Commedia Today

Commedia Today

I am taking up a big new project, that will possibly turn into a book or something, but for now it's just an exploration of thoughts that have been swimming about in my head.

Frequently Tut'Zanni and I have the conversation of "What is modern commedia?". What does it look like today? Most of the time the way this comes up as, "how are we going to modernize our shows?". What does a modern-day Arlecchino look like? What would a Brighella in America be?

But recently, I realized, we may be going about it all wrong.

Sure, archetypes are pretty timeless, but sometimes they come and go, and classes emerge and/or disappear. The real question shouldn't be, "what is a modern American Arlecchino", bu instead, "what is a modern American commedia character?"

Back when commedia dell'arte was first being born and developed, new characters were created all the time. Actors would come up with not just their own versions of characters, but entirely new characters themselves, created out of the regions they came from, and the cultures and classes they were familiar with.

This hit me last week when I was thinking about a show I have been writing about a sort of modern princess- When I had my big shift and decided to think of everything in terms of commedia and focusing on that, I was excited about making the show a commedia show. So then, of course, I found myself thinking, "Well then, which character is my princess? A Colombina? A Pantalona?" And that was the moment I realized, she could be, and should be, a new character. She is her own person, full of strong female attributes pulled from modern day stereotypes and archetypal characters.

I now find myself asking, "If commedia dell'arte was invented today in America, what would that look like? Who would those characters be?" I love commedia, and treasure the characters. And I intend to stay true to the form, because it resonates so strongly with me. But the new and exciting venture I want to explore is who are the characters now? I am not from Italy, and although I understand where the traditional characters come from, if I am really going to be true to my own roots, I need to pull from what I grew up with, what I know, and where I am now, the world I live in. The truth is, as Patrick and I were having a great conversation about today, Tut'Zanni is a group of young, white Americans, each coming from pretty diverse backgrounds. Diverse, regional, stereotyped backgrounds in modern America. We can, and should be commenting on ourselves and the society that we live in.

This is a great opportunity to explore what commedia is today, in America, to us and to our world. I am very curious and excited.