In Italy’s tiny Tuscany region lies Monticchiello, whose residents have a most unusual annual ritual: they stage a play about their own lives, starring themselves. Directors Jeff Malmberg and Chris Shellen’s Spettacolo (its title translated as “performance”) is a mesmerizing account of that yearly project, tracing not only the logistical toil entailed by that endeavor (writing scripts, building sets, casting and rehearsing), but also the tenuousness of the tradition itself, thanks to a younger generation less interested than their elders in maintaining it. Born from WWII trauma, and functioning as a way to analyze and voice their contemporary concerns and grievances, the play operates as an inimitable form of “auto-drama.” That the current show’s focus on economic anxieties is paralleled with a local-bank benefactor’s scandalous collapse only further underlines the intricate links here between fiction and non-fiction. 

This film allows viewers to reflect on not only the hold that stories have in small towns, but also shows the inextricable bonds that international corporations have, even in small Tuscan villages. As the world becomes ever busier, and even small towns are pulled in varying directions, what are we losing to the internet? Can we still gather and tell our stories? Can we make the time to sit outside on a summer night and be in community?

Part of The Center’s BIG IDEA project Marketplaces: From Open Air to Online.