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Not a simple awards ceremony, but a show-event built for one night only. Thursday 3 September at 9.00 pm, the Ancient Theater of Taormina will host the TaoArte International Prize for the Theatre, the evening with which the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation celebrates 50 years of the Festival in Taormina.
Twelve protagonists who will receive the Award:
Manuel Agnelli, Marcello Cesena, Mariangela D’Abbraccio, Marisa Laurito, Gabriele Lavia, Ester Pantano, Vincenzo Pirrotta, Elisabetta Pozzi, Nicola Rubertelli, Marco Savatteri, Giampiero Solari and Giancarlo Zanetti. Different paths, generations and languages that will meet on the stage of the Teatro Antico for an evening conceived as a tale of the artistic scene between memory and contemporaneity.
«Celebrating fifty years of events at the Teatro Antico means recognizing the value of a history that has contributed to making Taormina a point of reference for live entertainment – states Bernardo Campo, extraordinary commissioner of the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation -. An extraordinary heritage that we have the duty to safeguard, but above all to continue to make alive by celebrating this milestone together with all those who have contributed to making Taormina Arte great with the sacrifice of their work and with all those who will continue to do so. The TaoArte International Theater Award was also created with this objective: to pay homage to those who have contributed to the growth of Taormina Arte and to those who, with their art, can contribute to making the theater promoted by our Foundation increasingly prestigious, looking to the future and new expressions of entertainment. On September 3rd we want to celebrate this story in the place that more than any other represents its value and identity, the Ancient Theater of Taormina”.
«The fifty years of the Festival represent a milestone of great significance, which goes far beyond a celebratory anniversary – declares Elvira Amata, regional councilor for Tourism, Sport and Entertainment –. We are talking about a story that over time has been able to bring the greatest protagonists of prose and entertainment to the stage of the Ancient Theater, building a profound relationship between Taormina and the big scene and making this place recognized and recognizable also on a national and international level. A heritage that belongs to Sicily, but whose size far exceeds its borders. Celebrating these fifty years means recognizing the value of an extraordinary history and, above all, creating the conditions for it to continue to renew itself, strengthening Taormina’s role as a place of meeting, production and diffusion of culture.”
In fact, 2026 marks the fiftieth anniversary of 1976 in which Rocco Familiari and the Living Theater began the international vocation of the theater in Taormina, making it, over time, one of the symbolic places in which to celebrate performances of a high artistic level.
What will make the show-event on September 3rd unrepeatable will be what each of the winners chooses to bring to the stage. Alongside the talk sessions, each protagonist will offer the public their own “gift”, a contribution personally chosen for that evening. Different interventions that will transform the presentation of the awards into a show built through the voices and choices of the artists.
On the stage of the Teatro Antico Simona Celi, artistic director of the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation, will accompany the audience on the journey between memory and contemporaneity that will cross the evening. Also present was a trio of musicians made up of Antonino Cicero (bassoon), Giancarlo Mazzù (guitar) and Luciano Troja (piano).
The Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation thus celebrates a great cultural heritage by looking to the future and putting the quality and identity of a Festival that has marked the history of live entertainment at the center.
The evening will also include a special philatelic postmark dedicated to the Award, destined to leave a further mark on this edition.