Coming of Age… with Agita!
It’s a familiar story-the conundrum of maintaining a strong relationship with family while holding on to our individual identity and honoring our authenticity.
How do we stay strong against the pressures of conventionality?
How do we focus on the future, while keeping the traditions of the past close in our hearts, as many immigrant families have struggled to do.
Singer, songwriter, comedian, writer, actress Maryann Maisano tackles these questions and much more when she performs her one woman show, Agita-A One Woman Play, which she shot last summer and made into a film. This poignant, heartwarming, and funny piece hits home for Italian Americans, children of all immigrants, and people who grew up in the 60’s. Maryann takes us on her personal journey beginning with her younger years growing up in a large family where her parents run a cab company. She relates her life story with humor, passion, and great depth, and uses her magnificent singing voice to add texture to her play. This multi-talented performer wasn’t always performing. She spent many years in the financial industry, where she made a very comfortable living. She learned that it simply wasn’t a fit for her, so she decided to leave that job and do what she had to do to get herself in front of an audience.
She has stayed ever since.
Maryann’s story celebrates her incredibly strong mother, who endured the multiple infidelities of her father, showcases her unique personality, and shares the difficulty of coming out to her staunchly conservative parents. With character impressions, images, music, and passionate storytelling, Agita truly captivates.
This solo performance was filmed in front of a live studio audience, where the spare set is well designed to replicate her comfy New Jersey living room.
Agita-A One Woman Play just won several awards including “Best Comedy” from the Lightbox International Film Festival and “Best Drama” from the Multi Dimension Independent Film Festival.
Now you can enjoy Agita in a pop-up pay-per-view premiere July 22, 23 and 24 on Vimeo. For more info go to: https://www.theitalianchicks.com/agita-a-play
Valerie Smaldone is a 5-time Billboard Magazine Award winner and is well known for her unprecedented success holding the #1 on-air position in the New York radio market on 106.7 Life-FM, an iHeart station. She has hosted, produced, and created several award-winning nationally syndicated programs featuring in-depth interviews with stars like Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart, Elton John and Mariah Carey among others. Her radio talk show "Bagels and Broadway" highlighted theatre and food personalities. She is an accomplished interviewer and voice artist heard on commercials, narrations, promos and audiobooks, as well as a sought after live announcer.
Most recently, Valerie produced and directed a film, The Thursday Night Club, featuring pop diva Gloria Gaynor in her movie acting debut. She is one of the creators and producers of a docu-series, Divine Renovation, starring Erik Estrada, on streaming networks soon.
