Italy – “The Rule of Thirds” at Instituto Cervantes – Chicago, IL

“The Rule of Thirds” | Italian

November 12th, 2025

Written by Marco De Simone

Translated by Caterina Nonis

Directed by Patrizia Acerra

In partnership with In Scena!

Synopsis

Text winner of the In Scena! Playwright Award 2025 organized annually by In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY.

The play is inspired by a real event recounted in the autobiography of Robert Capa. On the night between July 9 and 10, 1943, the renowned war photojournalist was welcomed into a farmer’s home, along with some American soldiers sent to Sicily just before the Allied landing. Disregarding strict realism and overcoming obvious language barriers, the author imagines a dialogue between Capa and the farmer, highlighting the characters as symbols of two worlds meeting on the edge of the abyss opened by war. Two worlds far apart, marked by different experiences, intentions, and perspectives—yet united by a shared reckoning with both war and life.

Southeastern Sicilian hinterland, at dawn on Saturday, July 10, 1943. A farmer welcomes war photojournalist Robert Capa into his farmhouse after he parachuted onto the island the night before the Allied landing. Their dialogue highlights the photographer’s strong personality and his wealth of anecdotes, shaped by firsthand experience in war zones. In the background, the farmer becomes the voice of the “thirds”—the vast mass of civilians who remain outsiders to the warring factions. Like the photographic rule suggests, these individuals demand to be brought into focus to tell another story—their own—hidden beneath the Grand Historical Narrative.