0008: COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE CALIFORNIA

Besides going to Italia to investigate Commedia dell’arte matters, I also have to do two more things during my sabbatical. Both are in relation to Commedia, of course. I must create a Commedia dell’arte class to become part of our Drama Curriculum. I also need to  interview one or two Commedia experts within the country, more specifically, within California. 

The creation of the class will not take placed until I’m done with all my Commedia related work. This means that I will create the class sometimes during the months of May and September. The class must be created by the time I submit all my sabbatical reports.

Since my sabbatical was approved prior to the pandemic, back then I was already investigating what institutions I should look into. It didn’t take me time to discover Dell’arte International, a School of Physical Theatre located in Blue Lake, California, 300 miles north from where I live.

I soon contacted the school’s administration and made plans to visit in order to visit their premises, conduct some interviews with their faculty, and see at least one of their shows. But once the pandemic hit, everything was canceled.

It is until now that the school has opened its doors, once again, although in a very limited capacity, that I started to have some contact with the institution once again. And because the “new normal” seems very uncertain, contacting people for interviews has proven far more difficult than before. Still, I will interview at least one person between now and the end of my sabbatical. And I hope that later in the year, I’m able to visit the institution and at least see one of their shows.