Versetto Libero

Free Verse meets In Scena!

Presented by Dave Johnson (Free Verse) and Laura Caparrotti (Kairos Italy Theater).

Since 2014, In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY has brought Italian artists to the Free Verse Poetry Workshops in the South Bronx to collaborate. Hosted in the heart of the waiting room of the NYC Department of Probation, the Italian artists translate poems written by the Free Verse participants, which include probation clients, their families, the staff, and community members. The Italian artists perform the poems together with their authors. In 2018, this experience became a book, Versettto Libero: a celebration, published by Kairos Italy Theater. The collection features poems, stories, photos that bear witness to four years of pure love and shared art, culture, and life.

This premiere event is the first book launch and celebration outside of the South Bronx location. Italian artists and Free Verse poets will recite poems in their original version followed by the Italian translations. The audience is invited to participate by bringing a short poem that will be translated.