Arlecchino Am Making Polenta

After getting the play that I'm currently referring to as "Total War: The Overly Ambitious First Play By Ian Thal" (though I'm toying with the alternate title of "Papers in the Snow") to the point where I am seeking staged readings, I have decided that I enjoy being a playwright, and I am already trying to figure out which of many projects that I could work on, I should work on. Even more importantly: How do I start on any one of them?

Sometimes, when confronted with too many creative options after finishing a project, it is easy to not know what to do next, and it is easy for an artist to feel without purpose. So yesterday, I took the improvisation I had developed with inspiration from Dario Fo's La Fame dello Zanni ("The Starving Zanni") and typed up a one-person one-act play, "Arlecchino Am Eternally Ravenous."

Immediately after, I made polenta with gorgonzola. I feel much better now.

Photo by Shannon O'Connor

Photos from the February 9th Show

Thanks to my friend, Shannon O'Connor, I have photographic documentation of my recent show at Willoughby and Baltic. As well as being a showcase for some of the repertoire I have been developing over the past several years, the show was an opportunity for me to try some new material out on an audience. One new piece was a corporeal mime and mask piece entitled "O, Mister Sun" and the other was a my first attempt at a solo commedia dell'arte piece that was inspired by the Dario Fo's performance of La Fame dello Zanni, a classic lazzo from the traditional repertoire. My version includes a visit to both Paradisio and Inferno in Arlecchino's quest to fill his growling belly. The full photo gallery begins here.

Special thanks to Meredith Garniss of Willoughby and Baltic for inviting me to perform again.

Somerville's newest newspaper, The Powderhouse posted a review of the show to its website