 Workshop Details:Introduction to Commedia Maestro Antonio Fava will introduce participants to the traditional artform of Commedia dell'Arte and teach: use and meaning of the mask, fixed typologies and characters including Old People, Lovers, Zanni, and Captains, and the functions, gestures and behaviors of each. As a Grand Finale for the workshop, all students will participate in a presentation of an improvised Commedia scenario. About Commedia dell'Arte:Commedia is the masked comic theatre tradition which had its origins in groups of travelling players in Renaissance Italy who performed for audiences familiar with its stock characters and scenarios, improvisatory style, and lazzi (comic bits). In times of despotic rulers and corrupt clergy, Commedia also served as an empowering people's theatre, allowing communities to satirize figures of authority. Commedia is an invaluable training tool for actors and directors as it demands committment, clarity, and ensemble collaboration. It continues to influence modern film, theatre, and television to this day, and it archetypes and sensibility can be found in Chaplin's work, The Wizard of Oz, Seinfeld, The Looney Tunes, and even Spongebob Squarepants, among others. |
Reserve your spaceAbout Antonio Fava:
Actor, theatre director, Maestro of Commedia dell'Arte and of comedy, Antonio Fava gained a passion for Commedia dell'Arte through his father, a famous Pulcinella in Scandale, Calabria, Italy. From this, he would go on to become the world's leading teacher and director in the Rennaisance art-form so few know about or even understand. In 1980, he created the International School for Comic Acting in Reggio Emilia, Italy for the purpose of teaching and training performers from around the world in Commedia, Masks, Mask-making, Opera Regia, Tragedy and the original variety show. His leather masks are renowned in both design and function, are shown in important museums and cultural institutions as accurate representations of the originals from the early 16th-century, and are used in his school and performances. He teaches Commedia dell'Arte in schools, universities and drama academies throughout the world, holding guest lectures and often performing himself. His book entitled "The Comic Mask in Commedia dell' Arte: Actor Training, Improvisation and the Poetics of Survival," is published by Northwestern University Press. For more information, visit the website: www.commediabyfava.it. |