Sunday, June 3rd: Teatro Delle Maschere in Somerville

Just in case you have to miss Teatro delle Maschere's performance at the Cambridge River Festival on Saturday, there is still a another chance to see us this weekend as we will be performing at the SomerStreets Carnaval in East Somerville on Louie's Stage by Foss Park at 3:15pm (Map)

As mentioned previously: we will be performing with new masks designed and sculpted by Eric Bornstein of Behind the Mask Studio & Theatre!

The Troupe's New Masks: Behind the Mask Studio

One of the benefits of Teatro delle Maschere's relationship with Behind the Mask Studio & Theatre is that master mask maker Eric Bornstein is crafting the troupe's new masks. After using a set of masks I had developed for teaching classes and workshops in performance, we will be premiering Eric's masks at our June 2nd performance at the Cambridge River Festival.

What follows is a preview of the masks as they are in the process of being crafted:


Arlecchino sculpted in clay over a plaster cast of my face.


Columbina sculpted in clay over a plaster cast of Stacey Polishook's face.


Il Dottore sculpted in clay over a plaster cast of James Van Looy's face.


Here is the trio after all three have been sculpted.


This is a cast taken off of a clay mold. It will form the basis of a final mask. In this case, the mask is for Perriot; who, though not traditionally a masked character, is in our case. As with the Dottore, he has been sculpted over a face cast of James Van Looy.

June 2nd: Teatro delle Maschere at Cambridge River Festival

My commedia dell'arte troupe, Teatro delle Maschere, will be performing at the Cambridge River Festival on Saturday, June 2nd. We will be performing two shows at 3pm and 4:45pm on the INSPIRE Theater Stage on Memorial Drive between JFK and Plympton Streets.

Our sets will include both "The Esteemed Dottore of Bologna Offers His Authoritative, Erudite, and Thoroughly Supercilious Meditation on the Mask" which we previously performed as part of Fort Point Theatre Channel's Excalamation Point! Series and at the Puppet Slam and a commedia dell'arte staging of act III, scene 3 of William Shakespeare's As You Like It which we last performed at last year's Shakespeare Slam.

The cast will include Stacey Polishook, James Van Looy and myself and will feature new masks designed by Eric Bornstein of Behind the Mask Studio & Theatre.

This free event is sponsored by the Cambridge Arts Council. The INSPIRE stage is curated by the Central Square Theater.

Facebook users may RSVP here if they like.

And Now For Something Completely Different: A Unicorn in a Bank

It was a very strange gig for this unicorn, who was led around the town of Brookline one November evening to appear at one boutique, three banks, and a crêperie. Let me tell you: three hours of wearing a unicorn head is a lot of stress on one's shoulders, but little girls and middle-aged women just love the beast.

Mask and costume by Eric Bornstein of Behind the Mask. Unicorn wrangling by Ashley Yarnell, who provides vocals.

Teatro delle Maschere: Arlecchino's New Clothes

Teatro delle Maschere at Puppet Showplace Theatre: Stacey Polishook as Columbina, Eric Bornstein as Il Dottore, Ian Thal as Arlecchino. All photography by Cherie Konyha Greene
This is the photo of the troupe, and I stress troupe, while they are not the only ones involved (Jonathan Samson made a notable contribution over a period of only three days), Stacey and Eric have been my primary collaborators for since late August when we decided to create a new commedia dell'arte troupe, and I think we've created something special (sadly, Stacey is going is soon to be leaving to study abroad for a few months.)

What I really want to show you, however, is my new Arlecchino costume made by Cherie Konyha Greene. Some of you might recall my musing that I might need a new clothing for the hungry zanni who was always appearing in my kitchen when polenta served. Cherie immediately volunteered and we started sharing costume ideas. In dressing Arlecchino we wanted to factor in something closely resembling what an actual peasant of the Italian renaissance might have worn, and so we decided to start with the peasants seen in Francesco del Cossa's (ca. 1430- ca.1477 or 1487) fresco The Allegory of March or Triumph of Minerva:

From there, I wanted something distinctive that would identify the costume as my Arlecchino. I got the idea of replacing the traditional diamond or triangle patterns with squares, while substituting the regularity with asymmetrical and overlapping patterns, drawing inspiration from Piet Mondrian:

Or Theo van Doesburg:

I gave Cherie some sketches and the results were this:

And from behind:

So spanning five centuries of art history!

Photography by Cherie Konyha Greene. Francesco del Cossa, Piet Mondrian, and Theo van Doesburg art courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Teatro delle Maschere does the PuppetSlam: November 13, 2010

Teatro delle Maschere will be appearing at Puppet Showplace Theatre's PuppetSLAM this coming Saturday, November 13th at 8pm.

We shall be reviving The Esteemed Dottore of Bologna Offers His Authoritative, Erudite, and Thoroughly Supercilious Meditation on the Mask for those who missed it last time and for those of you who have seen it before: expect it to be just a little different! Different cast members result in different improvisations!

Dottore: Eric Bornstein
Columbina: Stacey Polishook
Arlecchino: Ian Thal

Puppet Showplace Theatre is at 32 Station Street, Brookline, MA

Tickets are $15, $13 for PST members and students. Facebook users can RSVP here

Teatro delle Maschere From Another Angle

After viewing the video I posted yesterday of Teatro delle Maschere's October 2nd performance. Anya Malkina, a friend, graphic designer and web designer who has done work for Behind the Mask Studio & Theatre and had shot photos ofa recent performance of Arlecchino Am Ravenous, sent in this video she took of the second half of our performance, but from stage left.



What I find fascinating about comparing the two videos is how the comparison illustrates that unlike film or television, which, have evolved , theatre is a three-dimensional art form. In this particular clip, even when the Dottore (Jonathan Samson) is obscuring Columbina (Stacey Polishook) and Arlecchino (myself) one can see the two servants' shadows dancing on the back wall.

October 2nd: Teatro Delle Maschere @ Fort Point Theatre Channel + Preview!

Teatro delle Maschere, my new commedia dell'arte troupe with Behind the Mask Studio & Theatre, will be presenting a short scenario. The Esteemed Dottore of Bologna Offers His Authoritative, Erudite, and Thoroughly Supercilious Meditation on the Mask as part of Fort Point Theatre Channel's Exclaimation Point! 8: Masks on Saturday, October 2 at 7pm at Art at 12 Gallery, 12 Farnsworth Street in Fort Point, Boston. It will be a free show. Facebook users can RSVP here.

The cast will include Jonathon Samson (of Teatro Commedia) as Il Dottore, Stacey Polishook as Columbina, and myself as Arlecchino.

Teatro Delle Maschere will also be performing a preview this Saturday, September 11th 7pm at Behind the Mask's outdoor stage at 6 Campbell Park Place in Somerville. Eric Bornstein will be playing Il Dottore, otherwise the cast will be the same. Facebook users can RSVP here.

The scenario is created by Stacey Polishook, Eric Bornstein, and myself.

Teatro delle Maschere has a Facebook Page!

Teatro Delle Maschere!

A few weeks after I performed Arlecchino Am Ravenous at Behind the Mask, Eric Bornstein made a proposal. He had been wanting to work on masks depicting the characters of the commedia dell'arte but had not found an avenue to do so. His proposal was to form an in-house commedia troupe with me as artistic director and dubbed it Teatro Delle Maschere.

Eric, Stacey Polishook and I have been developing a short piece which we will be performing various venues this autumn. More to come!

Photos from Arlecchino Am Ravenous at Behind the Mask Studio and Theatre

Another belated post.

A few photographs from my performance of Arlecchino Am Ravenous at Behind the Mask Studio & Theatre. Eric Bornstein had invited me to perform the inaugural show on the outdoor stage that was built earlier this summer. It was a sunny and the middle of the day, the show had been announced only two days before but we still managed to fill a good many seats.

Here, Arlecchino tells the story of the five little piggies. Photo by Kevin W. Fitzgerald who happened to be visiting from Brooklyn.

Arlecchino prays. Photo by Anya Malkina

Photo by Anya Malkina

After an interesting Q&A during which Bill Marx asked some good questions comparing my usage of the old lazzo, "La Fame dello Zanni" versus that of Dario Fo's, we broke for a light lunch and I went off to supervise my students' rehearsals at Open Air Circus.

This leads to an important announcement that I will make in the next blog entry.

Arlecchino Am Ravenous at Behind the Mask Studio and Theatre

I'll be performing Arlecchino Am Ravenous as a free outdoor performance at Behind the Mask Studio and Theatre on Wednesday, July 28 at 1pm.

Master maskmaker Eric Bornstein had originally asked me to perform as a demonstration to his assistants (and to inaugurate the small outdoor stage they built this summer) and then decided to open the event to a larger audience.

Behind the Mask Studio & Theatre
6 Campbell Park Place
Somerville, MA

(Enter around back. Please use public transit if possible: it's a short walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.)

If you like to use facebook, you can RSVP here

Belated Photographs from Commedia dell'Arte Day Presentation

[Yes, it was nearly two months ago, but I as mentioned before, blogging takes a back seat to the passing of a beloved cat.]

On February 25th, I gave a presentation for World Commedia dell'Arte Day after Orfeo Group Theatre's production of Pierre Marivaux' The Island of Slaves. I packed my masks, along with three that were loaned to me by Eric Bornstein of Behind the Mask. Eric had been invited to present, but had a prior commitment so he recommended me to go in his place (thanks, Eric!)

Judith Chaffee (visit her Commedia dell'Arte Website) was also scheduled to present, but was unable to make it. So it was up to me. Thankfully, between performing and teaching, I've gotten quite a few ideas about what commedia means to me.

Besides introducing some of the masks, I also demonstrated some of the physical postures of the characters. Photographs courtesy of Cherie Konyha Greene unless otherwise noted.
To quote Cherie: "I'd have liked to get more shots of Ian's Arlecchino--but he moves too fast for my camera. As an Arlecchino should."

Il Dottore has a someone different approach to filling his belly than Arlecchino.

Il Capitano, by contrast, is seeking to fill something else, or as he said to one audience member: "This is not rain. It is the angels weeping because I have forsaken them for you."

The red mask at center is Eric Bornstein's interpretation of Il Capitano. Eric did this mask in leather, mine is in papier-mâché.

Amanda J. Collins, who had been playing Cleanthis earlier in the evening, wearing one of Eric's Arlecchino masks. This one is in leather.

Once again, as Il Capitano. Photo courtesy of Orfeo Group.

Photostream (including more photos) starts here

In addition to Orfeo and Behind the mask, I want to thank Associazione SAT and Faction of Fools for declaring and organizing World Commedia dell'Arte Day!

February 25th: World Commedia dell'Arte Day with Orfeo Group

The Italian cultural agency, Associazione SAT, has declared February 25th World Commedia dell'Arte Day so to lobby UNESCO to recognize the Commedia as a World Cultural Heritage. The Washington D.C.-based Faction of Fools has in turn joined in in organizing a day of activities outside Italy: encouraging artists, audiences, scholars, and students to celebrate the legacy of Commedia dell'Arte!

I will be joining Boston University professor, Judith Chaffee (visit her Commedia dell'Arte Website) and Orfeo Group Theatre for a presentation following Thursday night's performance of Pierre Marivaux' The Island of Slaves at Boston Center for the Arts.

Special thanks to Eric Bornstein of Behind the Mask who was originally invited to present, but due to a scheduling conflict asked me to go in his place.