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Plexus International 1990
The delivery to the Vatican of the Plexus Black Box, Rome

On December 29 of 1990, in Rome, at the Teatro in Trastevere, Sandro Dernini  presented to Mons. Balboni, director of the Vatican High institute for Sacred Art, the historical documentation of Plexus activities, from 1992 to 1990, organized chronologically and divided in single folders per year, as the primary source for his Ph.D. dissertation on Plexus Black Box at the Art and Arts Professions Department of New York University. The Plexus Black Boxas was carried with a short parade from the near house of Sandro in Piazza San Giovanni della Malva n.4 to the Teatro in Trastevere, as a recall of the 1987 Plexus Serpent happening in the streets of Trastevere. It was performed  by Giancarlo Schiaffini, Maria Pia Marsala, Sandro Dernini, Fabrizio Bertuccioli with his son Simone, Micaela Serino, Stelio Fiorenza, Mauro Brusà, Lidia Biondi, Elsa Rizzi, Andreina Abbondanza and Franco Nuzzo.  There, a Plexus Black Box presentation was made to Mons. Dante Balboni,  At the Teatro in Trastevre  All records and relics of the Plexus Black Box at the BB & B Studios were photographed by Mauro Brusà in order to be dematerialized and packaged into a Plexus Black Box Time Capsule to be placed on board the Elisabeth boat in San Pietro Island to prepare the 1992 Plexus Columbus event.

From  Stephen di Lauro:

The closing of the Black Box at Teatro in Trastevere represents the end of an era.  Since 1984,  at the Shuttle Theater in Manhattan.  I have known and worked with Doctor Sandro Dernini.  Our collaboration led to spectacular theatrical art extravaganzas such as The Artificial Time of Purgatorio on the Night of No Moon, Eve, Il Viaggio del Serpente, and 1992:  Cristoforo Colombo Viaggio nel PIaneta Arte. Now that the Black Box is being closed perhaps a moment of reflection is in order. Plexus, which Dr. Dernini birthed, became a focal point for hundreds of artists in New York and elsewhere.  It was a long moment in the history of theatre and art.  Nothing as vibrant as these shows has ever been mounted before or since.  Costumed players, orchestras, choral groups, singers, performance artists, ballets and visual artists all came together to celebrate freedom of communication.As the Plexus dramaturgh and impresario, I was repeatedly amazed at the levels of creativity and energy that went into these shows.  Exploring myth and history through artistic interpretation brought to life the theories of Antonin Artaud in a manner that perhaps even he never envisioned. Plexus art operas, or art co-operas as some called them,  had a way of making the artists involved reach beyond themselves.

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