Le Madonne Feministe: Italian Canadian Women Playwrights

Abstract

Trying to discuss what Italian Canadian women playwrights have in common—what concerns and dramatic methods—might seem to be an impossible task. The four playwrights under consideration here, Maristella Roca, Caterina Edwards, Mary Melfi and Toni Ellwand, have demonstrated different levels of theatrical engagement: Maristella Roca and Toni Ellwand are primarily theatre artists and are currently collaborating on a production using the poetry of Gianna Patriarca, while Caterina Edwards and Mary Melfi have each written only one play; Edwards writes fiction; and Melfi has published several collections of poetry and two novels. A significant point of intersection in their plays is the problem of how to represent the “performances” of women. While social performance is represented in many poems, short stories and novels by Italian Canadian women writers, writing for a female actor is quite a different matter. These four have chosen to make plays that present a liberating female presence, one that offers fresh possibilities for verbal expression and behaviour.