Sicilian-American Theatre Troupe Comes to Watertown

WATERTOWN, MA – A Sicilian-American theatre company is bringing its inaugural production to Watertown, an original piece titled La Storia di Colapesce.

Trinacria Theatre Company created the story during a four-week residency in Sicily; its cast of eight American theatre artists is using the production as a means of promoting Sicilian history, heritage and culture at home and abroad.

La Storia di Colapesce is a reimagining of the Sicilian folk legend Colapesce, a tale of a fisherman's son from Messina who is said to be half-man, half-fish because he spends so much time diving beneath the waves.

Colapesce's legend grows to the point that it catches the attention of King Frederick the II of Sicily, who sets out to put Colapesce's powers to the test. He sends Colapesce to the ocean floor, where Cola finds terrible threats to the city of Messina.

The troupe reinvents this classic fable using a variety of storytelling techniques and conventions. Its members lived in Sicily for a month and worked, studied and rehearsed at the Istituto San Placido Calonerò, in partnership with the Enoteca Provinciale Messina.

Ahead of its performances in greater Boston August 26 and 27, the company will perform La Storia di Colapesce for the Sicilian public in five touring locations in Messina.

The cast is comprised of performers from Both Boston and New York, including Josephine Cooper, Sean Devare, Quinton Kappel, Elena Kritter, Mariagrazia LaFauci, Kathleen Lewis, Dario Sanchez and Max Sklar.

La Storia di Colapesce will be performed Friday, August 26 at 8 p.m. at the Watertown Sons of Italy, 520 Pleasant St. in Watertown.

Recommended ticket prices are $18 general admission, $15 for students and seniors and $10 for Sons of Italy members. All ticket prices are suggested, and admission is on a pay-what-you-can basis.

Tickets can be purchased in advance here.

If you can't make the Watertown show, La Storia di Colapesce will also be performed at Langone Park in the North End Saturday, August 27 at 1 p.m. and St. John's Episcopal Church in Gloucester that same day at 7 p.m.