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.

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.

The Premiere of Teatro delle Maschere

In case you missed last night's show.

The Esteemed Dottore of Bologna Offers His Authoritative, Erudite, and Thoroughly Supercilious Meditation on the Mask

Stacey Polishook as Columbina, Jonathan Samson as Il Dottore, and Eric Bornstein on sound effects. Yours truly as Arlecchino.

Notes:

Stacey, who is both an apple fiend and puppeteer, came up with the Appelina lazzo, which I feel makes for a unique interpretation of the Columbina character.

Jonathan had only flown in from Bangkok earlier that week and had begun rehearsing with us only two days before. Before that, Eric had been playing the role of Il Dottore, in rehearsals (we promise to have him on stage as an actor very soon!)

Grazie to Fort Point Theatre Channel for presenting us as part of the evening's program, Eric for being the catalyst behind the formation of Teatro delle Maschere, Behind the Mask Studio & Theatre for hosting our rehearsals, Toni for her opinions on matters Italian, and Jonathan's father for aiming the camera!

If you enjoyed the show, please become our fan on facebook!

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!