SABBATICAL ADVENTURES

Normally, rehearsals for a play take between four to six weeks, sometimes longer depending on the complexity of the production and the company's budget. A one-person show usually rehearses for a minimum of four weeks. However, due to the busy schedules of both the director and myself, the one-person show will only have two weeks of rehearsals. To complicate matters, the two rehearsal weeks will not happen consecutively. The first week of rehearsals already took place, while the second week will be six months later (in December.) The show will be presenting to an audience on December 8 & 9, 2023. One of my personal goals before starting the first week of rehearsals was to memorize the script, which is a challenge because my ability to memorize lines is not as sharp as it used to be. It's called "getting older." Surprisingly enough, by the end of the week, we did two full "run-thrus" of the show without a script on my hand.  This doesn't mean I did not...

Before spending my sabbatical days in Italy learning about Commedia dell'arte, I was already working on a one-person show, also as part of my sabbatical. I spent six months writing a script and having dramaturgical meetings with a theatre director.  I wrote about   the development process  of the play and also about  the staged reading  in two different posts that were done before going to Italy. The stage reading of the play happened in December 2022 when I flew to Ohio to meet the director at his homeschool. After that reading, the project was put on the "back burner" because my time needed to be dedicated to preparing the sabbatical trip and the trip itself.  Now that the sabbatical trip has ended and I'm back home, the focus is on "wrapping up" the sabbatical, which includes working on the one-person show once again.  For five days, from 10 AM to 6 PM (with an hour break in between), the director and I will come together in order to "put the p...

One of the main objectives of my sabbatical research is the creation of a new theatre course on Commedia dell'arte. Using the many resources I was able to find, the information I was able to collect, and the different theatre productions I was able to read, as well as other available academic sources regarding the subject matter, a class on commedia has been developed and submitted to the proper channels for evaluation and approval.  Once the class is approved, the class will be offered to the students, mainly to Drama majors and those interested in the theatre arts.  This class will have two main objectives: One of the goals will be to offer a history account of the development of Commedia dell'arte, from its origins to the present, while analyzing its influence on modern comedy. The other goal will give students the opportunity to explore physical movement and mask work in order to familiarize themselves with commedia dell'arte characters and physical comedy in general....

The following transcript is based on conversations with a closed friend who is an alumni from Dell'Arte International. Our conversations centered around her training and the benefits of it. The conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.   --What made you decide to enroll in Dell'Arte International? I was applying to MFA programs and my college theatre director shared information about Dell'Arte with me. She suggested I audition as she believed it would be a good fit for me. One of the co-founders (of the academy) happened to be working as a resident artist near me an auditioned me herself. The process was welcoming and supporting from the beginning. I visited Blue Lake to tour the school and to meet some people there. I felt in love with the area and the program. I deferred traditional graduate school in order to to attend Dell'Arte. --What program were you in?  When I joined the school, they were in the process of obtaining accreditation for the MFA program....

The following conversation with Tony Fuemmeler (interim head of training programs) took place over zoom. The content has been edited for clarity and space. --What can you tell me about Physical Theatre training for the actor? In general, physical theatre offers a lot through the play of mask, a sense of specificity and clarity for the actor. Whether or not they (actors) play directly in the mask, or whether they ever find a mask again, physical theatre offers a window into physical storytelling, and also just an interest of the human condition and the human comedy. How we might understands some modes of the play for the actor as driven by the body and driven by a very visceral idea rather than by emotions or by a psychological idea. In commedia, it isn’t the psychology that drives the play, it is actually elemental forces, the drives and contradictions of human nature, which play at full force and rhythm, then collide and give us an opportunity to laugh at ourselves. --Let’s talk about...

Humboldt County is located in Northern California. Within Humboldt County, a very small town (population 1200 as of 2020 census) named Blue Lake is found. This town is located on the Mad River, 6 miles northeast of Eureka, at an elevation of just 131 feet.  Other than the fact that Blue Lake and its surrounding areas are the perfect get away spot from the hustle and bustle of the San Francisco Bay area, this small town is just another place most people have no idea it exists, and if they happen to stumble upon it, they quickly forget about it.  Hidden within its natural paradise full of red woods, however, a worldwide known commedia school is found. Originally known as "Dell'Arte School of Mime and Comedy, now known as "Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre," this institution was founded in Berkeley, CA back in 1971 by Carlo Mazzonne-Clementi and his wife Jane Hill. It wasn't until four years later, in 1975, that "Dell'Arte International...

  Welp, my trip to Italy has ended! I had the best of times; I have the worse of times. But regardless of the experiences, I am in fact, very thankful for the opportunity to spend so much time in a country where trains are a marvelous way to travel.  Even though the trip is over, the sabbatical work continues. There is a few more things that need to be done. One more interview with an alumni from Dell'Arte International, the creation of a "Commedia dell'arte" class, and the rehearsals and presentation of the one-person show,  INTRODUCING MODERNA SUSPIROS.  There will be a few more blog posts on the rehearsal process (happening at the end of May) and then a couple of more posts on the production of the show, (happening at the beginning of December.) Officially, the sabbatical ends at the end of May. The sabbatical reports are due in October, and the show will be done in December. By the time everything is completely done, it will be December 2023, and an entire year w...