I CAN SPEAK
a poetry performance
by Marina Kazakova (BE) & Sara Maino (IT)
Production 2023
Supported by Science Communication Funding of LUCA School of Arts.
Premiered at TomorrowToday (LA, USA) and Specs’ Twelve Adler Museum Cafe (SF, USA) in December 2023.
Description
“I Can Speak” is a poetry performance presented by Marina Kazakova and Sara Maino. Loosely autobiographical, it incorporates poems composed and recited by the two authors, along with their individual monologues. It unfolds around memories revisited by the two poets, highlighting key moments in their lives that pushed them in discovering their own language — the language of poetry.
The show is dedicated to depicting the most crucial process that every person must undergo at some point—the process of “gathering” or “concentrating” one’s personality, discovering the language of your own.
This is a journey through the thorns of the contexts in which we are raised towards the stars of self-discovery.
Marina does this journey from the culture of silence, the environment of the crumbling of the Soviet regime. It is in silence that poetry, like prayer, arose in her. In contrast, Sara’s poetic journey originates from the meadow of Monte Velo in Trentino, Italy — a mythical gathering place where stories are shared in a circle every Sunday. The tales shared here connect the Trentino valleys to Sicily, Africa to Lake Garda; they traverse the ocean, reach America, and then return to a thousand meters Velo. At the same time, the meadow is encircled by mountains that obscure the horizon, creating a sense of confinement.
“I can speak” is both the voice of two artists in a challenging time, and the birth of a unique creative speech act.