Adapted from the internationally acclaimed play ROMAN NIGHTS comes this new 70 minute one-woman play that reveals many hidden sides to the great actress, Anna Magnani. Inspired by her extraordinary life and career, which was at times as tumultuous off screen as it was on screen, playwright Franco D’Alessandro has crafted a new work that explores the many dramatic, funny and touching aspects of Magnani’s illustrious career and fascinating life.

From her early, failed marriage to a director to her fiery affair with actor Massimo Serato (who sired her only child, Luca) to her passionate four year relationship with famed director Roberto Rossellini through her final parade of younger lovers, Anna Magnani battled to be equal in all aspects of her life –in the bedroom, on the stage and at the box-office. Arguably, one of her greatest battles was raising her son (who suffered from polio as a child) as a single mother in Catholic Italy, and fighting the courts to give him the last name “Magnani.” Whether demanding equal pay as her male lead in Rossellini’s “Open City” or battling for top billing over Marlon Brando in Europe everything in this Oscar® winner’s life was a battle. Most of all, she fought to stay true to herself and her art, which were inextricable because Magnani the actress was Anna the woman.

D’Alessandro’s ROMAN NIGHTS (which examines the relationship between Tennessee Williams and Anna Magnani) has been translated into six languages and produced or performed in seven countries. After running New York City and London, the play is currently in its 6th sold-out year in Eastern Europe based in Prague, Czech Republic and it just recently opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina where it will run and eventually tour Chile for the next two years.

Acclaimed New York and Los Angeles stage director EVA MINEMAR directs award-winning actress LIDIA VITALE (“The Best of Youth” and “L’Amore Proibito” ) in her American theatrical debut.