Marsha S Press Kit 03

Marsha Salvatore has lived in Rome for 12 years. She hails from Cincinnati but with a name like Salvatore, it’s not hard to guess her heritage. It’s April Fools day and we are sitting at the back of the club while performers John Gilbert and Jose Salgado move around the room, prepping for the show. Rome’s Comedy Club, of which Marsha is the founder and producer, puts on a monthly show at La Tognazza al Douze, a quaint venue in Trastevere.

Marsha has been performing stand-up for 8 years. She tells me that she never really thought about doing comedy until she got involved in drama at the Gaby Ford English Theater of Rome. After receiving a lot of feedback about how great her comedic side was, she decided to make the switch to standup.

Marsha S Press Kit 02One of the most powerful things about comedy is something that the average audience member might take for granted: the performer’s stage presence. The way a comedian builds a rapport with the audience is crucial to the success of their performance, maybe even more so than their material. For example, you can tell a comedian has mastered their stage presence when their responses to interruptions from hecklers actually make the show more entertaining. When Marsha is on stage, she has that presence. It looks natural and easy for her. No doubt this ability was cultivated through many hours of practice and enduring some uncomfortable moments on stage in the early years.

Marsha spent time learning improv techniques at The Second City, a premiere comedy theater and school based in Chicago with a long list of world-class alumni, including Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Bill Murray, and Amy Poehler. The training was intense. “It was two weeks of hell. I almost dropped out,” she says; but she stuck with it and it shows. “You learn to be really quick,”

Marsha S Press Kit 01Marsha attributes her success in comedy to the guidance of two mentors. In terms of moral support, Marsha’s acting coach Terianne Falcone has been a great help. When it comes to her material, Marsha credits the guidance of Kissy Dugan, a writer and comedian who has performed in LA’s top comedy clubs and around the world. It was Kissy’s relentless encouragement that kicked off a big chapter in Marsha’s comedy career.

When Kissy found out that Marsha had been diagnosed with a rare blood illness that requires regular transfusions, Kissy encouraged Marsha to create a comedy routine about it. Marsha resisted but Kissy kept pressing. Finally, in 2013, Marsha created the one-woman show entitled DM55. Marsha tells me one of her mantras is, “Tragedy plus time equals comedy.” The show was a big success. She took it on the road, all around Italy for a full year. She spoke at conferences and schools, was popular on YouTube, and she appeared on Rai1, a prominent Italian television station.

Marsha De Salvatore_stageI ask Marsha how long she uses her material before writing new stuff. I mention the Talking Funny episode where Louis CK says he throws away his act every year and creates new routines. Seinfeld says that he only drops about ten or twenty percent each year. Marsha is familiar with the episode and tells me that because Rome’s Comedy Club has so many returning guests each month, she has to constantly come up with new stuff. She says its one of the more challenging parts of the job.

For those just starting out in the industry, Marsha says, “You have to be a writer. Figure out if you want to do standup or sketch comedy, watch a lot of comedians, and then write!” I ask her what advice she would give to her younger self. “I would say it’s ok to bomb.” Early on in her career, she bombed a few times. “After that, I didn’t leave the house for a while,” she tells me with a smile, and admits that it was hard to have fun in comedy until she hit her stride about 3 years ago. “Before the DM55 show, I had 3 anxiety attacks.” I ask her what changed and she says it’s all about learning how to be in the moment.

marsha_sexy_2.89133208_stdWhen so many of our modern professions seem to require us to be disconnected from reality and numb to the experience of life, I’m struck by the idea that the job of a comedian requires them to drop into the moment and connect with everything that is going on around them. It seems that a good comedian has to be well practiced in something that gurus through the ages have been encouraging us all to do.

There are a few techniques Marsha uses to get into the moment, including a regular meditation practice. On performance days, she will often take the whole day for herself to rewrite, tweak, and practice. She admits that, “Dancing to stupid music, like Katy Perry,” helps raise her energy to the level that she needs, and when she arrives at the venue she will take some quiet time for herself to get centered.

Noticing that people have started to trickle in, I tell Marsha I don’t want to cut into her quiet time before the show. She laughs and says it’s no problem. I thank her for her time. I go take a seat in the front and get ready for what will be a great show.

Romes Comedy Club Show

 

Marsha Salvatore
marshadesalvatore@yahoo.com
http://www.marshadesalvatore.com/

 

About Kasper Kavalaris

Kasper Kavalaris fell in love with Italian culture while studying art in Florence. When his schooling was complete he moved back to his hometown of Chicago but could never stop thinking about Italy. Years later the stars aligned and Kasper was able to make the move to Rome. For more than 10 years Kasper has worked as a painter of portraits and other commissioned works as well as a freelance illustrator, and comic artist. More recently he has worked as a comic writer, storyboarding artist and finally, a journalist. Working in the comics industry allowed Kasper to blend his writing and drawing abilities, leading to the realization that his true passion is visual storytelling. At this point, while Kasper enjoys the opportunities that journalism presents in terms of meeting people and continuing to hone his writing, he is also converting two of his original comic scripts into screenplays that he plans to turn into feature films. You can find more of Kasper’s work at KasperArtist.com or @kasperkavalaris on Twitter and Instagram.