by Cristina Poccardi and Francesco Niccolini

In its continuous search for collisions of languages, Lucca Comics & Games created in 2017 the GraphicNovel Theatre, a project conceived by Emanuele Vietina and curated by Cristina Poccardi, which in recent years has selected and produced theatrical transpositions of great Italian comic works.

This year the challenge that brings the festival to take on the role of cultural producer and producer of unpublished content becomes even more exciting because for the first time the work of an extraordinary international author will be brought to the stage: Blankets by Craig Thompson. A powerful and romantic autobiographical story, in which the development of complex family relationships is intertwined with the birth of an explosive love, capable of overwhelming the readers and now also the spectators who will witness this exclusive project.

The adaptation and direction are entrusted to Francesco Niccolini, already the protagonist in Lucca of the graphic novels Lucrezia Forever! and L'Oreste. The debut, scheduled for Wednesday 1 November at the Teatro del Giglio, will be accompanied in the foyer by an exhibition dedicated to the work.

And Rizzoli Lizard, celebrating its first 30 years of activity, brings to Lucca the father of this seminal masterpiece: Craig Thompson, also author of Habibi and winner of two Eisner Awards and two Ignatz Awards, returns to Lucca where he presented Blankets twenty years ago. "The enthusiasm of the public was overwhelming," recalls Thompson in the introduction to the new Italian edition, "and friendships were born that still last today.”

Venue: Teatro del Giglio - Lucca