Monreale Productions

In February of 1906, Sicilian immigrant Josefina Terranova entered the Bronx home of Concetta and Gaetano Reggio, and stabbed them to death. Apprehended two days later, she was tried for murder. Her lawyer, John Palmieri, was hired by William Randolph Hearst, who saw an opportunity to profit from the sensational crime. Sixteen year old, Josefina, beautiful and abused, was a victim made for celebrity. She was championed by suffragettes, painfully examined by alienists (forensic psychiatrists of the time), held up as an example of the depravity of the great wave of immigrants who were washing up in America from Southern Europe.

Josefina’s story is not hers alone because all of us who have assimilated from other cultures into America are Josefina's cousins. The greater our success at becoming Americans,the greater the assault on the customs and habits of our youth. This assault is often met with resistance, sometimes fierce,from our elders. Josefina’s is a true crime story, with sex and violence and the manipulations of the powerful. But it’s also an immigrant’s story. Her path was more desperate than many, but she was headed to the same destination. The New World. Terra Nova.

 Thank you for your interest in Monreale Productions and our play "Terranova".  Are you on facebook? If so, please lets be friends. You can find us under Monreale Productions.

For all Press and Industry Inguiries please contact Dennis Loiacono at dennisloiacono1@gmail.com or call 516 330 4852