Rose Napoli

Rose Napoli
head and shoulder photo of smiling white woman with black shoulder-length hair, holding an award
Rose Napoli at the 2019 Bell Media Prime Time TV Program Showcase
NationalityCanadian
Occupations
  • Playwright
  • Actor
Notable workLo (or Dear Mr. Wells)

Rose Napoli is a Canadian playwright and actor. Napoli is an alumnus of Nightwood Theatre's Write From the Hip Program where she developed her play Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells).

Career

Acting

In 2016, Napoli was nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in the Theatre for Young Audiences division of the Dora Mavor Moore Awards for her performance in Roseneath Theatre's The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh.[1] In 2017, Napoli starred as math teacher Gabriella in Rob Kempson's Trigonometry.[2] In 2018, Napoli was Celia in the St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival's production of As You Like It.[3] Napoli played Beatrice in the 2019 Shakespeare in High Park production of Much Ado About Nothing as directed by Liza Balkan.[4][5] In Nightwood Theatre's 2019 premiere of Grace, Napoli played the titular Grace's older sister Sarah.[6]

Playwriting

Napoli's play Ten Creative Ways to Dispose of your Cremains premiered at the 2017 Toronto Fringe Festival with Napoli in the lead role of Lucy.[7] The 2017 production was directed by Carly Chamberlain and co-starred Jakob Ehman as Bennett.[8] Napoli described Ten Creative Ways to Dispose of your Cremains as "millennial love letter to the misfits of the Peter Pan Generation".[9]

Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells) premiered in October 2017 as part of Nightwood Theatre's Consent Event double-bill alongside Ellie Moon's Asking For It.[10] Napoli developed Lo as part of Nightwood's Write From The Hip script development program in 2014.[11] The play is a two-hander that follows 25 year old Laura as she revisits a relationship she had with her English teacher, Mr. Wells, when she was 15. The 2017 premiere was directed by Andrea Donaldson and starred Vivien Endicott-Douglas as Laura and Sam Kalilieh as Mr. Wells. The play was inspired by Napoli's experiences working as an educator.[12] Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells) was nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding New Play in 2018.

Napoli's play, Mad Madge, about Margaret Cavendish, is set to premiere with Nightwood Theatre in April 2024.[13]

Plays

  • A Death and the Marias
  • Legacy
  • Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells)
  • Oregano
  • Ten Creative Ways to Dispose of your Cremains
  • That's Amore
  • Mad Madge

Awards

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2016 Dora Mavor Moore Awards - Theatre for Young Audiences Outstanding Performance - Individual The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh Nominated [14]
2018 Dora Mavor Moore Awards - General Theatre Outstanding New Play Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells) Nominated

References

  1. ^ "2016 Dora Mavor Moore Awards Nominees & Recipients" (PDF). Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA). p. 9. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  2. ^ Bimm, Jordan (2017-03-22). "Trigonometry is well acted but needs a lesson in narrative logic". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  3. ^ Langston, Patrick (2018-08-16). "New Artistic Director Shakes Up The St. Lawerence Shakespeare Fest With A Season Of Love". The Theatre Times. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  4. ^ Teodoro, José (2019-07-16). "Much Ado About Nothing in High Park is an uneven outdoor offering". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  5. ^ "This Much Ado About Nothing gives Shakespeare a 1990s romcom sensibility". Toronto Star. 2019-07-13. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  6. ^ Fein-Goldbach, Debbie (2019-01-15). "Grace sheds a powerful light on the effects of childhood sexual abuse". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  7. ^ Sumi, Glenn; Bimm, Jordan (2017-06-28). "10 Fringe artists to watch". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  8. ^ Sumi, Glenn (2017-07-08). "Fringe review: Ten Creative Ways To Dispose Of Your Cremains". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  9. ^ Wheeler, Brad (2017-06-28). "Actor-playwright Rose Napoli is one of the young stars to see at Toronto Fringe". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  10. ^ Cole, Susan G. (2017-10-04). "Two new plays complicate the conversation about consent". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  11. ^ ""Consent, Growing Up & Telling Difficult Stories" In Conversation with Rose Napoli, playwright of LO (OR DEAR MR. WELLS)". In The Green Room. 2017-10-30. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  12. ^ Campbell, Trevor (2017-11-01). "Lo (Or Dear Mr. Wells) delivers uncomfortable truths we need to face". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  13. ^ Rabinowitz, Chloe (2024-02-07). "Nightwood Theatre to Present MAD MADGE This Spring". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  14. ^ "Nominees". TAPA. Retrieved 2020-06-26.