Mario Fratti (1927 – 2023) was an Italian playwright, drama critic and educator.

Many in the theater world know Fratti as responsible for his adaptation of Federico Fellini’s iconic film, 8 ½, which would be developed into the Tony Award winning musical, Nine.  

Born in L’Aquila, Italy on July 5, 1927, Fratti graduated in foreign languages and literatures at the Ca’Foscari University of Venice.

His earliest works included the play that got him to New York — a one act titled Suicide.  Staged at the 1962  Festival dei Due Mondi, Spoleto where Lee Strasberg, impressed by his work invited him to stage it at the Actors Studio. Mario moved to New York in 1963, where he remained the rest of his life.

Fratti  wrote more than 75 works translated into 21 languages and performed in 600 theaters in more than two-dozen countries, and was a professor at Columbia University and Hunter College. He became Professor Emeritus in Italian Literature at the latter. He was Vice President of the Outer Critic Circle and later an emeritus member of OCC.