About

KIT- KAIROS ITALY THEATER was founded in 2000 in New York. KIT’s mission is to create a cultural exchange program between Italy, the US and the international community, to unveil artistic and creative sides of these two countries to the world. In the States, Kairos Italy Theater is dedicated to spreading the Italian Culture and to creating an Italian Cultural Network in order to support and further increase the knowledge of Italy in the States.

KIT has produced more than 20 performances and events over the years, collaborating with Off-Off and Off Broadway theaters and with US Institutions such as The Kitchen, The Fringe Festival, the Abrons Art Center, Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimo’ at NYU, Italian Academy at Columbia University, Film Society at Lincoln Center, Dahesh Museum of Art, NY Hall of Science, the Flea Theatre, Theater for the New City, Montclair State University, Suffolk County Community College, the Bernie West Theater at Baruch College, the cell theatre among many others.

KIT brings always premiere to the US stages. Works never translated before by Ennio Flaiano, Franca Valeri, Eduardo De Filippo, and Pier Paolo Pasolini have been presented to the US audience, who has grown in appreciation and in number since the first production in 1997. And since May 2003, KIT has been presented the Double Theatre Experience: one act performed first in English and then in Italian.

KIT has curated several events all related to Italian Culture: “Fellini-Flaiano: a different take”, “Caricatures from Tolentino”, “Fellini and The Myth of I Vitelloni in Italian Cinema” in 2003. KIT is the representative of the De Curtis Family in the US and the curator of the exhibition “Excerpts from a Prince named Toto’”.

KIT organizes also classes of Italian&Theatre for children and adults in NY and NJ, has opened the bi-lingual online magazine Kit in the City, dedicated to cultural and every-day events in New York and Rome and it’s about to open Teatro Italiano Network, a theatrical agency dedicated to Italian Companies and Artists.

KIT is the theater company in residency at Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo’ at NYU.

Once upon a time… KIT!

Many years ago (I was still in Italy) I have started my own theatre co mpany with some friends, all actors like me. We decided to call us with the temporary name of Le Gramaglie, which was fun, but didn’t feel completely right. Then one day, in Rome (my city), while I was walking through an exhibition dedicated to the Greek  sculptor Lysippos, I have discovered a fascinated figure, Kairos, which Lysippos replicated a lot.

Kairos was a semi-god, with a lot of hair in the forehead while completely bold in the back. He symbolized the right occasion grabbed at the right moment: in fact, you can grab it when it’s coming (the hair in the forehead), but when it’s gone, you won’t catch it anymore… I found the concept to be beautiful, an hymn to life lived at full, an exhortation to grab the chance, even when it looks risky, just because your heart says that is the right one.

This is the very simple reason I have called my company Kairos, and when I have came to the States, I have just added Italy to better show what the company was about.

After so many years, I can say that I was right: I took many chances, and I still do, and it’s still very beautiful and rewarding!
Laura Caparrotti, Artistic Director