Stefano Massini
Stefano Massini is the first Italian author to win a Tony Award. He is a novelist and playwright whose works, including The Lehman Trilogy, have been translated into 27 languages. He has had more plays performed in theatres around the world than any other living Italian writer.
Born in Florence, Massini studied Ancient Literature at the University of Florence. He began working in theatre in 2000, as an assistant to various international directors at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and then to Luca Ronconi at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano. From 2003 he dedicated himself to playwriting, and in 2005 he won the Pier Vittorio Tondelli Award with L’odore assordante del bianco.
In 2007 he won the Premio Nazionale della Critica as Young Artist Revelation fo the year. The following year, the resounding success of Donna non rieducabile: Memorandum teatrale su Anna Politkovskaia elevated Massini’s profile across Europe and the world, and his plays were soon being translated and published in multiple languages. These works in translation enjoyed widespread success, firstly in French speaking countries, then in Spain, Czech Republic, Russia, and Greece, and finally in the United States and South America.
In 2013, the Comédie de Saint-Étienne produced Massini’s Lehman Trilogy, directed by Arnaud Meunier. The play was subsequently translated into German, and. between 2014 and 2017, eight productions of Lehman Trilogy were staged across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 2015, Lehman Trilogy premiered in Italy at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, directed by Luca Ronconi. This production won five Ubu Awards, including Best New Italian Play and two Maschere del Teatro Awards for the same play.
2016 saw three Spanish productions of Massini’s plays: Lehman Trilogy, directed by Roberto Romei at Grec Festival of Barcelona, and Donna non rieducabile and credo in un solodio, directed by Lluis Pascal. In the same year, credo in un solodio was also produced in Argentina and in Peru, Théâtre National de Nice presented The Black Puzzle, and Donna non rieducabile premiered in New York, produced by Waterwell.
In 2017, it was announced that Academy Award winner Sam Mendes would direct the first British production of Lehman Trilogy. This production ran at the National Theatre from July to October 2018, before transferring to the Park Avenue Armory, New York, from March to
April 2019, and returning to the West End’s Piccadilly Theatre from May to late August 2019. The production made its Broadway transfer in March 2020, performing briefly before the Covid-19 pandemic. It resumed performances in autumn 2021, running until January
2022. It has just return to the West End for a further run.
In 2019, this production gained Lehman Trilogy a nomination as Best New play for the Laurence Olivier Award.
As Lehman Trilogy enjoyed West End and Broadway success, Massini’s plays continued to be produced elsewhere. In September 2021, Comedie Francaise produced a highly successful run of 7 Minutes, directed by Maelle Poesy. 7 Minutes was then given its US premiere in
New York in March 2022 by Waterwell and Working Theater. In May 2022, a Spanish production of Ladies Football Club was staged at Teatros del Canal, Madrid, directed by Sergio Peris Mencheta.
Further works by Massini include Stato contro Nolan, Eichmann, Occident Express, The White Room, Ladies Football Club, Processo a Dio, L’interpretazione dei sogni.
As a novelist, Massini has won numerous awards including Premio Fiesole in 2016, Premio Campiello in 2017 and Premio Mondello in the same year, all for Qualcosa sui Lehman also inspired by The Lehman Brothers’ story. Massini was Head of Creative and Artistic Productions at Piccolo Teatro in Milan from 2015 to 2021. He regularly writes for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica and he’s also a columnist with weekly TV appearances on LA7 tv channel. He has recently finished developing the new multi-part play about the history of theatomic bomb, Manhattan Project.
Awards
•2022 Tony Award for Best New Play for Lehman Trilogy
•2019 Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play for Lehman Trilogy
•2019 Premio Comunicazione – Festival della Comunicazione Camogli
•2018 Prix du Meilleur livre étranger for Les Frères Lehman
•2018 Prix Médicis for Les Frères Lehman
•2018 Premio Ercilla de teatro – Mejor espectáculo Lehman Trilogy – SPAGNA
•2018 Finalista Premio MAX – Mejor espectáculo Lehman Trilogy – SPAGNA
•2017 Premio Lo Straniero – Gli Asini
•2017 Premio Letterario Giusti alla satira (Qualcosa sui Lehman)
•2017 Premio Vittorio De Sica per la letteratura
•2017 Premio letterario internazionale Mondello – Super Mondello per Qualcosa sui
Lehman
•2017 Premio Campiello – Selezione Giuria dei Letterati per Qualcosa sui Lehman
•2016 Premio Fiesole Premio Speciale per Qualcosa sui Lehman
•2015: Premio Ubu 2015, Lehman Trilogy “Best staging of the year”, direction Luca
Ronconi
•2015: Premio Ubu 2015, Lehman Trilogy “Best new Italian play”
•2015 Premio Le Maschere del Teatro Italiano – Miglior Spettacolo e miglior testo
Lehman Trilogy
•2014 Grand prix du syndicat de la critique – meilleur spectacle théâtral Chapitres de
la chute – Saga des Lehman Brothers- FRANCIA
•2014 Nommé Prix Molière du Théâtre Public – meilleur spectacle Chapitres de la
chute – Saga des Lehman Brothers – FRANCIA
•2013: Premio Speciale Ubu 2013, Piccolo Teatro di Milano
•2011: Premio Franco Enriquez, Sirolo (Ancona)
•2011: Medaglia di Bronzo Presidenza della Repubblica Italiana
•2011: Premio Firenze
•2010: Premio Galantara, Montelupone (Macerata)
•2009: Premio Medioevo Contemporaneo Matilde di Canossa, Reggio Emilia
•2007 Premio Nazionale della Critica Teatrale italiana (ANCRIT), Piccolo Teatro di
Milano per La gabbia
•2007: Premio Fondi-La Pastora, Roma
•2005: Premio Pier Vittorio Tondelli, Riccione Teatro, for L’odore assordante del
bianco
•2005: Premio Microdrammaturgia Porto San Giorgio (Fermo)
•2004: Premio Internazionale Flaiano, Pescara
•2004: Coppa Speciale Presidenza della Repubblica Italiana
•2004: Premio Elsinor, Città di Salerno
