Chiari & Scoliosis & Syringomyelia Foundation (CSSf) Celebrates the 10th anniversary of its foundation with its 3rd Cultural Event

These are the words that open the the theatrical show “All because of Arnold”, which has its focus on the Arnold-Chiari Syndrome Type I. Our sensations become amplified during the night and, in the same way, our aches, fears, the feeling of emptiness, loneliness, anguish, doubts, that oppress you when you live with a rare pathology, amplify. At night they become unbearable. But the night is also the darkness that surrounds a rare disease, of which little or nothing is known. The night is the darkness that you fall into at the exact moment when you learn that you are affected by a rare condition.

My name is Rita Capobianco and, in 2007, through an MRI I was diagnosed with three rare diseases: Arnold-Chiari Syndrome type I, idiopathic Syringomyelia and Scoliosis. In spring 2008, after “scraping by” a sub-occipital craniectomy surgery, I approached the Institut Chiari & Syringomyelia & Scoliosis in Barcelona, where Dr. M.B. Royo-Salvador performed the Sectioning of the Filum Terminale on me, with a minimally invasive technique. Over time, some of the symptoms that affected me have disappeared, others have become milder and less frequent, and after 10 years since the surgery, my resonances show a regression of the three conditions.

Since I am an actress, I thought I could tell my story through a theatrical show, and in this way, “All because of Arnold” was born, a grotesque monologue written, directed and interpreted by myself, which was performed last year in Rome.

The reasons that have inspired me to carry out this project are basically three: To spread the knowledge about these diseases that have a bad prognosis, and more in general of the Filum Disease, through a different tool; the theatre, which expresses itself in a language that is surely more accessible and less traumatic.

Telling my story of being a rare disease patient in particular, a story that, yes, begins with darkness, but goes towards the light, and therefore is a positive story, to also give hope to those who, like me, must defend themselves against these monsters. I want to thank Dr. M.B. Royo-Salvador, and with him the whole Institut Chiari & Syringomyelia & Scoliosis of Barcelona, ​​for the fact of offering me a new and good quality of life.

Rita Capobianco is an actress, dancer, presenter and author of theatrical works. Her career as an artist started in 1978, when she joined the Camomilla,band, a product of Bottega dell’Arte, connected to the Italian record company Ricordi. In 1980 she started her adventure with the Bagaglino theatre, which lasted 9 years and was marked by participations in shows at Salone Margherita, TV programmes like Per chi suona la campanella and Biberon, written by Pier Francesco Pingitore and Mario Castellacci and directed by Pingitore. When her experience with the Bagaglino got to an end, she continued working in theatres, directed by Vito Molinari, Edmo Fenoglio, Franco Molè, Gianni Leonetti, Vincenzo Zingaro, Cinzia Berni and many more. Between tours, she presented various theatre festivals and “Miss Italia 1996” province selections in Sicily.

In the movies, she played the role of Salomé in Secondo Ponzio Pilato (According to Pontius Pilate) by Luigi Magni; she was Ada, Giannino’s sister in the film Gian Burrasca and Licio Belli’s secretary in Attenti a quei P2 (Beware those P2) by Pier Francesco Pingitore. As a dancer she participated in Sergio Leone’s C’era una volta in America (Once upon a time in America), in Fred e Ginger directed by Federico Fellini and Un uomo innamorato (A man in love) directed by Diane Kurys. She was part of the dance teams in Drive In, Piccolo Slam (Little slam), La luna nel pozzo (The moon in the well), Viva le donne (Long live women), as well as in the permanent cast of Fantastico (1984). As a guest, she took part in Italian TV programmes like Sereno Variabile, Domenica in, Cocco, Dieci Herz, Pronto è la Rai, Ieri, Goggi e domani, Buona domenica, I fatti vostri, Stasera Lino, Telegatto and I Siculissimi.
In television, she played Rosaura in the kids’ movie Pinocchio, a secretary in the “Laziness” episode of the film Di che peccato sei (Which is your sin) by P.F. Pingitore, a psychologist in the fiction Una madre detective (A detective mother), directed by Fabrizio Costa. Amongst her multiple artistic experiences, there’s a collaboration with the magician Silvan and participations in TV selling and TV ads.
After her graduation in Modern Literatures, she tests herself as author and director of a couple of theatre works, which she directed and interpreted: La rima ti fa bella, a piece with puppets that she built, and Tutta colpa di Arnold (All because of Arnold), a grotesque monologue with music by Angelo Donzelli, in which she goes through her experience with the rare disease called Arnold-Chiari I Syndrome.