Marsha De Salvatore

With a name like Marsha De Salvatore, she is clearly from Ohio. To make things more interesting, her parents are both from Calabria. She came to Italy in 2000 to find herself and began teaching English to pay off her debt from a fashion degree. During this time she stumbled into acting. 

 Since she is bilingual she has worked the stage in both English and Italian. She started her acting journey with Gaby Ford's English Theater of Rome, where she performed in various plays from To Kill a Mockingbird to variety shows.

 After her attempts in drama, which always somehow sparked laughter in the audience, she thought it might make sense to try stand up. In 2009, she got it together and brought her crazy life experiences to the stage. As a wise friend once told her, if you want to perform it then create it! Thus, Rome's Comedy Club was born!

 Rome's Comedy Club is in its 8th season and keeps on growing, while Marsha also continues to develop her comedic chops. Taking classes from Second City in Chicago and performing at various university and corporate events in Rome, she continues to bring laughter to audiences. 

 Additionally, she is actively involved in the world of medicine. Periodically she organizes blood drives to help the never-ending issue of blood shortages in Rome. Drawing from the work of Patch Adams, she is formally trained in comedy therapy and has volunteered in the cancer ward of Bambino Gesu of Rome with La Carovanna dei Sorrisi.

 She is also a speaker on comedy therapy and how using some basic principals of Improv can help everyday life. An example of her lecture can be found here from the American University of Rome.

 She is currently travelling with her one-woman show, DM55: you can’t get Blood from a Stone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8nyObAybPs&t=3sIt is told by her and written/directed by Kissy Dugan (American comic/writer) both in English and Italian. The story is about her life as a Thalassemia Major patient and the importance of donating blood. The show has been performed in a number of locations all across Italy, such as Zelig in Milan.

 She also has a second one-woman stand up show called Marsha's so called life.  The show talks about the troubles of a Calabrese-Ohioan gal living in Rome."

This will have show dates in Rome starting in 2018.