Wifellini

One last performance for one thousand wigs.

It’s the eve of Giulietta’s 50th wedding anniversary and the maestro lays in a coma after choking on some mozzarella (fact). Musing about a lifetime together, Giulietta switches her wigs and relives her greatest hits: the prostitute clown, the waifish clown, the wife clown, the martyr clown, etc., etc. What’s one more humiliation if it could win her another Oscar/meeting with Clark Gable? And you’re invited to the party. Bottoms up!

With satiric repetition, cinematic references, and a little song and dance, Wifellini skewers the popular imagination of Giulietta Masina as simply Fellini’s muse or wife. Masina once stated, “The truth is we have divided duties between ourselves. Federico rules on the set, I rule at home, but he has always made me pay for the sovereignty I exercise indoors.” Wifellini revels in a fictional Masina in her sovereignty… and the price of it.

Script development: La MaMa Umbria International Playwrights Retreat (2024)

Public reading: La MaMa Umbria Play Reading Series, New York City (2025)