CRUMBS OF JOY

BRICIOLE DI ALLEGRIA

STAGED READING IN ENGLISH

The apartment of Ida and Paolo, an elderly couple. Paolo, who’s not allowed to eat sugar because of his diabetes, attempts to eat a Nutella sandwich in secret. He nearly chokes. His wife finds him struggling to breathe, and she thinks the stains on his shirt are blood stains. She begins to panic, convinced that Paolo’s on the verge of death. She runs out onto the street to look for help. While she’s gone, Paolo manages to swallow his sandwich, and settles back down like nothing happened. That’s when Ida returns, still in her confused state, bringing with her a passerby who offered to help. But the passerby can’t understand what the problem is…

PLAYWRIGHT

Giorgia Brusco is a playwright, actress and director. Born in Imperia in 1977, Giorgia Brusco graduated in Architecture from the IUAV in Venice and graduated from the Scuola del Teatro Stabile del Veneto in 2000. For 15 years she has been involved in theater training, teaching at the Officina School of the Teatro del Banchéro in Taggia (IM), at the Riviera Musical in Alassio (SV). She collaborated as director and playwright with various theater companies all over Italy, also dealing with social theater within prisons and for social groups at risk. She has written numerous plays, both comic and dramatic, represented in various Italian theaters. She won the 1st dramaturgy prize “A.Conti” with the script “The Harvest”.

CAST

Caterina is a director and actor from Milan, Italy, currently based in New York. Her theatre work includes collaborations with Page 73, The Habitat, Biennale di Venezia, NYMadness, Shotz! Amios, Theatre East, Modern Shakespeare Project, Match: Lit, as well as tours and projects across the US and Italy with The In[HEIR]itance Project and Kairos Italy Theatre. Film includes the documentary Mario (co-directed with Andrea Bagnasco; CinemAmbiente Festival 2021), Running Local (Amazon Prime), The Hyperglot (directed by Michael Urie). She is an SDCF 2018 observership class member, and participant in the Venezia Biennale Teatro 2019 and 2018 (Thom Luz, Jakop Ahlbom). BFA: NYU Tisch, Stella Adler Studio & RADA. www.caterinanonis.com

Verla is a Brooklyn based actor, originally from southern California. Recent reading/workshops include Bisexual Sadness (Queer Liaisons- The Cherry Lane), Meat Kings of Brooklyn Heights (Hannah Pusey), King’s Daughters Maternity Ward for Unwed Mothers on Cemetery Street (Callan Stout), Best Friends (Theater [Untitled]). Peak Pandemic Verla was a regular contributor to the Anti-Isolation Arts Factory monthly bundles. Last seen in person as #46 in The Wolves with Boise Contemporary Theater, and Bar Dykes with TOSOS at the flea. Proud Actor/Writer/Teacher with The Story Pirates – and regular voice on The Story Pirates Podcast (Gimlet Media). TV: Recurring Season 3 The Deuce (HBO), Dietland (AMC), The Tonight Show (NBC). BFA in Theatre from NYU Tisch: Stella Adler, and – just as practical – minor in Religious Studies. Eternally for Ari, “Be Brave”. www.emilyverla.com

Catherine Hennessey has appeared most recently as Claire in Matthew James Fitzgerald’s Catapult!, as Bessie Berger in Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing, Bernice Allentuck in Stan Hart’s Finishing Touches and as Kate Keller in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. She has also been in the Love Creek Productions of A Month in the Country (Anna), Moliere’s The Learned Ladies (Philaminte), The Seagull (Arkadina), The Cemetery Club (Ida) and The Death in the Juniper Grove (Maureen), among others. With 13th Street Rep: Troika: God, Tolstoy & Sophia (Sophia) and Ruby’s Story (Ruby). Other credits include a recurring role in the Russian mini-series Family Secrets, Loretta in Floaterstv.com, the Emmy winning on-line soap featured at Sundance and as Sisters Nora and Pat in A Glimpse Through the Curtain: Monologues of American Catholic Sisters (917) 767-5921.

Theatre East: Edie Saves the Birds, Holy Ghosts, A Name for a Ghost to Mutter. Austin, TX: Hyde Park Theatre: A Doll’s House, Part 2, The Antipodes, The Christians, Port Authority, The Night Alive (Austin Critics Table Award), Middletown, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Steady Rain, Paradise Key. Rude Mechs: Fixing Timon of Athens, Fixing King John. ZACH Theatre: The Grapes of Wrath, The Clean House, Take Me Out, The Exonerated. Austin Shakespeare: Othello, The Tempest, Mary Stuart, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet. Salt Lake City, UT: Salt Lake Acting Company: Back to Back, Wanted: Billy the Kid, Old Times. TV: “Friday Night Lights”.

Christopher Haley is a New York based actor/musician/director. His favorite credits include Victor/Trombone in the national tour of “Cabaret” and the multiple roles he played and directed in “Oh the Humanity”. Chris is excited to be performing “Crumbs of Joy” and is always looking to participate in new productions and readings. If you would like to see more of Chris, he will be performing as Wayne Wright in The Summer of Lyric Theatre’s production of “Bandstand” this June.