Circe (Margot) Petrić

This is Circe Petrić, she prefers Margot because she is tired of explaining to people who Circe was. Her last name comes from a cousin of her late father's who adopted her when she was seventeen and a half. Margot is sad ... deeply, permanently and constantly. There is no reason for her to be sad: good job, a nice boyfriend, and her father-uncle-cousin who gives her frequently money and valuable gifts ... doctors said that Margot likely has the SAD-gene and there is no real cure but she should two eat potatoes at four-twenty in the afternoon and burn Sage in her bedroom before going to sleep (this made her sad). Margot's most valuable possession is a button that once was on Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat. 

Holger Helgoland

This is Holger Helgoland and his wife Kwee - his name was Hwan Hee until he changed it when he became a US citizen in 1989. He is a very talented and hardworking structural engineer who made Partner in his company until that fateful day of  April 12th, three years ago, when his assistant, her name was Billie-Joe Mcallister, came to work in a shorter than usual skirt and a tighter than usual top - Holger became so distracted that he used the wrong formula in calculations for the Tallahassee-Tallahatchie bridge. Bref: the bridge collapsed three days after opening, the insurance company paid out millions and Holger lost his job. Kwee knows the edited version: they made him the scapegoat because he was the only Chinese on the team, she now spends her inheritance taking them on a trip around the world. Holger still, sometimes, dreams of Billie-Joe and her thighs.

Kiki and Fifi

I wrote another short play taken from the daily life of our prisoners.

Dramatis personæ:

Kiki .................. A Fair Foreign Traveling Maiden,
Fifi ..................  A Young Florentine Merchant
Scene - Via Calzaiuolo one summer early evening

Fifi (smiling): "Aren't you Elsie's sister who lives on the hill and has a cat called Bill?"
Kiki (also smiling): "You made a mistake, it is a dog called Pogue"
Fifi (with his silkiest, smoothest baritone): "I make many mistakes"
Kiki (giggling, playing with her locks): "You think?"
Fifi (laughing, looking like the Jack of Hearts): "Wanna get some ice cream?"
Kiki (giggling, batting eyelids with high frequency): "Ice cream's good!"

Exeunt towards Via dei Tavolini 

Fabiana Vanzetti

This is Fabiana Vanzetti, she was the only girl in her class who graduated high school, in Bologna, a virgin. Due to her violent temper and radical political opinions, her yearbook entry lists her as "most likely to die young, go to jail or a combination of both". After graduating University with a Masters in Literature, she went to Kabul for research from which resulted in a novel about a young orphan girl who is savagely beaten and raped by five neighborhood boys. She survives the violence to invent a soft drink made from acacia flowers which makes her a millionaire and uses her newfound wealth to hire an assassin to track down and kill her tormentors. The book won the Davanzati "Novel of the Year" at the Milan International Bookfair and, because Fabiana's wardrobe consisted only of a couple of jeans and a dozen t-shirts, the organizers rented her an evening gown. It was light-blue, ill-fitting and somebody spilled red wine on it at the "After Gala" party; they had to throw it away. Fabiana is still a virgin to this day, at 42 and a half. 

Nakashima Sisters

These are Suki and Endi Nakashima, from Houston, Tx. I met them on Ponte Alla Carraia one sunny day. They are extremely close in all they do, think and say, not so much in wardrobe choices. At their Carnegie Vanguard high school they created a stir when they had to retake the IQ test, the staff couldn't believe the scores and were afraid it was a mistake. After University, where they obtained an MSc. in Applied Math specialized in Statistical analysis, they returned to Houston and got well-paid positions as NASA analysts. The real money they make on various gambling sites, under various internet identities, where they bet and win big on NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. They are pesco-vegetarians and live in a condo downtown where they take turns sleeping with their downstairs neighbor. He really likes the arrangement but Suki and Endi think he is really, really silly. They have a cat called Alfredo Morro.

Bubu and Mumu

This is a short play I wrote about the daily life of our prisoners.
Mumu - a walker;
Bubu - a talker;
Cucu, Bubu's mother (has no lines)
In a museum near you ...

Bubu (reading from a brochure in a loud voice, with didactical intonation): "... and then, in the early part of the Cinquecento ..."
Mumu (interrupting in a harsh tone): "Do you have to read that loud?"
Bubu (irritated): "That is how my voice is!"
Mumu (also irritated): "Can't your mother read for herself?"
Bubu (even more irritated): "No! My mother cannot read for herself!"
Mumu (also even more irritated): "Just keep it down!"
Bubu (even more even more irritated): "You keep it down, you ruined my day"
Mumu (also even more even more irritated): "You ruined my life!"

Cucu pulls Bubu away, exeunt.

Falco and Ravi

These are two good friends: Falco and Ravi - they have beers after work almost every day and talk about stuff. Ravi always has questions and Falco is ever so glad to answer. One day, Ravi, who is always very careful to only meet his friend in closed spaces, asked Falco how does it feel to soar really high into the sky an swoop down fast to which Falco replied that the feeling cannot be explained, only lived. Falco also said that Ravi himself moves pretty fast on land and proposed an experiment: "I do my thing, you do your thing and then we talk" to which Ravi agreed. This picture is taken later on that day ... Ravi seems to be content to finally have his answer and Falco seems to say "Told you, I'll do my thing, is what I do".