the writer wanted to share “This play also showed how a little gesture of kindness and understanding from the old culture can help newcomers assimilate” – “PANE DI CASA” – The Victorian Drama League (vdl.org.au)
RADIO & NEWSPAPER INTERVIEWS:
SBS ITALIAN, 7 November 2023, By Francesca Valdinoci – “Pane di casa”, una storia di emigrazione che ne racconta tante | SBS Italian
IL GLOBO, 28 February 2024, By Stefano Ioele – https://ilglobo.com/news/il-pane-di-casa-porta-in-scena-la-vita-dei-nuovi-migranti
SBS ITALIAN, 8 March 2024, By Andrea Pagano – “Pane di casa”, le peripezie di un’immigrata italiana in scena a Melbourne | SBS Italian
Meet the playwright & director – Carlotta Migliolo
Carlotta is an Italian actress and singer, with a strong passion for writing and storytelling. Carlotta had extensive voice and acting training, having trained in Italy, America and Australia. Since officially starting her career as a professional actress in 2018, Carlotta has worked on numerous short movies, theatre plays, feature films, web series, TV pilots and TV commercials.
Meet the cast
Carlotta Migliolo – Elena (Italian woman)
Mathew Da Via – Paul (Australian fiance)
Mathew’s journey in film began as a Runner on “Chak De India”, 2006. He then immersed himself in the industry at Run Multimedia, working on over 100 music videos. In 2018, he transitioned to acting, making his debut in “Drop.” Since then, Mathew has excelled both in front of and behind the camera, earning lead roles in feature films and web series.
Monisha Inserra – Kate (Australian friend)
Since completing her studies at Film and Television Studio International and Showfit this year, Monisha has already starred as leading roles in two short films. When Monisha is not acting, she can be found singing, dancing and spending time with her large family. Coming from an Italian background, she is extremely honoured to be a part of this beautiful play.
Josephine Boffa – Lauretta (bakery lady)
Josephine’s fascination for acting started when she was a teenager watching Hollywood classic movies with her mother, and remains. Josephine enjoys the process of being an actor, creating characters and affecting audiences. She’s trained with Actors Pulse, Screen Actors Australia, Brave Studios (Australia), and Stella Adler (USA). Josephine has performed on stage, in independent films, web series, promotional and training videos.
Janine McGrath – Sharon (customer)
Janine is an actor, dance teacher and choreographer. She’s spent most of her life pursuing arts & entertainment. She trained at Howard Fine Studios, TAT, and Film & Television Studio Int., along with various acting workshops. She’s had roles in 12 short films, 3 indi Features, TVC’s and play readings, and was awarded Best Actress in the CAT Summer Readings 2023.
Rishi Kanojia – Sunny (zoom friend 1, Perth)
Rishi is a passionate working actor with over 6+ years of experience in theatre & film acting, and also experienced in managing different areas of a production. Rishi has previously directed two plays – “Shazada” and “Darjaa” in Melbourne, and he’s continuously seeking opportunities in theatre and on screen. He’s currently associated with Khelaiya Productions – an independent NFP theatre.
Darshini Nadarajan – Diyana (zoom friend 2, Brisbane)
Darshini is a Malaysian actress with Chinese and Indian mixed ethnicity. Darshini is highly energetic and a bubbly turtle-lover who loves acting and modelling. Darshini has experience in commercials, television shows, film, music video, corporate videos, corporate safety videos and training videos. She is now making her debut in theatre thanks to the production Pane di Casa.
Marina Bartolameazzi – Marina (zoom friend 3, Sydney)
Marina, born in Verona, Italy, has a diverse background, having lived in the UK, Spain, and Australia since 2015. She is passionate about promoting Italian culture and language, working as a language teacher and in language course publishing. Marina previously shared her migrant experience on both radio and video, and she made her acting debut in the Indian movie “7:11PM”.
Katerina Zafiris – (co-director)
Katerina is a Greek-Australian filmmaker, specialising in writing, directing and production design. She has spent the past four years completing a Bachelor of Film & Television with Honours at Swinburne University. Her latest project is an English/ Italian short film titled, Il Sangue del Sole, which explores themes of immigration after WWII and the European diasporic identity.
Instagram contact details
carlottamigliolo, katerina_zafiris, mathewdavia, the_rk89, n_darshini, mary.bart, monisha.serra, joboffa, janinemcgrathj9