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SONJA COLLINI: THE ITALIAN FOUNDER OF THE CABARAZZE STAND-UP COMEDY SHOW

Sweet, sensitive, descreet off stage, provocative, passionate and involving on stage.
Since the very first moment, I had that feeling I already knew her: she had that something that makes you feel at home, that makes you want to know more.

I felt there was an amazing story worth knowing.

Sonja, I believe, was not really excited at the idea of being interviewed (at least not as much as she was, when I told her I wanted all of “her girls” to be on my blog!). But I so hardly wanted her to tell me, and our readers, how Cabarazze was born: I loved the idea, I loved the name, and I loved each single artist I watched that night.

Please enjoy Sonja’s story, which I experienced as a proof that our instinct and real values will always lead us to great things, coming our way, sooner or later in life.

This is also my personal Wish to all of you for these Festivities: believe in your feelings, believe in your ideas, believe you can do it. It will come true.

WHO IS SONJA COLLINI?

I was born in Rome 54 years ago.
Due to my first love, I moved to Turin where I lived for 12 years.
Due to a second love, I moved to Milan for 5 years.
Due to life, I then moved to Poland, for the following 5 intense years.
After Poland, I got back to Milan and have been living here for 10 years now, giving life to a new project that involved women… a topic that often involved me and my professional projects.
Was it destiny? Was it a choice?

I think, deeply inside, it has always been a necessity. An ancestral visceral need.

I needed to give space and evidence to women and their (our) world.

Close up of Sonja, a white woman with short blond hair. Her hair is slicked back and she is in a happy, triumphant expression with her gaze turned towards the audience. With one hand she holds the microphone while left arm is raised. She wears a sheer, black top with floral prints., longer earrings and red lipstick.

WHEN DID YOUR PASSION FOR STAND-UP COMEDY START?

I was a teenager when I started watching the shows: I much enjoyed those with the greatest protagonists in Rome.
When older, I decided to study set design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and it was only in Turin, that I felt the need to move from drawing scenes to being an actress first and a director later.
I performed and directed in Turin, in Milan, in Poland.
But only later, it became crystal clear to me, that it was humor the key tool, of my life: it can help you say even the most dramatic things, lighthearted.
I think, subconsciously, this was what brought me to find myself, at my husband Claudio Zucca’s side, to direct the Accademiadelcomico, that he founded many years earlier.

The photo shows the upper part of Sonja’s face looking upwards. It is as if she is looking at the posters of the Cabarazze shows she has organized. On the wall behind her 4 posters showing the title and photos of the actresses involved. The posters are pink, red, light blue and blue.

HOW WAS CABARAZZE BORN?

Cabarazze, born as The Girls’ Cabaret, comes as a project in a moment of exasperation: I was frustrated by the awareness that, the stages dedicated to comedy were mainly covered by men shows, backed by the organizers’ excuse that “women don’t make women laugh, they always talk about the usual female topics.[and more] There are just few women, that know how to make comedy”

This is not true, and I wanted to show it. In 3 years of Cabarazze, more than 100 unique comic artists, arriving from all over, have proved how women are present, they can make you laugh, no matter how hard it is to get involved and even hired.

TALKING ABOUT UNIQUENESS AND STYLE: WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR BODY AND WHAT ARE THE FASHION AND BEAUTY BRANDS THAT YOU FEEL, ARE JUST MADE FOR YOU?

I love art, drama, painting, drawing and of course colors!
I don’t like to follow the trends, I am always looking for my very unique style and expression.

I learned cutting and sewing when I was a teenager, helping my aunt, a seamstress, in her tailoring workshop. She would make pieces for the great Italian designers, you know?
This background pushed me to sew myself for things, that I could not find in shops. I also like surfing for original garments in vintage or second-hand shops.
I like shopping in stores like Stradivarius, Benetton, Zara especially when there are sales and they bring out some passed season items!
Love for colors and unusual cuts distinguish me as well as the color of my hair, which has often changed over the years, from green to pink to platinum to chestnut!
Today though, because of (or thanks to) the first lockdown, I discovered that the most original color is my own: salt and pepper!

WHAT WAS THE BEST SHOW THAT GOT YOU THINKING - I AM ON THE RIGHT TRACK!

The one in January 2019: the Out Off Bistrot in Milan was packed, the extraordinary artists, ranged from Rita Pelusio to Laura Formenti (our teachers) to Michela Giraud now really popular, Sofia Gottardi, Chibo, and many others including my daughter Virginia Zucca, who was then 17 years old.

A crazy evening was also on 27th December 2019 in Cagliari, at the Teatro Massimo, where I brought the maximum expressions of today’s young female comedy, to more than 800 spectators.

ANY FESTIVITIES EVENT WE SHOULD BE LOOKING FORWARD TO?

We did the first Cabarazze online show on December 12th, and we will do more from January 2021.

On New Year’s Eve we will have a live virtual event, on the Accademia del Comico Facebook Page ( the public will have access to a Zoom room and the registration will also be available later on Youtube).

MESSAGE FROM THE STAFF:
Luckily, this 2020 can still bring some laughter and we wish you all to laugh into 2021!

Follow Sonja and Accademia del Comico here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sonja.collini/

Accademia del Comico:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/accademiadelcomico.net
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/accademiacomico/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5pnRRVY3Xrzp4yLF80yiqw?view_as=subscriber

The image shows the blue poster of the Cabaret Girls show, the first name of the show. Under the sign, there is a sentence in Italian saying “women are not funny” with the word NOT crossed out. Below the photos of the protagonists, all close-ups of 10 actresses and small groups involved in the show.

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