ENNIO: The Living Paper Cartoon (2011)

Ennio Marchetto (Star)

 

Ennio was born in 1960 in the beautiful city of Venice, next door to the house of Carlo Goldoni. The son of an espresso machine repair engineer, everybody expected Ennio to continue the family tradition – except him.

Inspired by the Disney cartoons he watched in childhood, the modern choreography of Pina Bausch and growing up amidst the Venetian Carnivale, Ennio daydreamed himself into flights of fancy – amusing his family and friends – with visions of Marilyn Monroe dressed in white paper. At the beginning of the 1980s Ennio used to make extravagant costumes and masks for the re-emerging carnivale. Growing from strength to strength, his dream became reality with the creation of his first cabaret show winning him the prestigious Golden Lion Award, at the Venetian Entertainment Festival and The Golden Mosquito award for comedy.

When he met his collaborative partner Sosthen Hennekam, a fashion and costume designer, they developed enough paper characters to create a full one-hour show. Only a year later London based producer Glynis Henderson invited Ennio to perform at The Edinburgh Festival. He quickly became a cult hit and achieved massive critical acclaim. Things started to move very quickly and in 1994, after several UK Tours, West-End runs and International festivals, Ennio was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. That same year Granada Television made a one-hour documentary called ‘Celebrations, Paper Marilyn’ about Ennio’s life and career.

A year later, Ennio appeared at the first European MTV Music Awards in Berlin, together with several stars who were in his repertoire at the time such as Prince, George Michael and Bjork. Ennio also performed with The Spice Girls, Brian Adams and other artists for HRH Prince Charles at the Royal Variety Show, broadcast for the BBC. For his off-Broadway run in 1999, Ennio was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles followed. In L.A. the show won the Garland Award. In the summer of 2001 he performed at Elton John’s ‘White Tie and Tiara Ball’ – an important AIDS benefit held every year at Elton John’s private estate in Oxfordshire. Ennio has since continued his charity work having performed at this year’s esteemed Lifeball in Vienna.

Ennio has performed in over 70 countries world wide, everywhere from Singapore to Mexico. His side-splitting performances of our best-loved celebrities and his adaptability to different cultures has brought his show to royal and celebrity attention giving Ennio a huge following and a massive international fanbase.

Ennio continues to tour the world – he’s a global phenomenon and a fascinating man with an incredible history.

www.enniomarchetto.com

Sosthen Hennekam (Director/Designer)

Born in the Netherlands, Sosthen studied fashion and costume design at Studio Berçot in Paris. As a student he was involved in the organisation of a Spoof Fashion Oscar event in Paris; All stereotype “designer” looks and the designers themselves were created in paper... an introduction to his future work with Ennio!

After his studies he started to work as a designer for different fashion houses; Adeline André, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaia among others. For 2 years he designed menswear collections for Thierry Mugler.

He’s also trained as a Cloth maker and as such he prepared prototypes for Haute Couture houses like Christian Dior.

While in Italy he saw one of Ennio’s first performances and collaborated with him on a TV project. The freedom of working with paper made Sosthen decide to stay in Italy and to work full time with Ennio on a complete paper show.

Sosthen introduced the quick on-stage changes in the show and elaborated the complex paper movements. He also researches new characters and techniques.

Glynis Henderson (Producer)

 

Glynis Henderson Productions produces, general manages and represents a variety of theatre, comedy and music productions. The company specialises in introducing unique and exciting new work to international audiences and international work to the UK.

www.ghmp.co.uk

Zoe Caldwell (General Manager)

Glynis Henderson Productions produces, general manages and represents a variety of theatre, comedy and music productions. The company specialises in introducing unique and exciting new work to international audiences and international work to the UK.

www.ghmp.co.uk

Keith Sherman (Press Agent)

 

Keith Sherman & Associates

234 W. 44th Street, Suite 1004, New York City 10036

ph: (212) 764-7900

www.ksa-pr.com

 

Jonathan Reinis (Producer)

 

Broadway: Dan Lauria  and Judith Light in Lombardi (2010), Carrie Fisher in Wishful Drinking (2009-10), Harvey Keitel in Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall (2008), How The Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical (2006-7), Kiki and Herb: Alive On Broadway (Tony Nomination 2006),Dame Edna (Tony award, 2000) , Russell Simmons’s Def Poetry Jam (Tony Award, 2003), Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home (Tony nomination, 2003) and It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues (Tony nomination, 1999);

San Francisco/ Touring productions:  Wishful Drinking at Berkeley Rep and National Tour, Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues; Sam Shepard’s The Late Henry Moss ( Sean Penn, Woody Harrelson, Nick Nolte and Cheech Marin); Dame Edna,  Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile(national tour); John Leguizamo’s premiere of Freak; Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde; The Piano Lesson (national tour) and Forever Tango (national tour). Mr. Reinis built and operated a 750 seatTheatre on the Square in  San Francisco (1981-2002) and is a member of the Broadway League and ATPAM.

Jamie Cesa (General Manager)

Brett Oberman (Public Relations)

Samantha Reinis (Production Stage Manager)

Samantha Paige Reinis hails form Berkeley California.  After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Dramatic Arts at the University of California, Davis, she moved back to the bay area where she joined the I.A.T.S.E , Local 16.  For four years she worked through the union as a carpenter, electrician, rigger, video up, stagehand and stage manager, where she enjoyed working for a variety of productions from the stage to film.  Her credits include: the Rolling Stones LICKS world tour, Paramount’s TWISTED; Broadway’s hit musical WICKED! The Musical, Tony Award winning Russell Simmon’s DEF POETRY JAM and many other conventions and trade shows.  In 2003, Ms. Reinis moved to Vancouver, BC where she continued her education with a degree in Film production.  Since then, she relocated back to Los Angeles, joined IATSE 871 for script supervising and enjoys working in both theatre and film.

Hillary Reinis (Associate Producer)