Download BIOGRAPHIES: GUEST ARTISTS CARLO BOSO

BIOGRAPHIES: GUEST ARTISTS
CARLO BOSO:
A graduate of the Piccolo Teatro school in Milan, Carlo Boso has acted in over
forty theatre productions with internationally acclaimed directors such as
Giorgio Strehler, Massimo Castri, Eduardo de Filippo, Dario Fo, and Ferruccio
Soleri.
As one of Europe’s well-regarded directors, Boso has directed many of
the classics, including plays by Brecht, Shakespeare, Pirandello, Goldoni,
Molière, Racine, Jarry, Genet, Büchner, Ramuz-Stravinsky, Fo, and Gozzi. In
addition, Boso has devised and directed many original productions which
have been seen across Europe and North America (the most recent being a
Commedia dell’Arte adaptation of Romeo and Juliet for the Festival of Avignon
Off in 2012).
In his role as artistic director, he has managed the following festivals
and theatre companies: the Festival Printemps des Arts in Paris; the Festival of
Carcassonne; the Carnival of Venice; Milano Aperta; the TAG Theatre (Venice);
and the Teatro di Porta Romana (Milan). In his role as teacher, he has offered
over one hundred international workshops and conference papers on the
Commedia dell’Arte.
In 2004, Boso founded the Académie internationale des arts du spectacle
(AIDAS), currently located in Versailles. It is one of the few theatre schools
worldwide to offer a three-year professional training program based solely on
Commedia dell’Arte techniques. Following their training, graduate students
form a theatre company and present productions directed either by Carlo
Boso or Danuta Zarazik (Co-director of the school). These shows tour Europe
for one year, playing at theatre festivals and professional venues.
ANTONIO FAVA :
A student of Lecoq, Antonio Fava graduated with three certificates from his
schools: one in movement/theatre; one in theatre pedagogy; and one from
Lecoq’s Laboratoire d’Etude de Mouvement (in conjunction with the École
Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts). He is also an accomplished flautist.
Son of Tomasso Fava, a pre-World War II Pulcinella from Calabria, Fava
was “born” into the Commedia tradition on 28 May, 1949, in Scandale
(Crotone province) on the Ionian side of Calabria. From his father, Fava
inherited a comic wisdom and a rich cultural heritage that had slowly been
slipping into decline. Fava’s mission is to keep the traditions of the Commedia
dell’Arte alive by researching and transmitting its artistic and cultural
heritage. To this end, he writes, acts, directs plays (Love is a Drug, Oxford
Stage Company; Il Pozzo dei Furbi, Piccolo Theatre of Evanston-Chicago; La
Flaminia Rapita and Le astuzie di Coviello, Teatro del Vicolo–ArscomicA)and
operas (Rossini’s Il Turco; Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona and Livietta e Tracollo;
Banchieri’s La Saviezza Giovenile and Il Festino; Vecchi’s L’Amphiparnaso),
plays music, creates Commedia masks, and organizes workshops all over the
world, whether in Italian or Neapolitan, in the local idioms of Crotone or
Reggio Emilia, in English, French, Spanish or Catalan. A master craftsman,
Fava follows the ancient technique of mask making by pounding leather over a
carved wooden matrix. He pays special homage to Dario Fo (actor, playwright
and director) with whom he worked for many years.
Although Fava has taught Commedia dell'Arte internationally, he has
been particularly active in the UK, USA and Australia (in English), as well as in
France, Canada and Switzerland (in French). Northwestern University
(Chicago) has printed a version of his lectures and workshops, and NWU Press
has published his book, The Comic Mask in the Commedia dell’Arte (La
Maschera Comica nella Commedia dell’Arte)―also available in Spanish and
soon to be released in French (along with an experimental e-book version).
In 1985 Fava founded his International School of the Comic Actor which
specializes in training actors in its most noble, comic, theatrical form: the
Commedia dell'Arte. He also re-established instruction in one of comedy’s
greatest ancient forms: the Fabula Atellana. To promote the development of
these acting techniques, Fava developed masks and directed plays. In 1999,
he invented the modern Commedia mask, Zanni Skinhead, making an
important contribution to the evolution of the tradition.
CARLOS GARCIA ESTEVEZ
Founder and artistic leader of Teatro Punto and the director of Manifesto
Poetico (International Laboratory of Theatre Research), Carlos Garcia
Estevez trained with Jacques Lecoq for three years, both at his École
Internationale de Théâtre and at his Laboratoire d’Etude de Mouvement (199799). He has been a guest teacher at LEM since 2012.
Motivated by Lecoq, he began his life-long investigation of the tragic
depth that resides in the Commedia dell’Arte. In 1999 he studied with Donato
Sartori at the Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali (Padova). There he began
his exploration of the architecture of gestures and the anthropology of the
mask. A few years later, he collaborated with Donato Sartori as a movement
teacher and actor.
Other artists with whom he trained include Gennadi Bogdanov, Pierre
Byland, Eric de Bont, Antonio Fava, Kevin Crawford and Kaya Anderson.
Estevez has worked with a number of important artists, such as Mario
Gonzáles (Conservatoire Nationale de Art Dramatique, Paris; Théâtre du Soleil,
Vincennes), José Luís Gómez (Teatro de La Abadía, Madrid) and Tapa Sudana
(formerly with Peter Brook’s Parisian company).
Estevez performed in A Dog’s Heart and The Magic Flute with Simon
McBurney (director) He is currently touring his one-person performance
piece, Solo dell’Arte, in Spain, France, Holland, Romania, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus,
the UK, the USA and Canada.
DR. DOMENICO PIETROPAOLO:
A foremost authority in Italian Studies at the University of Toronto (Canada),
Domenico Pietropaolo holds a PhD from this institution where he currently
works today. A distinguished scholar, he is a former holder of the Goggio
Chair in Italian Studies and is the Principal of St. Michael’s College. He has
been Director both of the Department of Italian Studies and of the Graduate
Centre for Study of Drama (now the Centre for Drama, Theatre and
Performance Studies). He is cross-appointed with the Centre for Drama,
Theatre and Performance Studies, the Centre for Medieval Studies, the Centre
for Comparative Literature. Pietropaolo is the author of a number of books,
including Goldoni and the Musical Theatre, The Performance Text, The Baroque
Libretto, and The Science of Buffoonery, to name a few.
He has written extensively on such topics as women in Commedia dell’
Arte, performance conventions in the Commedia tradition, poetics of
theatrical dance, and the production history of early operas. He has spoken
widely on the subjects of performance text and the impromptu tradition.
JOHN RUDLIN
The first drama department in the UK (at Exeter University) to be based on
practice, rather than history or theory, was founded by John Rudlin. Using
scientific laboratory courses as a model, Rudlin made studio work assessable;
final examinations, for example, included a practical essay. Postgraduate
qualifications also came to admit ‘research through practice.’ Courses were
based on the ideas of French director Jacques Copeau and the study of
traditional forms, especially Commedia dell’Arte was central to them. A
resulting study, Commedia dell’Arte, an actor’s handbook is regarded as an
industry standard and has been reprinted by Routledge many times since it
first appeared in 1994.
While teaching at Exeter, Rudlin considered it essential to continue his
own practice and founded, with a group of graduates, Medium Fair Theatre, a
touring community company which he directed for ten years before
concentrating on theatre-in-education with an offshoot called Fair Exchange.
Besides acting, playwriting and designing, he has directed repertory, rural
touring and Theatre-in-Education companies, and has mounted several major
community plays.
After twenty years of teaching, Exeter University finally allowed him
sabbatical leave. Since most of his practical and pedagogical work had been
based on that of Copeau, he used the time to write a monograph on him for the
Cambridge series ‘Directors in Perspective.’ He subsequently co-authored
Jacques Copeau: Texts on Theatre and has written chapters on various aspects
of Coupeau’s work for compilation volumes.
Leaving Exeter’s Drama Department with a top research rating and a
massive undergraduate application rate, he emigrated to France to emulate
Copeau, once more, by setting up a small rural centre for the dramatic arts.
Centre Sélavy, an international centre for performance research, attracts
students from all over the world. It was there and with these students that he
was at last able to devote the time and attention to commedia dell’arte that
the form demands. Now, theoretically retired, he is still writing books and
plays, taking workshops and role-playing in learning environments.
JOAN SCHIRLE
As Director of Dell'Arte International (DAI) School of Physical Theatre (2000 –
2010), Joan Schirle designed the curriculum for its accredited MFA in
Ensemble-based Physical Theatre. A senior teacher of the FM Alexander
Technique, she has devoted her research to the work of the actor as
mover/creator. Schirle leads the DAI Bali study trip and has guest taught in
MFA programs such as Yale, UCSD, U. Missouri/Kansas City, as well as for the
artists of Cirque du Soleil; in 2012 she was invited to teach physical acting at
the Beijing Dance Academy’s Department of Musical Theatre. Schirle’s
Commedia encounters range from partnership with DAI co-founders Carlo
Mazzone-Clementi and Jane Hill, to study with Ferruccio Soleri, to co-teaching
workshops in Commedia and kyōgen with Japanese masters Akira Shigeyama
(Portland) and Shichiro Ogawa & Don Kenny (Bloomsburg, PA).
An actor, playwright, director, deviser and teacher, Schirle has directed
productions at San Diego Rep, the Alley, Bloomsburg Ensemble, A Traveling
Jewish Theatre, Touchstone Ensemble, the University of Colorado, and DAI.
She has performed with DAI, Yale Rep, the California Shakespeare Festival,
San Diego Rep. Her solo mask show, Second Skin, has been seen in many US
and international cities.
Most notably, Schirle is the Founding Artistic Director of DAI, the
ensemble acclaimed for collaborative creation and global touring since 1977.
As the North American center for performance, research and training of the
physical actor/poet, DAI is a professional company, a full-time training
program offering a 3-year MFA and a 1-year certificate program; a summer
festival; and, an annual Study Abroad: Bali program. Guest commedia faculty
at DAI have included Valeria Campo, Giovanni Fusetti, Geoff Hoyle, Julie Goell,
Arne Zaslove and Ole Brekke.
In 2004, Schirle was honoured at the 16th Cairo International
Experimental Theatre Festival as a leader in the field of experimental theatre
and was awarded a distinguished career actor fellowship from Fox /TCG,
2006. Joan appears in TCG’s 50th anniversary video series, “I Am Theatre.”
http://www.tcg.org/fifty/videosdetails.cfm?id=38
BIOGRAPHIES: PRESENTERS
MICHELE BOTTINI
Born in Varese (northern Italy) Michele Bottini completed his theatre studies
in 1990 at the Scuola d’Arte Drammatica Paolo Grassi (Milan, Italy). Following
his graduation, he performed with several of the most prominent avant-garde
theatre companies in Italy, including the CRT (Milan) and CSRT (Pontedera).
Subsequently, he came into contact with the Piccolo Teatro di Milano where he
worked with Giorgio Strehler in several landmark shows. From 1997-2001 he
played the title role in the Piccolo’s production of Arlecchino, servitore di due
padroni, replacing the legendary Ferrucio Soleri.
In addition to his work with the Piccolo (most notably in Ronconi’s
version of Aristophane’s The Frogs), Bottini has worked with a wide range of
Italian directors, authors, and actors, including Paolo Rossi, Paolo Villaggio,
Gigi Proietti, Aldo, and Giovanni e Giacomo to name a few. His most recent
appearances have been in plays with Skene company (Milano). In 2011,
Bottini began workin g with Dario Fo and Franca Rame, directing Mistero
Buffo e altre storie for the Festival of Avignon in 2012. After working with
international artists like Mario Gonzalez, Adriano Yurissevich, Claudio De
Maglio, and Carlo Boso, he developed his personal vision of Commedia based
on the techniques of improvisation and his unique construction of canovacci.
Bottini has been invited to give workshops in France, Switzerland, Italy,
Serbia, the USA. He is the Artistic Director of the Accedmia dell’Arte in Arezzo,
Italy.
GIANGIACOMO COLLI
A director, actor, and theatre educator, Giangiacomo Colli is a graduate of the
University of Rome (1985). He holds an MFA from the University of Hawaii
(1989) and a PhD from the University of Toronto (2009). While in Italy, Colli
studied acting with Vittorio Gassman and Commedia dell’Arte with Carlo
Boso. A dedicated practitioner of the Commedia dell’Arte since 1979, Colli
eventually taught it at Brock University, the University of Toronto, Sheridan
College (Canada), and Middlebury College (USA).
For the past six years, Colli has been an Assistant Professor at Franklin
& Marshall College (USA) where, amongst other productions, he has directed
his own adaptation of The Servant of Two Masters, set in eighteenth-century
Philadelphia. Now at Texas State University, San Marcos (USA), Colli teaches
Commedia dell’Arte and other courses. He has published a volume on the
theatre pedagogy of Orazio Costa, as well as a chapter on Commedia dell’Arte
in the multi-authored volume, Set the Stage! Teaching Italian through Theater,
and is currently a consulting director with La Fenice, a Commedia company
based in Austin, Texas.
SERGIO COSTOLA
The Resident Dramaturg for the Theatre Department at the Sarofim School of
Fine Arts, Sergio Costola teaches Theatre History, Dramatic Literature, and
Critical Studies. He holds a BA magna cum laude from the University of
Bologna in his native Italy and a PhD from UCLA. He has taught at UCLA and
at Loyola Marymount University (USA). Specializing in Italian Renaissance
Theatre and African American Theatre, he has published essays and presented
papers at various conferences on both topics. He is currently working on a
book on scenarios of the Commedia dell’Arte.
OLLY CRICK
Trained in Commedia under Barry Grantham and Carlo Boso, Olly Crick (BA,
Exeter University, 1981) specializes in Commedia as well as clowning,
physical theatre, circus skills, puppetry, street theatre, and group devising
processes. He has taught at RADA, LAMDA, Middlesex University, the
Hereford College of Art and Design, and the Guilford School of Acting (UK).
He has also been a guest teacher with John Rudlin in France. He has
performed with Unfortunati and with his own company, The Fabulous Old Spot
Theatre Company. Crick has toured his solo show all over the UK, followed by
performances in Austin, Texas and Bahrain. In addition to his practical
expertise, he has delivered several academic papers on Commedia and, the
next day, gone back to his day job as a juggler. The central focus of his
research is how historical information about performance can be used
practically today. Crick has given three conference papers on the Commedia
and has also written on TIE, mime and theatre genres. In 2001, Routledge
published his book, Commedia dell’arte, a handbook for troupes, which he coauthored with John Rudlin.
DEEPAL DOSHI
A Mumbai-based actor-creator, director, and educator, Deepal Doshi received
a one-year diploma in Grotowski-based physical theatre from Vårdinge By
Folkhögskola (Sweden). Following this, he moved to California where studied
clown, melodrama and tragedy at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical
Theatre and obtained his MFA. He specializes in devising original ensemble
work. In Bali, he studied traditional Balinese mask carving, mask dances and
shadow puppetry. He facilitates a one-month intensive workshop there for
theatre professionals from Europe and the USA.
Doshi has worked as an actor and/or director with Traveling Players
Ensemble (Virginia), The Ambassador Theatre (Washington DC), International
Children’s Theatre Festival (Virginia), Dell’Arte Company (California), Raw
Red Meat Productions (California), The Raven Project (California), The
Hinterlands (Milwaukee), Rangbaaz Theatre (India), Dur Se Brothers (India),
Avikal Theatre Company (India), Teater Slava and Kompani Komedi (Sweden).
He teaches workshops and master classes (for high school students and
adults) in the USA, Sweden, India and Indonesia. Doshi is the founding
member of Glasnost Gypsy Marching Band. Today, Doshi is based in Mumbai
where he is the founding Artistic Director of Madball Company. He also works
as an actor/creator with other theatre groups, and acts in films and
commercials.
MARCELLA FAVA
Born in Reggio Emilia on 30 April, 1988, Marcella Fava is the daughter of
Antonio Fava, the great writer, director, professor and internationallyacclaimed Maestro of the Commedia dell'Arte.
She graduated from Paolo Toschi, a high school for the arts (Parma), and
later from the Centro Sperimentale di Fotografia – Ansel Adams (Rome). In
2011 she terminated her studies with a post-graduate certificate in
photography from the Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London.
Her first camera, a gift when she was six, was a very old Polaroid which
she occasionally uses now for the fun of it. A professional photographer
based out of Reggio Emilia, Ms Fava travels the world.
GUILIA FILACANAPA
Following the bestowment of her MA in Theatre History from the
University of Pisa (Italy, 2008), Giulia Filacanapa began working towards her
PhD in Italian Studies and Theatre History at the University of Paris 8 (cosupervised by Françoise Decroisette, University of Paris 8 and Anna Maria
Testaverde, University of Florence). Being an assistant to Carlo Boso,
Stefano Perocco and Mario Gonzalez helped expand her reflections on her
thesis topic which examines the twentieth-century renaissance of the
Commedia dell’Arte through the theatrical experimentations of Giovanni Poli.
It is entitled, “Neo Commedia dell’Arte in 20th century in France and Italy:
Giovanni Poli (1917-1979) between Tradition and Experimentation.”
A contributor to specialist journals such as Annuario Internazionale
della Commedia dell’Arte and Atti & Sipari, Filacanapa has presented
conference papers in Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland. She has
published articles in her field, including: « Gli studi italiani sulla commedia
dell’Arte dal 1996 a oggi » (Fortuna Europea della Commedia
dell’Arte, Direzione generale per i beni librari, Roma, 2009); and, « Le
paroxysme linguistique de Dario Fo » (Chroniques italiennes web, Univ. de la
Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2012).
BRIAN FOLEY
Currently studying towards obtaining his MFA in Directing at Arizona State
University (USA), Brian Foley is a performer, director, and instructor of
Theatre and Circus. He received his BFA in Drama (Acting and Directing)
from the Playwrights Horizons Theatre School at New York University. Since
2005, his multiple award-winning clown/theatre company (noted in American
Theatre) has toured internationally. Highlights include four World Clown
Festivals, Canada’s Cirque du Qui? Festival, and gleefully creating chaos on the
world’s largest cruise ships.
The National Circus Project called Brian “One of the Premier Theatrical
Clowns in New York City”; as such, he has shared the stage with performers
from the Moscow Circus, Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, and Cirque du Soleil. He
continues to train students and professional actors in variety arts and circus
skills. Circo Zanni, his own Commedia dell’Arte training program, has been in
residence at several American theatre conservatories and universities,
including NYU.
In 2009, Circo Zanni received this praise from the Governor’s School for
the Arts (Kentucky): “Hands down the best thing we have seen in 5 years, and
definitely in the top performances in the 20 years of GSA Kentucky.” As an
Associate Artistic Director of the World Clown Festival in China, Brian has had
the privilege to perform alongside many of the world’s most famous physical
comedians: he is proud to call them his artistic family.
ROSALIND KERR
Rosalind Kerr is Professor Emerita in the Drama Department, University of
Alberta (Canada). She has articles on the arrival of the Italian actress in Early
Theatre, on Isabella Andreini in Quaderni d’Italianistica and on Flaminio Scala
in Queer Italia and Intertestualità Shakespeariane. She is completing a
manuscript on The Rise of the Diva on the Sixteenth Century Commedia dell’Arte
Stage and is preparing the final stages of an edited translation of Flaminio
Scala’s of Il finto marito for publication.
FABIO MANGOLINI
Italian born Fabio Mangolini has had a long and diverse career in theatre and
clowning. Invited by Marcel Marceau to attend his school, École Internationale
de Mimodrame (Paris), he specialized in directing before graduating in 1987.
Later, he worked with Boso’s company, Les Scalzacani (Paris), where he
focused on servants’ roles in the Commedia dell’Arte. In 1992 and 1994, he
received two grants from the Japanese government (Artist’s Fellowship
Program of the Japan Foundation and Bunka-chō) to study Kyōgen and Nō in
Tōkyō with Nomura Kosuke and the Kanze family. His PhD is in Philosophy
from the University of Bologna (Italy).
Mangolini’s teaching and research activities are closely linked to his
practical theatre work. He has taught at various European institutions,
including Marceau’s École Internationale de Mimodrame, Université de Metz,
AFDAS (Paris), Real Academia de Arte Dramático (Madrid) and the École des
Maîtres (Limoges), GITIS and MKAT (Moscow), Accedemia dell’Arte (Italy), and
at the Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali (Albano, Italy). For over ten years
he has taught acting, in mask, with the renowned sculptor, Donato Satori, all
around the world.
Globally invested in his profession, he has acted in/directed
productions, and has given courses/workshops in Italy, Spain, France,
Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Finland,
Luxemburg, Norway, El Salvador, Japan, the USA, and Chile. Mangolini has
directed the following productions: Ghelderode’s Escuela de Bufones (a coproduction between Ollomoltranvia and the Centro Drammatico Galego,
Santiago de Compostela, Spain); Belli’s La fabbrica delle farfalle and Koltès La
notte appena prima delle foreste (Terrae Humanae, Ferrara); Cunqueiro’s Si o
vello Sinbad volviese as illas (Centro Drammatico Galego, Santiago de
Compostela, Spain―receiving nine Maria Casares awards); Barrico’s
Novecento (Théâtre Le Public, Brussels); Fo and Rama’s Coppia aperta, quasi
spalancata (Théâtre Le Public, Brussels); N. Williams’s Enemigo de Clase
(Enemy of Class, Madrid, Spain); Aristophane’s Las Aves (The Birds, Pamplona,
Spain); El Basilisco Enamorado (Almagro Festival, Spain). More recently, he
directed Caballero’s Squash (Italy).
As an actor, he has worked with directors such as Carlo Boso, Nomura
Kosuke, François Cervantes, Roxanne Rizvi, Remi Barbier, and Didier
Doumergue. He has assistant directed with Daniel Mesguich (La Mètaphore,
National Stage Centre, Lille) and Robert Wilson.
From 2009-2011, Mangolini was President for the foundation Teatro
Comunale of Ferrara (Italy) for which he is General Manager today. He is
currently the President of the Scuola dell’Opera Italiana (Bologna, Italy).
T. ANTHONY MAROTTA
Assistant Professor of Performance at the University of Georgia (USA), T.
Anthony Marotta specializes in performance movement, stage combat, and
mask design/performance. Studies include an MFA from the University of
Tennessee (USA) and an advanced program on the Lecoq Physical
Theatre/Mask pedagogy through the London International School of
Performing Arts. Marotta has studied stage direction with legendary Moscow
director and pedagogue, Jurij Alschitz, and at the New Director's Workshop
(Lincoln Cente, NY). His studies in the art of mask creation and performance
include working with Italian theatre mask legends: Donatello Sartori and
Antonio Fava. Focused on the physical expressivity of performer and
performances in storytelling, Marotta teaches Commedia dell’Arte, mask,
movement, and stage combat―nationally, regionally and internationally. A
current membership in Actors’ Equity (AEA), Marotta has performed in
regional and New York venues including the Walnut Street Theatre, Arden
Theatre, the Clarence Brown Theatre, as well as various venues throughout
Europe. His directing includes productions with regional theaters such as Neil
Simon Festival, Brick Playhouse, and Rose of Athens.
SCOTT MCGEHEE
After having received his PhD in European Intellectual History from Boston
College (USA, 1996), Scott McGehee became the founding director of the
Accademia dell’Arte. A school of physical theatre (with an emphasis on the
Commedia dell’Arte), it opened in 2001. It offers American college students
both an undergraduate program and an MFA in Physical Theatre in
collaboration with various European schools and theatrical companies, such
as the Paolo Grassi School (Milan), Flic Circus School (Torino), Familie Floz
(Berlin), and Teatro Continuo (Prague). McGehee’s research focuses on
shifting formations of social, political and economic power in the early
modern-to-modern period.
MARJAN (SZ) MOOSAVI
A Masters student in Theatre Studies at York University, Marjan (SZ)
Moosavi came to Canada from Iran. There she won the Research Award of
Iran’s 8th Women’s Theatre Festival for her research on gender dynamics in
plays written by Iranian women playwrights. A former Fulbright Scholar,
Moosavi has always maintained her interest in issues involving intersections
of theatre and cultural/political identity. Her current studies move between
theory and praxis of interculturalism with a focus on political and religious
censorial interventions imposed on foreign theatrical productions in the
context of Iran’s Fadjr International Theatre Festival.
NIKOLE PASCETTA
An artist-practitioner, Nikole Pascetta was a core company member of
the European-based Théâtre de la Jacquerie (France) for six seasons. After
two decades in the performing arts (both as an actor and artist educator),
Pascetta completed her Master’s degree, successfully defending her thesis
entitled, “Making Meaning through Movement: A Theatre Pedagogy for
English Language Learning in Refugee Youth Settlement.” Soon thereafter, she
was accepted to the doctoral program at the Faculty of Education, York
University (Canada). She is currently a PhD candidate in her third year of
studies.
In 1992, working under Jacques Lecoq’s tutelage, Pacetta graduated
from his distinguished school, École International de Théâtre (France ). In
addition, she has studied directing with Philippe Gaulier (France), the
movement of Greek Tragedy with Gina Kapetanaki (Greece), text
analysis/scene study with Robert Castle at Lee Strasbourg’s Actors’ Studio
(USA), Commedia dell’Arte with Antonio Fava and Fabio Mangolini, and mask
making/maskerlogy with Donato Sartori at his renowned Centro Maschere e
Strutture Gestuali (Italy). Of Italian-French origin, Pascetta speaks four
languages (including Italian dialects). Her Commedia characters are the first
and second Zanni servants, Zezza and Caramela, of Abruzzian descent.
Her transdisciplinary doctoral research combines academic education
theories on the body with Lecoq’s body-based learning technique: the neutral
mask (NM). Her research focuses on learning in the pre-conscious body as an
overlooked pedagogical mediator for mainstream education. Her study
recognizes the body as subject and method, challenging the Cartesian cogitoergo-sum premise to perceive ‘from’ and ‘with’ the body, not ‘against’ or
‘about’ it.
MACE PERLMAN
A classically-trained actor, Mace Perlman began his physical education for
the theatre under Marcel Marceau at his École Internationale de Mimodrame
(Paris). Following studies at Stanford University (BA & MA in Humanities,
with an undergraduate specialization in Baroque Studies and a thesis on
Molière’s relation to the Italian actors), his training continued at the worldrenowned Piccolo Teatro di Milano, where he also acted in Giorgio Strehler’s
productions of Faust and The Servant of Two Masters―the same production
which has toured the globe since 1947. In the US, Perlman's acting has taken
him from the Pearl Theatre to Hartford Stage, with work which has included
numerous Shakespearean roles, most notably Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet,
the Fool in King Lear, Owen Glendower in Henry IV, part 1, the Welsh Captain
Fluellen in Henry V, Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, and Claudius in Hamlet.
He most recently played Creon in Sophocles’ Antigone under the direction of
Karin Coonrod in Forlì, Italy.
In addition to the more than twenty American colleges and universities
where Perlman has taught and performed using the masks of the Commedia
dell'Arte, he has given master classes in Commedia at professional venues as
diverse as the Stella Adler Conservatory and the Williamstown Theatre
Festival. An independent scholar who has specialized in the relationship
between the literary and performing cultures of northern Italy and the plays
of Shakespeare and Molière, he recently contributed to the volume
Transnational Exchange in Early Modern Theatre (2008) with an essay entitled
“Reading Shakespeare, Reading the Masks of the Italian Comedy: Fixed Forms
and the Breath of Life.” He is also the recipient of Stanford University’s Robert
M. Golden Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Performance.
Perlman is currently working to develop the Academy of Renaissance
Theatre, a cultural institution to be comprised of a professional company of
players together with a school of theatre, Romance languages, and
Renaissance culture.
ARTEMIS PREESHL
An Associate Professor at Loyola University (USA), Artemis Preeshl holds an
MFA in Drama, an MA in Dance, and certificates in Laban analysis and
Fitzmaurice voicework. In 2004, Preeshl created and initiated a multi-year
research project to direct some of Shakespeare’s comedies by setting them in
Italy using a Commedia dell’arte performance style. These shows then played
at universities and professional theatre companies in the United States, Bali
and Italy. Two Gentlemen of Verona went to La MaMa (NY); The Merchant of
Venice played at the Vortex Theatre (NY); Commedia of Errors played at La
MaMa (Umbria); Twelfth Night and All’s Well That Ends Well ran at Loyola
University New Orleans; All May Be Well played at the State of the Nation
Festival (New Orleans); and, The Comedy of Errors at the Utah State Theater.
In addition, she directed Titus Andronicus (Ukraine), Top Clowns (Kosovo).
The Parade (based on All’s Well That Ends Well) played at the first Balinese
Fringe Festival (Bali).
She received Shakespeare's Globe’s International Actor Fellowship
(London 2007), TCG grants (Kosovo, 2009/Albania, 2007-08), and a
Fulbright-Nehru fellowship (2011-2012) which resulted in her writing and
directing Pancha Ratna (Honorable Mention: DIY Film Festival, Hollywood).
Preeshl has taught Commedia, acting and voice in Malaysia, Australia, and
India. She personally thanks her mentors Antonio Fava and Donato Sartori for
sending her on this wonderful journey.
DAVID SALTZ
Head of the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, David Saltz is also
Executive Director of Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE) at the University of
Georgia (USA). His primary research focus is the interaction between live
performance and digital media. He was the principal investigator (PI) of
Virtual Vaudeville, a large-scale research project funded by the National
Science Foundation to simulate a nineteenth-century vaudeville performance
on the computer. He has directed a series of productions incorporating realtime, interactive digital media, and has created interactive sculptural
installations that have been exhibited nationally. He has published numerous
articles in scholarly journals and books, is co-editor of the book Staging
Philosophy: Intersections between Theatre, Performance and Philosophy (2006),
and formerly was the editor of Theatre Journal.
KATRIEN VAN BEURDEN
After graduating from the HKU Acting Conservatory (Holland), Katrien van
Beurden trained with Ivana Chubbuck and Carrol O’Connor. She then spent
one month training with Lecoq in Paris. In 2003 van Beurden received a
scholarship to study Commedia with Antonio Fava: this is where she met
Carlos Garcia Estevez. In 2006 she became Co-artistic Director of Teatro
Punto with Estevez (Netherlands). Throughout the years she has deepened
her knowledge of the actor and the body, researching ways to link her work to
theatre and film.
As an instructor, van Beurden (together with Estevez at Teatro Punto)
specializes in teaching a contemporary form of the Commedia dell’Arte. She
also gives workshops on the psychology of movements to professional actors
in New York, Amsterdam, Cyprus and Turkey. When freelancing, she trains
professional actors working in the theatre and film industries, as well as
apprentices at theatre conservatories.
As an actor, she played the protagonist in Blijf bij me weg (screenplay by
Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito). For her work, she won the Grand Prix du Jury
(Angers, France). She performed in Chekov’s Ivanov and Esprit (Frans
Strijards, director), acted with Lange Poten in K. Jhonson’s play, Wild wespen,
and also in Meisje Loos (Dirk Groeneveld, director). This year she will be seen
in De wederopstanding van een klootzak, a movie which has been nominated
for the Hivos Tiger award.
In association with Teatro Punto, van Beurden is Artistic Director of her
own company: Hotel Courage (2012). Travelling to foreign countries with a
team of international artists, the company trains local actors and devises
original shows based on local concerns. Microcosms of societies, these
“hotels” aim to explore where the archetypes of Commedia live and how they
survive in the world today, by recreating an on-site version of that society
which explores its culture, its social interactions and its hierarchies. In April
the company will travel to Palestine to work with the Freedom Theatre at the
refugee camp in Jenin. The goal is to create audience-specific theatre with a
Commedia that is universal and vibrant.
CLAUDIA RENE WIER
Claudia Rene Wier holds a BM and an MM in Vocal Performance, an MA in
Theatre Studies, and an MFA in Applied Drama and Theatre for the Young.
For eight years she sang professionally with the Regensburg City Opera
Theatre (Germany). Her article “A Nest of Nightingales: Cuzzoni and Senesino
at Handel’s Royal Academy of Music” can be found in Theatre Survey. She has
been a lecturer in the Department of Communication, Media, and Theatre Arts
at Eastern Michigan University (USA) in Voice and Articulation, Drama and
Play in Human Experience. At Concordia University (Ann Arbor, Michigan) n
the Department of Communication, Media, and Theatre Arts where she taught
courses in Music History and Living with the Arts in the Music Department.
When in Ann Arbor, she directed several shows for the Young Actor’s Guild
and the Ann Arbor Civic Junior Theatre; from 2008-11, she led the Drama Club
at Slauson Middle School. She was the recipient of a DAAD Scholarship and is
currently as a PhD student in Theatre Studies at York University (Canada)
where she just won a Trillium Scholarship.