NY International Fringe Festival: Vignettes of an I-Talian American Girl August 22, 2011

For Maria Baratta, growing up a first-generation American in an Italian household required a delicate balancing act, as she explains in her one-woman show, 'Vignettes of an I-talian American Girl.' A self-proclaimed "good girl" who would get up at four in the morning to study for an exam while her rebellious younger sister was trying to sneak home from a date, Baratta weaves a rich tapestry of her life in a traditional Italian household where food is love and becoming too Americanized is not necessarily a good thing. Taking on the personas of a variety of characters, Maria details her relationship with her parents and sister as she struggles to find her own unique identity amid personal upheavals in her life.