What is a stage? It’s a place, you know? A place where people play at being real.
Che cos’è un palcoscenico? Mah, vedi? Un luogo dove si gioca a fare sul serio.
Luigi Pirandello
ZAVA Productions is a UK theatre production company founded in 2022.
We champion emerging writers and specialise in developing and producing original plays and musicals that reflect and question the society we live in, stimulating audiences' mind and helping them to understand more about the world around us and its diversity.
We are particularly interested in supporting inspiring works focusing on female voice and minority, ethnicity and gender discrimination, giving audiences the chance for a new awareness and perspective. We are convinced of the power of theatre and the arts to create social change.
We are dedicated to promoting Italian playwriters and composers to create a cultural exchange aiming to support and share stories that reflect universal experiences and enrich connections between Italian and international cultures.
ZAVA Productions also aims to enrich cultural connections throughout passion and love for musical theatre. We aim to create international musical concerts to transcend boundaries, create connections and bring people together through a shared appreciation of art.
ABOUT
Sabrina Zavaglio (she/her) is an Italian-born and London-based independent theatre producer and founder of ZAVA Productions.
She spent few years working for Stage Entertainment Italy developing her skills as theatre general manager for international musicals such as Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia!, Flashdance, Sister Act and Saturday Night Fever. Sabrina also worked freelance, being involved in the management of the organisational and logistic production-related matters for international concerts and private events. In London, she produced readings and two industry presentation workshops for independent producers and creative teams. Her most recent credits include Prince of Air - The Harry Houdini Musical, showcased at the Dome Room, Her Majesty’s Theatre, March 2022 and Miss I-Doll workshopped and presented at Seven Dials Playhouse, July 2023. She produced the UK premiere of Hide and Seek at VAULT Festival, February 2023 and its Off West End transfer at Park Theatre in March 2024 and co-produced and general managed the UK premiere of Utoya, Arcola Theatre in August 2024.
Sabrina is the co-founder of CambioScena, a reading collective created to promote Italian contemporary theatre in the UK, aiming to bring Italian and anglophone artists together to create opportunities for authors and translators to hear their texts read aloud.
PRODUCTIONS
After a successful London première at VAULT Festival, Hide and Seek had its Off West End transfer at Park Theatre
from 12 to 30 March 2024.
HIDE and SEEK is a coming-of-age story about bullying, homophobia and the power of social media. How far would we go to get the love we crave? A moving, brutal and darkly entertaining play that pits two teenage boys against each other in the face of the homophobia and prejudice of their small Italian town.
HIDE and SEEK is a play by Tobia Rossi, winner of the 2019 Mario Fratti Award at In Scena! Italian Theatre Festival NY. Translated and directed by Carlotta Brentan, the worldwide premiere of the English translation was presented in May 2022 at The Tank in NYC and premiered in London at VAULT Festival in February 2023.
Artwork: Mariano Gobbi
Utoya had its UK premiere at Arcola Theatre,
running from 13 to 31 August 2024.
July 2011. A far right terrorist has just massacred sixty-nine people, most of them students attending a Norwegian Labour Party Youth’s summer camp on the island of Utoya.
Gunnar and Malin have sent their daughter to the island, and desperately seek contact. On the farm next-door to the perpetrator’s, Petter and Inga realise their suspicions about him are well founded. At Central Command, Alf and Unni must decide on the best course of action in response to the attack.
Utoya is written by Edoardo Erba and translated by Marco Young and it is a searing reflection on the domestic effects of societal trauma. The play offers a timely consideration of how tragedy can both bind people together and pull them further apart, directed by Sarah Stacey.
Artwork: Mariano Gobbi
What would happen if during the final of a reality TV show one of the contestants, due to a head injury, would reveal…well, simply the truth?
Miss I-Doll is an one-act-one-actress-one-pianist roaring musical comedy that, through the life of the characters, portrays circumstances and dynamics that illustrate the women’s role in the contemporary world and how the media play with it and with us all.
Miss I-Doll is written by Tobia Rossi and Oliver Lidert with original music by Simone Manfredini from an idea of Ilaria Fioravanti. Miss I-Doll was presented at Seven Dials Playhouse on 21st July 2023 and it is getting ready for a full production in Spring 2025.
Artwork: Harry Neal Creative
West End Musical Tuesdays are a series of three concerts within Codice Teatro season at Teatro San Babila, Milan in Autumn 2024.
For three Tuesdays, a performer from London's West End and an Italian performer will grace the stage, sharing their stories and performing the iconic songs from some of the greatest musicals of all time.
An evening of emotions, music, and unforgettable stories accompanied by the international talent of Maestro Simone Manfredini on the piano.
A fantastic ping pong of jokes, songs, and behind the scene anecdotes from stars of the musical world. Co-produced with Game Produzioni.
Artwork Mariano Gobbi
We live in a society without taboos, where bodies are overexposed, where the most intimate secrets are made public, where equality rights are supposed to be achieved. But… are we really free to be ourselves? Which are the new boundaries of what could be said and done?
State of Grace is a bizarre and eccentric adventure of a middle-age heroine. A comedy sci-fi musical about the absurd and extraordinary complexity of every human being, dealing every day with fears and weaknesses, fierce passions and desires of redemption. Inspired by a true story, this musical comedy will shake your beliefs about middle-age and sexuality.
