The greens the American neighbors called weeds. It was in these fields where Italian Moms, armed with small paring knives and shopping bags, went on the hunt for areas of flourishing “chicory,” i.e., dandelions. What lay beyond those boundaries were open tracts and cultivated farmlands. It sat at the eastern boundary of Pittsburgh and was the doorway to future suburbs. And, since we spoke mostly Italian at home, it was through these “mericani” that my siblings and I became familiar with the American way.īrushton was our community. Many of my friends, from attending public schools, were “ mericani,” a catch-all term identifying anyone who wasn’t Italian. Our community was predominately Italian, but there were also the Irish, Germans, Polish and African-Americans. Although many returned to Italy, others, to wit, our ancestors stayed, toughed it out and persevered creating “Little Italy” districts, along the way. They were ridiculed, hung from the gallows, and labeled enemies of the state. What they got was more discrimination and unemployment. In the early migration, most came from the southern regions of Italy, driven here by famine, unemployment, natural disasters, and, yes, discrimination from their own. One has to understand the difficulties of Italian immigrants. The thing I most cherished about “growing up Italian,” was the closeness and camaraderie shared among family and friends. As a first-generation Italian American, of the 40s and 50s, I have some emotive memories growing up Italian. They came from the “old” country-that’s what the immigrants called Italy. I feel very fortunate, very blessed.By: Tony Traficante, ISDA Contributing Editor “It was a bit nerve-wracking waiting for those reviews because it’s all you, your writing and your interpretation, and it felt great when everyone liked it. “I love the exchange of stories I hear doing this play, and I think I will continue doing it as long as I can,” said Ingrasciotta, who lives with his wife in Westchester “with two cute dogs.” Ingrasciotta is hopeful that “Blood Type: Ragu” will have a long life. I love the way he uses humor and language - both English and Sicilian - to tell this universal story of a family seeking a better life in America.” “Our Capital Region audiences have always enjoyed tales of America’s immigrant beginnings.

“I am delighted to introduce audiences to Frank Ingrasciotta, both as a writer and performer,” she said. We’ve bonded over it.”Ĭapital Repertory Theatre’s Artistic Director Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill is happy to bring such a recent off-Broadway hit to Albany. “They have their own perspective on the same stories, but they laugh and cry when they see it. “My mom’s a little older and not in great health, so she hasn’t seen it, but I have a brother and a sister and they’ve seen it and have been very supportive,” said Ingrasciotta. His father died before Ingrasciotta began performing the show, and his mother has not yet seen it. Much of the play recounts the trials and tribulations of his parents, in particular the work, or lack thereof, that went into their marriage. “I always had these stories I would tell that would make people laugh, about growing up as a first-generation Italian-American, and living in a neighborhood with all my aunts and uncles, and people would tell me to write it down. “I had really been a jack of all trades, writing, directing and performing, and I had written some sketches and some parodies, but never a full play,” he said.

When he returned from Sicily, he sat down and started writing. Going back there gave me the through line for my story. “I had kind of divorced myself from it as a boy, and it was actually a healing process to go back there and see my aunts and uncles. “I went there when I was 7, and had not seen Sicily in 29 years, not until I married a Sicilian woman and went back there to meet her family,” he said. Ingrasciotta, 52, didn’t really feel comfortable writing a play about his life until he visited Sicily, which was home to both his mother and father. It’s personal, and that makes the story universal.” People come up after the show and want to tell me their story. I love doing the show, and I love the response I get every night. That and The Times’ review gives it the kind of cachet you needed to take it out on tour. But off-Broadway was how it made its mark and that’s fine. It’s kind of an intimate show, and unless I was some guy like John Leguizamo, it probably wouldn’t work. “I was very happy to have the off-Broadway run and to get the good review in The New York Times,” said Ingrasciotta.

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