The NYU undergraduate acting students dive into the magical tale of Carlo Gozzi. A story of love and betrayal, intrigue and mirth, magic spells and pageantry. Welcome to the fantastic world of Commedia dell’Arte where transformations, gags, music and lazzies are the rules, Truffaldino, Tartaglia and Pantalone the masks.
Let’s begin from the beginning!
For fifteen years, Jim Calder has brought undergraduate students to NYU’s Florence campus to study Commedia dell’Arte. In the last few years, the program has blossomed tremendously with the incorporation of Master Teacher Jacob Olesen and Music Director Nolufefe Mtshabe, along with the support of Ellyn Toscano and the entire staff at La Pietra. The Commedia dell’Arte workshop at La Pietra is an exciting and rigorous program that teaches drama students, through the vehicle of the very forward Commedia stock characters, what it feels like to really believe in something, to want something, and to go after it. Students take class with Jim and Jacob, working through various physical exercises and Commedia lazzi, make large scale puppets and props with visual artist Joan Harmon, and learn music in Xhosa and Zulu with award winning Choir Director Nolufefe Mtshabe.
