Vittorio Rossi
Encyclopedia
Vittorio Luciano Rossi is a playwright
, actor and screenwriter
born in Montréal
, Canada. He grew up in the district of Ville Emard. Graduating from Concordia University
in 1985 with a B.F.A. specializing in theatre performance, Rossi has earned the respect of the national theatre community with his award winning plays. Mr. Rossi stormed the Montréal theatre scene with two consecutive Best New Play Awards at the Quebec Drama Festival in 1986 and 1987. His plays have been produced in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, New York City, Boston, Syracuse and The Stratford Festival in Ontario.
In 1987 Vittorio became Playwright-in-Residence at Montréal’s prestigious Centaur Theatre
, during which time he wrote his first full length play, The Chain, which opened Centaur’s 20th anniversary season in October 1988. The show was then produced at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. This cemented his place as the first and most significant Italian-Canadian playwright in the country. Other plays include: Scarpone, In Pursuit Of A Cow, The Last Adam, (winner of the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for Drama in 1996), Love and Other Games, Filumena (Translation), Paradise By The River. His latest work may be Rossi’s most ambitious work to date, a collection of three plays inspired by the life of his late father entitled A Carpenter’s Trilogy. The three plays include Hellfire Pass (winner of the MECCA Award for Best New Text in 2006), Carmela’s Table (winner of the MECCA Award for Best New Text in 2007), and The Carpenter.
Vittorio was Writer-in-Residence at Concordia University
in 1990-91 where he also taught playwriting. He is also the recipient of the 1994 Premio Award given by CIBPA (Canadian Italian Business Professionals Association) in the field of Creativity for bringing honour and distinction to the Italian-Canadian community with his body of work. In 2003 Mr. Rossi taught screenwriting at the University of Sherbrooke.
As an actor, Rossi appeared as a regular as Dino Marrone on Urban Angel
and as Detective Tom Celano in the award winning French language television series Omertá. His film credits include performances in the CBS Emmy Award winning Day One
, and the critically acclaimed feature Malarek. Rossi was also a co-star in Le Sphinx and acted the lead in the film Canvas starring opposite Gary Busey and John Rhys-Davies. His most recent work was co-starring in the feature film The Timekeeper. He has written several screenplays and has directed a film version of Little Blood Brother. His plays are published by TalonBooks
.
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, actor and screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
born in Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada. He grew up in the district of Ville Emard. Graduating from Concordia University
Concordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
in 1985 with a B.F.A. specializing in theatre performance, Rossi has earned the respect of the national theatre community with his award winning plays. Mr. Rossi stormed the Montréal theatre scene with two consecutive Best New Play Awards at the Quebec Drama Festival in 1986 and 1987. His plays have been produced in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, New York City, Boston, Syracuse and The Stratford Festival in Ontario.
In 1987 Vittorio became Playwright-in-Residence at Montréal’s prestigious Centaur Theatre
Centaur Theatre
The Centaur Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Montreal, Quebec. It was founded in 1969 by The Centaur Foundation for the Performing Arts with Maurice Podbrey as the Artistic and Executive Director, and Herb Auerbach as Chairman of the Board....
, during which time he wrote his first full length play, The Chain, which opened Centaur’s 20th anniversary season in October 1988. The show was then produced at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. This cemented his place as the first and most significant Italian-Canadian playwright in the country. Other plays include: Scarpone, In Pursuit Of A Cow, The Last Adam, (winner of the Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for Drama in 1996), Love and Other Games, Filumena (Translation), Paradise By The River. His latest work may be Rossi’s most ambitious work to date, a collection of three plays inspired by the life of his late father entitled A Carpenter’s Trilogy. The three plays include Hellfire Pass (winner of the MECCA Award for Best New Text in 2006), Carmela’s Table (winner of the MECCA Award for Best New Text in 2007), and The Carpenter.
Vittorio was Writer-in-Residence at Concordia University
Concordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
in 1990-91 where he also taught playwriting. He is also the recipient of the 1994 Premio Award given by CIBPA (Canadian Italian Business Professionals Association) in the field of Creativity for bringing honour and distinction to the Italian-Canadian community with his body of work. In 2003 Mr. Rossi taught screenwriting at the University of Sherbrooke.
As an actor, Rossi appeared as a regular as Dino Marrone on Urban Angel
Urban Angel
Urban Angel was a Canadian television drama series, which aired on CBC Television from 1991 to 1993. Based on the memoirs of real-life Canadian journalist Victor Malarek, the show starred Louis Ferreira as Victor Torres, a crusading journalist for the Montreal Tribune.The show's cast also included...
and as Detective Tom Celano in the award winning French language television series Omertá. His film credits include performances in the CBS Emmy Award winning Day One
Day One (film)
Day One is a made-for-TV documentary-drama movie about The Manhattan Project, the research and development of the atomic bomb during World War II. It is based on the book by Peter Wyden. The movie was written by David W. Rintels and directed by Joseph Sargent. It starred Brian Dennehy as General...
, and the critically acclaimed feature Malarek. Rossi was also a co-star in Le Sphinx and acted the lead in the film Canvas starring opposite Gary Busey and John Rhys-Davies. His most recent work was co-starring in the feature film The Timekeeper. He has written several screenplays and has directed a film version of Little Blood Brother. His plays are published by TalonBooks
Talonbooks
Talonbooks is an independent publisher of Canadian literature, whose repertoire features authors writing in the literary genres of poetry, fiction and drama, as well as non-fiction books in the fields of ethnography, environmental and social issues, cultural studies, and literary criticism.The...
.
Plays
- A Carpenter’s Trilogy:
- The Carpenter (2007)
- Carmela’s Table (2006)
- Hellfire Pass (2006)
- Paradise By The River (1998)
- Filumena (Translation) (1997)
- Love and Other Games (1995)
- The Last Adam (1994)
- In Pursuit Of A Cow (1992)
- The Chain (1988)
- Backstreets (1987)
- Little Blood Brother (1986)
External links
- http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5493
- http://talonbooks.com/
- http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsR/rossi-vittorio.html
- http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Rossi%2C%20Vittorio
- http://nupress.northwestern.edu/title.cfm?ISBN=0-88922-564-8
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wDwc3B3aDQ