Tino Caspanello
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Agatino Caspanello (born 1960)<ref name=Fullname/><ref>"Open conversation: Tino Caspanello and Arben Idrizi", Qendra.org. Retrieved October 24, 2025</ref> is an Italian playwright, theater director, actor and novelist. He founded the company Teatro Pubblico Incanto in 1993. He has written, performed in, and directed plays in Italy and elsewhere, and in 2003 he earned the Premio Riccione Teatro (Special Jury Prize, 2003) for his play Mari (The sea).<ref name="Winners2003" />
Early life and education
Caspanello was born in Pagliara, Sicily. He graduated in scenography in 1983 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=Cogliani>Cogliani, Siria. dayitalianews.com</ref>
Career
In 1993 Caspanello founded the theatre company Teatro Pubblico Incanto, which has produced many of his plays.Template:Citation needed
In 2003 his play Mari (The Sea) received the Special Jury Prize of the Premio Riccione Teatro, awarded for playwriting.<ref name=Fullname>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=Winners2003>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2004 the play was presented at the Santarcangelo dei Teatri Festival, directed by and starring Caspanello, and also starring his wife, Cinzia Muscolino.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Translated into French by Frank and Bruno La Brasca, the play has been produced by the French companies Cie La Strada,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> La Lune Blanche,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> L’Instant avant l’Aube,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In May 2011, the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris produced Mari (The Sea) with Lea Drucker and Gilles Cohen, directed by Jean-Louis Benoît.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In June 2012 Mari (The Sea) was presented in Polish at the Bez Granic Festival in Cieszyn, Poland.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The french version of the play produced by the Compagnie La Lune Blanche was staged at the Festival d’Avignon Off in 2016.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=IAP>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In November 2016 Caspanello directed Mari (The Sea) with Muscolino, at the University of Chicago Center at the University of Hong Kong.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2018, Mari (The sea) inaugurated the Tramedautore Festival at the Piccolo Teatro (Milan).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2008 Caspanello directed the play Handscape, based on the texts of blogs and edited by Caspanello, which premiered at the Schauspielhaus in Graz, Austria.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In May 2011, together with other playwrights from Belgium, Turkey, Canada and Poland, Caspanello was a guest at the Troisième Bureau of Grenoble at the Festival Regards Croisés, during which his play Nta ll’aria (In the air) was presented in French.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In July 2011 Caspanello and his wife directed the festival Pubblico Incanto Artheater Festival, which took place in Sicily, in the municipality of Pagliara.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In April 2013 his play Interno, translated into Greek by Tzina Karvounaki, was produced as part of the Contemporary Drama Forum at the French Institute in Athens.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On April 15, 2016, a seminar dedicated to Caspanello took place at the Library of the Italian Cultural Institute in Paris as part of Corps à corps. Récits de théâtre italien, a series of seminars organized in association with Paris-Sorbonne.<ref name=IAP/> Between 2016 and 2020 Caspanello directed the project WRITE – International Playwriting Residency held in Mandanici (Messina, Italy), involving European playwrights.<ref name=Cogliani/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2021 Caspanello directed his play Fragile at the Teatro Comunale di Nardò in the Province of Lecce.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Later that year his play Quadri di una rivoluzione (Pictures from a Revolution) was produced at the National Theatre of Kosovo in Pristina.<ref>Di Vita, Vincenza. "Quadri di una rivoluzione a Priština e Fragile a Nardò", Ateatro, Italy, September 6, 2021</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2023 the same play, translated into French by Christophe Mileschi,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was staged in Paris by Artanso – Collectif Artistique at the Théâtre Le Funambule Montmartre.<ref name=IAP/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2025 his play Orli (Bounds), translated into English by Haun Saussy,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was mounted at the City Garage Theater, in Santa Monica, California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the same year the play Quadri di una rivoluzione (Pictures from a Revolution), translated into English by Saussy,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was mounted at Upstream Theater, St. Louis, Missouri.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Caspanello has also taught theater.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2024, he conducted his last drama workshop at a high school in Santa Teresa di Riva, in the province of Messina.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Caspanello has written two novels: Salvo, a short novel set in a small Sicilian town, published in 2016,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Santa, la guerra, which addresses the impact of war and the persistence of hope in everyday life published in 2022.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Plays
20 of Caspanello's plays are collected in four volumes published in Spoleto, Italy, by Editoria & Spettacolo:<ref name=Cogliani/>
- Teatro di Tino Caspanello (contains the plays Mari, Nta ll'aria, Malastrada, Rosa, Interno, Sira and Fragile), 2012, ISBN 978-88-97276-22-7<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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- Quadri di una rivoluzione di Tino Caspanello (contains the plays Quasi notte, Quadri di una rivoluzione, 1952 a Danilo Dolci, Terre and 1 - 2 p.m.), 2013, ISBN 978-88-97276-45-6.<ref>Template:Cite news </ref>
- Polittico del silenzio (contains the plays Ecce Homo, Kyrie and Agnus), 2016, ISBN 978-88-97276-63-0<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Sottotraccia (contains the plays Sottotraccia, Orli, Blues, Niño and Don't cry Joe), 2018, ISBN 978-88-97276-98-2<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
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Several of Caspanello's plays have been translated and published in France, Turkey or elsewhere.Template:Citation needed
Personal life
Caspanello is married to Cinzia Muscolino, an actress and artist who has performed with his Teatro Pubblico Incanto.<ref name=Cogliani/>
Awards and recognition
- 2003 - Special Prize of the Jury of Premio Riccione Teatro for Mari (The sea)<ref name=Fullname/><ref name=Winners2003/>
- 2008 - Award of the National Association of Theatre Critics, Italy<ref name=Cogliani/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 2014 - Palmarès Eurodram, Italian Committee, for Quadri di una rivoluzione (Picture from a revolution)<ref name=Cogliani/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 2018 - Award of the National Association of Theatre Critics, Italy, for Write - Residence of international dramaturgy<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 2019 - Palmarès Eurodram, Albanian Committee, for Mari (The sea)<ref name=Cogliani/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 2023 - Palmarès Eurodram,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Ukrainian Committee, for Orli (Bounds)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>