“Amore come Rivoluzione”: Love and Revolution in Teatro La Maddalena’s Nonostante Gramsci

Italian neofemminismo was committed to identifying and recuperating female voices and figures that had been ‘lost’ or overlooked throughout history. Amore come rivoluzione, the historical and dramaturgical project carried out by Adele Cambria and the feminist theater collective Teatro La Maddalena in 1976, participated in the feminist endeavor to redress history through archival exploration and experimental performance. Cambria, writer, editor, actress, and co-founder of La Maddalena, gathered the untouched responses to Antonio Gramsci’s prison letters, and used them as the basis for feminist inquiry and performance in her work of political theater, Nonostante Gramsci. This lecture explored how Cambria's project underscores the power and necessity of pairing the critical reflection of epic theater with the emotional connection embraced by feminist consciousness-raising.