Ciao a Tutti!
This November, you can see her performing as "Ariadne" in the "impeccably acted" (NY Times) HEARTBREAK HOUSE at Two River Theatre Co. in Red Bank, NJ, directed by Aaron Posner. And in December, she will be acting opposite Daniel J Travanti, Ellen Crawford and Tessa Klein in Friendly Fire's A TOUCH OF THE POET directed by Alex Lippard at the 14th Street Theatre in NYC.
see this link for more info: (http://broadwayworld.com/article/Travanti_and_Crawford_to_Star_in_POET_Revival_at_14th_Street_Theater_Starting_122_20010101)
Antoinette was thrilled to be in the world premiere of MAX & THE TRUFFLE PIG, one of the elite selections of the New York Musical Theater Festival (NYMF), an adorable children's musical that performed this September.
Recently, she returned to NYC after a successful, extended run of THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED directed by PCS's Artistic Director, Chris Coleman.
Favorite reviews describe her performance "as a smart-ass Mephistopheles in a white pantsuit" and "the heart and empty soul of the play."
Prior to that:
Antoinette joined Denis O'Hare, Bebe Neuwirth, Bobby Cannavale and others for The Fire Department's AT WAR: AMERICAN PLAYWRIGHTS RESPOND TO IRAQ directed by Erica Gould at 45 Bleecker. Excerpts from new plays by noted American playwrights, woven together to present a kaleidoscope of views on the war in Iraq
Antoinette most recently played Rachel in Richard Vetere's latest play, THREE SISTERS FROM QUEENS as part of the NY Playwright's Lab festival led by Israel Horowitz at The Cherry Lane Theatre. http://www.nyplaywrightslab.org/
Antoinette can be seen opposite Steve Buscemi in Tom DiCillo's latest film, DELIRIOUS which won Best Director in the San Sebastian Film Festival. The film is an Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival. If you pay close attention, you can also hear Antoinette singing in the dance club scene between the two young leads.
In the past couple of months, Antoinette has been involved in many readings of new plays. Most recently, she performed at Playwrights Horizons in SAFE AND SOUND, a new play by Michael Watson. And she was at the Public Theatre in a workshop production of a Sam Shepard inspired piece, THE BOTTLE HOUSE.
Other new plays she's been working on: ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT by Shirley Lauro directed by William Pomerantz at EST and at The Culture Project; The Six Figures Theatre Company's Artist of Tomorrow Festival in which she played La Comtesse in the children's musical MAX AND THE TRUFFLE PIG, book by Suzanne Bradbeer, adapted from the children's story by Judith Brown; music by Bert Draesel; lyrics by Nancy Leeds; directed by Erica Gould; The Chuck Mee Challenge by Francesca Sanders directed by Erica Gould and at the Abingdon Theatre, she performed in readings of Ted Sod's latest play, THE LOST ART OF CONVERSATION directed by Niegel Smith and END OF THE ROAD by Robert Kerr directed by Andrew Volkoff.
Antoinette is currently preparing for a production of her one-woman show IN SPITE OF MYSELF. Details to follow.
Antoinette is also preparing for her next project: an ensemble piece called VILLAGE STORIES based on her birthtown, a small province of Salerno, Italy.
The Ethiopian Orphanage Theatre Project
Last year, Antoinette co-created and co-directed a theatre piece with forty HIV+ children ranging in age from 5 to 14 years old from the AHope orphanage in Addis Ababa. The sold-out performance took place May of this year at The National Theatre of Ethiopia. Antoinette and her creative colleagues (James Hallett, James Haven and Lisa Rothe) were sent by the Worldwide Orphans Foundation which was founded by Dr. Jane Aronson, who is also known as the "Orphan Doctor". The experience was inspirational, life-changing and filled with a tremendous amount of love and generosity. If you are interested in hearing more about it, please sign up on Antoinette's mailing list and she will send you her journals of the month-long experience.
Dr. Jane Aronson, who started the Worldwide Orphan Foundation (www.wwo.org) believes that the children in WWO's many orphanages across the developing world need creative expression. The next step is to have an artists in residence program in which volunteers travel to these orphanages and teach the children how to express themselves creatively.
For more information, watch this video, and to learn more about Dr. Jane Aronson and her work, visit:
www.orphandoctor.com/wwo/film/index.html
Antoinette's Carnegie Hall Debut
Antoinette performed in Puccini's opera LE VILLI at Carnegie Hall on January 30, 2006. Puccini's first and last operas, LE VILLI and TURANDOT (Act III, with a Luciano Berio ending), was presented as part of the gala evening.
Giacomo Puccini is among opera's best-loved composers. Yet few audiences are familiar with his first opera LE VILLI. Although it is his earliest opera, LE VILLI illustrates Puccini's innate sense of melodic invention. The opera utilizes the same literary sources as the ballet GISELLE. His final work, TURANDOT, composed in the four years leading to his death in 1924, contains some of Puccini's most beloved melodies - the arias In questa reggia and Nessun dorma.
You can read about my Carnegie Hall Debut at my new blog - antoinettelavecchia.blogspot.com
A Trio from the Midtown International Theater Festival: In Spite of Myself, by Michael Dale
In this nation of immigrants, the friction between old world parents and their Americanized off-spring is a source of comedy that probably started when the first Jamestown kids hit puberty. And of course, the favorite character in this generation gap is the annoyingly attentive, well-meaning yet guilt-inflicting ethnic mother. No matter what her background, she's been a thorn in the side and a tickle to the funny bone for generations of American audiences.
But when Antoinette LaVecchia spoofs her relationship with her Italian ma in her solo play IN SPITE OF MYSELF, she does so with such fresh and hilariously inventive ideas that you'd think she was trailblazing virgin comic territory.
A skilled physical clown, LaVecchia opens the show with her earliest mother/daughter argument, taking place while she's still in the womb. Quickly alternating between parent and child, LaVecchia seamlessly gives birth to herself. Such a tour de force would serve as an impressive finale, but Antoinette's just getting started.
Ma's daily phone calls (the telephone comes in so handy during solo performances) inspire a series of sketches affectionately commenting on her struggle for an understanding that she lives in a very different world than that of her heritage. A seminar in "How to Be a Great Italian Daughter" teaches that all communication between mother and daughter can be effortlessly mastered once you've learned the proper use of the word "Ma" in various situations. Another routine has an elderly Italian matriarch serenading a coffee house gathering with the "My-Daughter-Don't-Appreciate-Me-Blues." Later on, LaVecchia goes as far as to stage an argument with her own vagina in a glorious threesome of id, ego and superego.
But no matter how absurd her characters and situations may seem, director Ludovica Villar-Hauser makes sure she never slips into grotesque caricature. She's there to pay tribute to ma, never to mock her. This is especially apparent in a touching scene where she plays both her proud, handsome father and her shy, youthful mother on the day the couple first met. You barely notice her dexterity in switching from one character to the other because the scene, done completely in Italian, is so lovingly executed.
Though the hour-long show provides a steady stream of laughter from an extremely talented writer/performer, not so much as a giggle ever comes at the expense of honesty. LaVecchia's mother taught her well.