Patrizia Calandrini: Creating Chances

 

by Laura Hutchinson

She paces back and forth in perfect rhythm, skimming over her script for the last time before the curtains rise.  Not even a camera click or the hustle-bustle of the cast and crew can distract her from the task at hand.  She is a character to the audience, but she sees the role as so much more.

Patrizia Calandrini lives life through the chambers of her heart. With every breath she takes, she inhales the beauty that each day has to offer. Whether it’s life in Cagli, Italy, a neighboring country, or half-way around the world, she soaks in the culture and lets it stamp her soul. In all she does and everything she is, she lives to love and loves to live.Patrizia preparing for her performance.

Patrizia is a loyal Cagli citizen but is not confined by its quaint walls.  When she was 19 years old, her curiosity about life outside Cagli encouraged her to venture to England. Despite her parents’ worries, she stepped away from her comfort zone to understand a culture other than her own.

Four years later, she set out for the second time.  With her arms, heart and mind wide open, she ventured to Finland. Her six-month adventure captivated her and only increased her love of learning.  This was just the beginning of her journeys outside Cagli. On weekends and vacations, she traveled anywhere a plane would fly or a train would stop.

Through her travels, Patrizia not only learned cultures other than her own but gained greater appreciation for her life in Cagli. Her travels introduced new interests, new literature and new ideas about life.  

Upon her return, she desired more for her life than she once knew. As a woman of many talents, Patrizia was able to demonstrate this desire in every aspect of her life.

Spending her days as a lawyer in Cagli, she is determined to find roles for herself outside the office. Her craving for new literature, new cultures, and new opportunity led her to the concrete steps and mahogany doors of the 250-year-old Teatro Communale di Cagli near the piazza.
  
Standing in the center of the theatre, she is given a visual reminder of the history, culture and beauty of her own Cagli.  When she gazes at the floor her feet rest upon or the hand-painted art softly kissing the walls and ceilings that surround her, she finds much more than a hobby. 

The red-velvet chairs and rustic-gold accents elegantly display the history of the theatre’s interior.  The smell of aging paper and dust, like an original Shakespeare folio, give an overwhelming sense that this structure has not been compromised since its birth in 1754.Take an active part and find the beauty.

To Patrizia, the theatre is much more than the home of a stage or a place to perform.  Acting, she says, gives her the chance to read novels, scripts and literature from places and times long past. She studies language, history, and stories from earlier days. She feeds her body with movement in a natural and healthy way. For six years, acting has given Patrizia an extended education and a broader circle of friends.

Variously described by her friends as “beautiful” and “sunny,” Patrizia loves her life. Uninhibited by the stresses and pressures of modern-day expectations, Patrizia says, “I live in the present time.”  She starts and ends her day in the piazza surrounded by those she loves.  In these moments -- laughing and conversing with friends – she has what she describes as some of her proudest moments.

The curtains rise, and the lights fade. Patrizia enters the stage with a smile and a deep breath, exhaling the anxiousness that fills her body before each performance. The audience leans in with anticipation. Even through her acting, Patrizia seems to stay true to her best self.

“If there is a chance, we have to try everything,” she said.  “If you don’t have a chance, create it”.

 

 

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To find out more information about how
you can participate or support the Cagli project, contact:

Name: Shannon Zaranski
Phone:+1 509 - 313 - 3569
Email: zaranski@gonzaga.edu
Director: Dr. John Caputo
E-mail: caputo@gonzaga.edu