Patrick interviews Patrick. A meta-interview.

P: I am so excited to be here with myself today. Talking to myself about my latest exploration with the tut'zanni crew. So Patrick, let's start simple, tell me about your time in Chicago.

P: We come together.
We create.
It is a flurry of activity, of energy, of more.
When I leave the experience, I finally feel ready to do the work. I am exhausted but just about ready.
WHY IS THAT?

P: That is a great question. 

P: Preparation is definitely something I discovered. What do I need to do while we are apart so that the moment I enter the space I am ready?

So that I am ready to:
     - listen to my fellow players with my whole being
     - respond with joy and love and presence, be completely in the moment, be open
     - embrace the chaos as the beauty it provides and not fear it
     - understand my character's mind and release myself and allow the mask to take hold
     - have fun, and allow that weirdo part of myself to follow its impulses
     - look at every thing that happens as an opportunity
     - ground myself, both mentally and physical (for one usually follows the other)
     - express with precision, physically and verbally, with precision and economy

I guess, it is a bit about - how do I get myself out of the way of myself. 

Isn't that the question. And an interesting one to ask oneself, while interviewing oneself.

P: So, since that was a realization. Maybe another question that might be a good follow-up is, what was your most exciting discovery?

P: Colombina. I was really afraid of that mask. I was really afraid to try out a mask that had so much to it and carried an energy that I had not explored before and was supposed to be off limits to me. Colombina, according to some, is strictly female. It is the only mask that lives exclusively in the realm of women. That is exciting and scary to usurp. I don't want to run from the feminine energy, but I don't want to make a mockery of it. I want to give myself over to it. What I found, that was really interesting, was the grounding required for Colombina was more than I usually have. However, the masks energy moves in two directions - grounded and up. It is finding the balance of those two energies. 

P: So, then, where do you go from here?

P: I have two big things to think about moving forward. How to better connect with Colombina and how to create a preparation regimen that allows me to enter the rehearsal room ready to create and play. So, that is what I do now. Those are my personal pieces of homework.  

Moments of Magic

I am the self-appointed Company Worrier. I think I’m also super fun and have lots of ambitious dreams for Tut’Zanni, don’t get me wrong. But I do often feel that of the six of us, I’m the one asking “Can we really make that happen?” when ALi says “Let’s go make a show in Italy!” and I’m the one trying to figure out a contingency plan if we can’t manage to crowdfund getting Dory and her family to the States for another show development period. Let’s be honest - we live crazy far apart from each other (Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Boston, Tuscany) and we each have jobs, lives and commitments of our own. Syncing up six busy schedules and actually getting together to make theatre as a company is extremely hard. So hard, in fact, that it doesn't make logical sense that Tut’Zanni is two years old and counting.

Once we've boarded our respective planes and seemingly miraculously found each other (be it in the Florence airport without cellphones or a completely unfamiliar Chicago neighborhood), a kind of magic happens. It’s as if we all know (even me!) that the hardest part is over. The obstacles of time zones and bad internet connections are temporarily gone and we can finally get to work. And by work I mean play.

The beautiful thing about Commedia dell’Arte as a form is the wonderful structure that has been handed down for centuries (getting lost and found again in the process) that we get to utilize. We all are quite familiar with our old friends that populate every Commedia show - Arlecchino, Magnifico, Dottore, Colombina and the rest, and each member of the company has certain characters we comfortably climb into and others we’re approaching as new acquaintances. We all have some sense of what Zanni might do in a kitchen full of delicious food or how an Innamorata might try to kill herself if her all-consuming love goes unrequited for much longer.

On day one of rehearsal in Chicago, the bones of our new project were already there, and we just had to put some meat and skin on the beast. We could have easily gone on for weeks playing around in mask, trying out new character combinations, ridiculous acrobatic moves and new songs with naughty homemade lyrics. But bound by the cruel realities of limited time, we had mere days to go from vague ideas to something suitable to show to our friends and families. A little nervous about time (of course), I proposed a schedule, and we methodically ticked off scene after scene as the days went by from our to-do list. There wasn’t time to polish any one scene or set anything in stone - and that’s another way in which Commedia fits right into our frantic schedules. Commedia is rough and dirty, with an idea of how the show might go but very much improvised top to bottom. We expected the unexpected - the unexpected is when theatre happens.


As the audience for our work-in-progress show began filing in, we were still discussing new ways to spin scenes. And it wasn't stressing me out! Sure, I had some pre-show nerves and worried I might enter or exit scenes from the wrong side of the stage. But I knew whatever was about to happen would be lots of fun for us and hopefully the audience as well. The constraints of distance and time suddenly felt like an asset, not an issue. In the brief flash that we’re actually in the same city, on the same stage, sharing the spotlight together, we give each other every ounce of attention, support and love we can muster. Commedia falls flat on its face without an active and engaged audience, and we as a company similarly rely completely on each other to find those rare moments of magic together.

-Liam

Male/Female Characters - what is the deal Commedia?

Thoughts on male/female commedia characters and Colombina from Dory of Tut'Zanni ensemble:

During our last meeting we discussed our view of male and female when it comes to commedia and we don't think it is so clear in today's society. Instead, for us, it is best to look at the masks as masculine or feminine energies. So a woman in a mask with masculine energy will play as a woman with what would be considered typical or traditional "male attributes". For example, Pantalona with money and power, Dottore pregnant with knowledge or Magnifica horny and rich. Even before I knew I was pregnant, I had this idea of the pregnant Dottore. It seems so fitting, since pregnant women and mothers know EVERYTHING and are so willing to talk and talk and give many an advice whether this helps your or not. In the same vein, you look at Colombina, the voice of reason, as a feminine energy. We decided to give this task to Patrick for our current show. He does not play a woman but more of an effeminate male and I think he has harnessed the true energy of Colombina much more than any of the women in our ensemble ever have. ALi always takes on the task of the male servant characters Zanni, in which she only uses Grammalot, and Pulcinella, a completely silent straight character against Liam's over the top Capitano. Her energy is very playful and not traditionally feminine so these characters work in her body.

Arlecchino, on the other hand, is a challenge to play as a woman. Arlecchino is traditionally a very clown like character, living in his own plane of understanding the world, the way a child understands it except with the sexuality of an adolescent who is always hungry for it... coming directly from the idea of the Italian "mammone" or "momma's boy" he is fun and fancy free. This is hard to portray as a woman because girls tend to mature faster than boys, we have a lot more to prove to the world, so a young girl would be the Colombina not the Arlecchino. This is what I find difficult about it... not impossible but difficult.

But the opposite is true with Strega. She is extremely difficult for a man to pull off. There is a Mago character but usually he is extremely clumsy and dim witted. But Strega is THE strong woman character in traditional commedia. Unlike Colombina who can sometimes cleverly pull a rues or use her womanly form to gain power, Strega IS powerful and strikes fear in the hearts of the other characters. Whether or not her powers are real don't really matter because through her own persuasive, all-powerful nature, she has convinced these characters in this world that her magic is very real and they believe as well as follow through. This makes her the true feminist character. No one would be scared of a man in this way... He would have to prove his power over and over again.

We chose to mask our Colombina because everyone on stage was in mask. When you looked at it in a group as in our final scene, without the mask she was lost and aesthetically it looked strange. It is also important to distinguish Colombina from the innamorati, distinguishing her status because she is the voice of reason but she is still a servant. Whereas a little more flamboyant character like her slightly sluttier counterpart Smeraldina is a little closer to the innamorati in character. Less deep I should say. Though I think it is very possible to play Colombina without mask when innamorati are involved, while being careful not to get her character swept up in the dramatic movement of the other characters.

For the audience this worked well. The most important rule in commedia is not the sexes but the drives. Whether it is a Magnifico or a Magnifica they are driven by money, sex and power or Dottore who is driven by knowledge, food and drink - for Dottore sex is like food so they are one in the same. If you keep the inherent needs of each character and don't betray the mask (this applies to the age of the mask for instance - you cannot play Magnifico or Magnifica as a young man/woman or ugly man/woman because he/she is obviously old) you will keep the integrity of the true nature of commedia.

It'll be a bit of a ramble...

I'm just going to go ahead and write my reflections. It'll be a bit of a ramble, but if I don't just do it now, it'll never get done. - ALi

My Reflections on our Chicago times:

• I really love our process. We all take a moment of our completely separate lives, and collide them in a sort of crazy, manic span of 1 or 2 weeks, and then put the result in front of people to see what they think. For me, as a performer, it acts as sort of a conservatory-type training session. I don't have a week in between each meeting to sort of let everything settle. I have to learn it (or re-learn it), do it, and grow it all at once. A big advantage I think comes from this is that it forces it into my body before I can intellectualize it. 

• The workshops were great fun. I always learn so much more by having to teach. The students were all willing to say "yes", and we were able to cover a lot of ground. 

• The show came together much more smoothly than I could have anticipated. Intended to be a work-in-progress, it ended up being full show length, and covered a huge portion of the plot. It flowed quite smoothly, and we found moments to play. We had an engaged and supportive audience, and that makes me want to give as much as I can. 

• I was really glad we took a leap of faith and tried our street-style performance, with us sitting alongside the audience. It helped me feel supported by my teammates while I was on stage, and feel even more of a part of it as an observer. I was surprised to receive some feedback that the audience enjoyed it as well. They seemed to feel as though it gave them more permission to laugh and cheer and participate. Also, they can tell that we are truly improvising when we all crack up at something new! 

• All in all, I believe Chicago was a huge success.The people were great, and we were accommodated brilliantly. We had a lot of support being there, and that helped so much. (We are already looking into when we can get back!) Nothing can top when we all get together in a fury of last-minute panic, and the irresistible want to play!

The Art of Failing

Teaching an art form is a process (duh!): not only the teaching and learning, but also figuring out what to teach.

When it comes to Commedia, with its rich history (and mysterious, since since the form pretty much died), that story grows more interesting and complicated.

How do you introduce students to this wild world called Commedia?
Do you start with the history (probably too boring), with discipline (probably not that inspiring), with humor (fun but where is the weight of the form), with improv (also fun but not the whole picture), with the physicality (too much training), with imaginative play//lazzi (great fun but takes time to retrain the brain), with chaos (often confusing)…

How do you lay the ground work so that students are interested, excited and understanding the full scope of Commedia?
I mean, it is pretty complicated. I guess, you begin to look for the hook. What will get an artist all excited about learning a new form? One answer: if they feel successful. Remember this is only an introduction.

Success is a funny idea, not haha. When we (Tut'Z) were training in Commedia, failure was essential. We had to learn how to fall flat on our faces day after day (and find the joy in it). Failure is the key to success. When I stepped into a Commedia workshop this past weekend, I was expecting failure to be on the menu. The weird thing, it wasn’t there. The instructor was working triple hard to make sure that we all walked away feeling successful. He would give us lines, he would provide us with scenarios, he would give us the walks, he would give us the characters, he would direct us (like we were his puppets on strings), and never once was there a dull moment.

After the first day, I was really annoyed. I thought he was too prescriptive in his Commedia – truthfully, he would give us the option of freedom but when we faltered he would step in to hold us up which I took as him trying to tell us how it should be done. Really, he was making sure we had a good time. However, in making sure we were all enjoying ourselves, he took away our creativity, our chaos, our terror, our fear, our everything-one-needs to be in the moment. To me, he took away the Commedia.

I stepped up to do a 3 person scene, and took on Tartaglia. I’m not so good at T, but I wanted to try it. While we were up, he kept tossing things at me. I did not know whether to follow my impulses or to follow the direction. I just kept stammering (like T), because everything was mixed up. I was trying to be present, but did not know how to navigate what I wanted to do and what I was supposed to do. I started trying to do both – which meant that it was a huge FLOP. It kind of felt great. I love a flop. It feels terrible but the kind of terrible to get up and try again.

This got me thinking. What is important for
Commedia? What do you introduce first, second, third? How do you bring the person up to speed and the imagination into play and the character into the body? You have so many elements you need to do at once – what is the order you choose?

I learned, never allow the need to succeed take the place of failure. Failure is so important in this form. The way you improve is through a complicated exploration of failure. There is no right or wrong. There is no perfect character or Commedia. We don’t really know how it was done 300 years ago – we are making it up. Fail, in order to succeed.

written by: Patrick Berger

Servant of Two Masters - an uber-positive report!

**Make sure to check out the Christopher Bayes workshop at the bottom of the page!

I saw Servant of Two Masters at ArtsEmerson last Sunday, directed by Christopher Bayes. It was a fantastic production!

The performances, the mask work, the lazzi, all the details of the traditional form were so well done and the show was hysterical and fresh.

I adored seeing each of the stock characters so fully and uniquely realized by the actors. Pantalone was amazing with his ability to use extreme variety the mask allows. Arlecchino used the characteristic of distraction with such proficiency and delicacy, it was mesmerizing and hilarious.

The process of creating this show, I would interpolate, was through extensive research of the craft, then character development, improvisation, "scripting" of the improvs, and then bringing back the element that anything can happen at any moment during the performance. It had the specificity of great physical comedy, while not at all feeling contrived or put on. I was extremely impressed with the virtuosity of all the performers.

I also noticed most of the characters were on the balls of their feet with absolute focus the entire time they were on stage. There was a moment when some audience were distracting Pantalone, and he stopped and said to them "we are trying to concentrate up here..." it was a great rare moment, when you can see the deep work the actors were engaged with. Other than that, the whole show looked and felt effortless in its exaggeration and the flow of the physicality and musicality from one moment to the next.

One element I was not excited about was Pantalone's response during the late seating. He had a shtick he did with admonishing the audience - he said something about missing the whole beginning and someone (who may or may not be the writer of this blog) yelled back - well, do it again!! Perhaps he didn't hear this, but it went unacknowledged and it took me a while to warm up to him again.

He did, however, win me over with his commitment, generosity, and borderline senile ways which never lost status or power.

The show touched on modern stereotypes as well, which, because they must have derived from moments of lazzi, were pushing limits, vulgar, profane, and hilarious while never loosing their audience. The character were living in today's world, while still adhering to the traditional costumes, mask work, and physical comedy.

It was also whimsical, playful, and had a moment when Arlecchino ran into the back drop of the sky, lifted it up, and found his way to the other side. The drop fell and began dancing in a starry world with his love, until the characters turned into dancing stars themselves and drifted into the sky.

I loved the show and felt it was a great commedia production!

-Allegra


Christopher Bayes is teaching a commedia workshop in March - see info below:

Commedia Dell'arte Weekend

Discover the world of Harlequino, Pantalone, and other archetypes of the Commedia dell'Arte. Celebrate the vulgar, the romantic and, of course, the profane. Find the lazzi. Learn to bring the mask to life. Live fully in your body. Investigate the actor/creator. Take ownership of your work.
Admission is open to all students.

Instructor: Christopher Bayes

Saturday, March 16, 1-6pm

AND Sunday, March 17, 12-5pm

@ ART NY, South Oxford Space, Great Room
138 South Oxford St, Brooklyn, NYC

$250.00

To sign up for a workshop or ask questions,
call Virginia @ 917-533-1924 or emailthefunnyschool@gmail.com

$50 non-refundable deposit required to reserve a spot per workshop.

The Berlin Wall is Being Rebuilt?!

No. It's not. But we had to con you into clicking our link, and to be fair, this post is related to Berlin, so only a few of those words were lies.

We just wanted to give you a little looky-loo into what we are up to!

Just because Tut'Zanni has settled down geographically a bit for 2012, doesn't mean that we aren't still hard at work. After all, so long as the world doesn't end this month, 2013 is just lurking around the corner, and we want to hit the ground running.

So here is what we are excited for: we are developing a new show with the working title, "HELP?!". As you have probably guessed, the show is to be about helping. But it's not just a bunch of feel-good stories about good people helping other people. Of course not. Because Commedia characters are not good people. The 'Zanni are not good people. We are not good people. No. They (and we) are just regular people (and sometimes terrible people...). And as we know, when regular people try to help, sometimes it doesn't go so well, or the have ulterior motives, or maybe help wasn't needed at all. We have all experienced or witnessed terrible things happen, storms and hurricanes and disasters, even just this year in New York and many other places. We have all needed help in our lives, or tried to help those around us, and in our show, we intend to explore all of these things, and more! And, of course, as a Tut'Zanni show, we'll be making sure it is as raunchy, vulgar, and hilarious as possible.

Now, we have been doing as much work as possible through  the wonders of today's technology, but we can only do so much wearing pirate hats and goatees in group video chats. We are going to have to come together physically and put this show in its feet! So, in February 2013, Tut'Zanni is running away to Berlin! Where the air is ripe with creativity, and the city is filled to the brim with inspiring art and those who created it. And, perhaps the more realistic motivation, theatre space that costs less than lunch (and believe me, the term "starving artist" is definitely applicable to us), and there are plenty of cozy little living spaces we can cram into. And let's not forget that our lovely co-founder, Dory, will be so pregnant that the changing air pressure in a plane would probably make her pop! Ok, not really, but we aren't going to make her travel across continents anyway.

As excited as we are, these things all mean the time for fundraising has begun! So we are reaching out to all fo you for your help and support, in whatever form. We are going ot be putting out some great swag, starting with our cute Tut'Zanni Monster calendars, and sweet glow-in-the-dark wristbands! They are available on our website under "swag", and all proceeds go directly to Tut'Zanni Theatre Company. You can also make donations on our "Donate!" tab (in case you hadn't noticed, you can also just click any of those words. Yay for links!). We understand that not everyone can donate monetarily, and that's totally fine! We're poor too, we get it. But you can still help. Spread the word, like our pages, follow our twitter, share our links! Let your family and friends know we exist, and help us rally up some support. We love and appreciate all of our fans, and all that you do for us!

We are planning a lot for 2013, Berlin is just the beginning! So keep checking us out and what we're up to, and when Tut'Zanni comes to town, come and see us!

Ok, so none of these pictures except one have really been related to the post itself, but let's be honest- blogs are far less boring when they have pictures (and who doesn't like Tut'Z in a Tub?!)! Plus we like to share our craziness with you. Help us create more weirdness in 2013!!!

We're Totally On Top Of Stuff

Long Overdue

Yes, yes, we know. We are TERRIBLE at keeping up with our blog!  So let us give you a quick little update-

FringeNYC was fantastic. It was such a good chance to be able to perform as well as see what other artists are doing. We had 5 performances altogether, which, of course, differed drastically. One of our favorites was filmed though, so once the footage is all edited and pretty, we’ll give you a little peek ;).

We each stayed all around the city with friends and family. Luckily, we seem to know a fair amount of people in the Big Apple. One of the great things about being there for the full 3 weeks of the festival was that we also had some down time to explore the city, see some shows, and really take in the whole experience.

From day 1, things were insane. That’s just how we do things. Dory and ALi had to build some portable flats, ingeniously crafted out of pvc pipe and a shadowscreen (which may or may not have been a plastic tablecloth).

These were assembled literally minutes before our tech rehearsal, where they were fireproofed as per New York law.

Our venue was The Cherry Lane Theatre, which is a gorgeous Off-Broadway stage, and we were very lucky to have it.

Rehearsal was tight as usual, and performances always varying. As scheduling turned out, we had Allegra performing with us on our first and last shows, with Molly in the middle 3.  We were very pleased with the entire run, and we are very glad that we attended the festival.

We were featured in Play by Play Magazine, you can read the article here

We also were reviewed by NYTheatre, which you can read here

The audience response was great. People really seemed to really like the show, and we gained some new fans :).

Overall, we loved New York, and were so grateful to be a part of FringeNYC!

Dance Parties = Lifesavers

We had originally intended to blog every day here, but we had been mad busy since we arrived! Plus, Patrick and I (ALi) completely failed at posting on our appointed blog days. At least Molly and Liam were on the ball for the first couple.

A lot has happened. We have cycled our way through about 12 different shows now, as every time we go to work, we end up completely changing everything. 

Over the weekend, we had the wonderful opportunity to work with Michele Bottini, who is a fantastic player in the commedia world. He helped give some insights as a trained outside eye, and brought us back to some solid commedia roots. And, of course, completely changed our show. 

On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of having Kevin Crawford, a spectacular instructor who actually taught all of us while we attended the Accademia, watch our show and give his insights. As you can guess, the show completely changed. Again.

There were several points where we hit the wall and each had our own breakdowns, but sometimes something has to be broken before you can build it back up. By Wednesday, we took the evening off, and enjoyed a spectacular evening of friends and fun at Dory and Jesse's beautiful countryside home for the 4th of July. It was great to get to know some of the other CrisisArt participants, new Accadema students, and of course some Italy residents. Tut'Zanni as a company also got to bond in a special way, reminiscing over old times, and being awestruck at where we are today. (If I remember, I will be inserting some pictures here, but I will have to steal them from Liam, as he seems to be the only one of us actually consistent about taking them! If I don't remember, then you will forever read this message at this point.)

Then we come to this morning. We had a bit of a rough start, but once we got going, we got going. We jumped back into the old version of our show (the one some of you saw in LA), and filled it with all the amazing bits from our new versions. And for the first time since we arrived, we have a complete show, and one that makes sense, with everything coming together in a beautiful way.




We mapped out our whole show to have a visual, and this is how it turned out:

For those of you unfamiliar with commedia, that right there is our entire canovaccio, or what normal plays would call their "script". There it is, in all it's glory. What a thing of beauty. Actually, the whole show is only the blue. The green is one king lazzo made up of lots of baby lazzi. Basically one giant funny bit. 

Throughout this whole process, we have had numerous ups and downs, as is to be expected. But what makes the difference is we pull each other through it... 

...with dance parties.

Stay tuned for more of the goings-on with Tut'Zanni! We are performing this Sunday at the CrisisArt Festival! If you just so happen to be in the area... you should come check us out. If you unfortunately can't make it, don't sweat it, we'll be filming it for you. Keep checking our website and blog for updates!

Newest Member and First Rehearsal

Day I of rehearsals has come and gone-and we are all covered in sweat, both our own and each other’s.

It was a very hot, but encouraging start to our creative process-and for me, as the newest member, a very supportive welcome to the work.  We spent the morning doing physical and vocal warm-ups as well as getting into the masks to find our voice, physicality and to start to play.  It is amazing how much can change in your work when you start to play-organically the most hilarious things start to happen.  All of us have commented on how we have laughed so hard that we have all burst into tears multiple times everyday that we have been here. 

Company meeting in the morning

Dory's work today had us all crying with laughter, including her 

The founder of our company and a very serious dancer.

Dance Monsters or Monster Dancers?

No caption needed.

Dory is currently suffering from limited mobility, which means putting on and taking off costumes is a three person job.

The show is changing a great deal from the work that the company started in Los Angeles-for one thing, Dory is in a cast as you can see in the photo above and Ali is still suffering from being hit by a car so we are working to create a show that is utilizing all the things that Dory and Ali can do without breaking any other parts of their bodies.   

Today we went over structure of the scenes as well as the relationship that all the characters have with each other.  So much of that is different, so finding the balance of keeping the great work that the company created before I started and adding me into the mix is tricky.  We all miss Allegra, and watching footage of her work has reminded me of how we all bring such different and strong ideas to the table.  

We also have Liam to thank for these amazing photos-I just noticed that he is not in any of them...but I assure you, he is actually here. 

There is a great deal of work to come, as well as showers, meals, bug bites (I have five so far!) and laughter.  It is really a dream come true to be back in the place that we all met and to be doing the work that brought us together.  Stay tuned for more to come...
Molly Tomhave-company member.

           

Remember when we threw a dance party here?

Where was that gelato place that was amazing?

Arezzo looks exactly the same as I remember it!

Today was a day of adjusting our internal clocks, loading up on essential supplies, and laying out our game plan. The surprisingly hot morning began with much-needed cappuccinos and cornetti at a local bar. The company then hiked through fields of grapevines to a local supermarket to buy enough food to last us for at least our first few days of rehearsals. We had a productive mid-afternoon lunch meeting where Ali and Dory presented our tentative schedule of rehearsals. We’ll first work on warm up and exercises, then start playing around with some of the material we already have. We’re very excited to begin collaborating with our newest Tut’Zanni member, the inimitable Molly Tomhave! She’ll be a welcome addition to our show, and we’re excited to see how the show (and company!) grows with her input and energetic spirit added to the mix.

The late afternoon was spent re-acquainting ourselves with the beautiful walled city of Arezzo. Can’t say it’s changed a lot since we were together in 2006, but hey, the city’s been around for thousands of years – why change a good thing? After an unexpected wine tasting, some excellent gelato and a vigorous hike back up to the Villa, we’re enjoying the last few moments of a leisurely Tuscan day before we set off to work rehearsing Art for Sale and counting down the days to the Crisis Art Festival at the Accademia dell’Arte!

Meet Tut'Zanni - Introducing: Dory Sibley

INTRODUCING: Dory Sibley

Role: Co-Founder
Location: Arezzo, Italy













In Her Own Words:


When did you first know you were interested in theatre?


Well, I have been singing and dancing since I was a very little girl. When I was in Elementary School, my church would put on musicals. the leaders of the youth choir were my best friend's parents, Jim and Pam Gilbreath. They really believed in nurturing my natural talent as a performer and gave my solos and lead roles. I am forever grateful to them because they helped me understand the stage and voice. Without them i may have never done theatre. After that, I was in show choir, thespians, and my first straight play was 'A Murder is Announced' in High School under the direction of Warren Rosenaur. He was a big influence on all that I did in theatre. I went on to the University of Arkansas where my voice teacher, Janice Yoes, turned me on to opera and with her and the Opera Theatre Director, Christopher Lacy, behind me I took on leading ladies and continuously shined on the opera stage


How did you hear about the Accademia dell'Arte and what made you decide to attend the 2006 program?


After studying Opera Theatre for 5 years, I was feeling very stuck in my technique and extremely fed up with the local opera world which included too many divas and not enough work ethic. I wanted to expand my understanding of performance and knew that was not going to happen in Fayetteville. I heard about the Accademia from one of the founding donors who was a close friend of my Godfather. I had no idea about the Arkansas connection until after I arrived. I was walking through the living room and the Founding President said, "Hey... so I hear you're from Arkansas..." and I was floored- the founding president is talking to me?! Being from a state university I don't even think I'd ever met the president. That is when I knew this was a very special place and I threw all fo my caution to the wind and said (as quoted from Allegra Libonati, 2006), "WHY NOT?!" It was a magical semester.



What did you do after you finished the 2006 semester?


I stayed at the ADA where I volunteered for free food until they realized the could not get rid of me ;) and hired me into the Student Life Coordinator position I had created with the help of the  Director of Student Services, Angelica Pinna-Perez. Together we shaped student life for many years, until I found out that they were going to offer a Masters program. I wouldn't ever even think about going to another masters program so I auditioned and was accepted. During that program I was able to devise, write, sing, and create in Arezzo, Turin, Milan, and Berlin. I finished my Master of Fine Arts in Physical Theatre in December 2011.

What was your most recent project(s)? (Or favorite?)

 Well obviously Tut'Zanni just did our first show in LA which I have to say is of course my favorite. Besides that, I loved every project I did with my MFA cohort as an ensemble. However, I think my favorite was the 'Un Cabaret Per Giorni Strani' (A Cabaret for Strange Days) we did under the direction of Paul Keenan. During this I found my voice as a writer and was able to really try out my chops at singing with acrobatics (part of my thesis project). I found something in myself that I did not know I had.

Why did you decide to help create Tut'Zanni?

So when we were finished with our 2006 semester, we said our biggest dream was to get a van and travel from one coast to the other picking up all of our colleagues along the way and performing in the streets to survive... Being able to co-found Tut'Zanni, especially with my wonderful bestie ALi, has been a dream come true. We're unconventional in every sense fo the word. We live all over the place, which makes us a travelling troupe, we work in all difference fields of performance, which makes us diverse, and yet we all share a common goal and passion. We are a family. This is true Commedia dell'Arte in its rarest form!

The Process

Over the next few days, Tut'Zanni's process grew out of hard work and specific techniques.

Day 4

This day started out with the yard sale early in the morning. We were all very tired and made sure to make a coffee run first thing. Sweet Shanna was nice enough to bring some homemade cookies to sell as well as oreo, velvet, cheesecake muffins for us to eat (thanks Shanna!). We set up our yard sale in our own artistic style... without hangers we hung dresses, coats, and other fancy items from the trees and made colorful signs to hail down traffic. We sold a good amount of our items and made enough money to cover all of our grocery shopping. That was a success.

Later, we went to back to work. First we wrote out the script we created for the first half of the Canovaccio. We were able to use the space and spent the rest of the time cleaning up the Capitano - Colombina scene. That night we toasted to the hardest day we have experienced yet as a company and celebrated by making dinner together.

Day 5 - 7

We used our time to clean scene by scene. We would spend at least 2 hours on each scene making sure it was as tight as possible before we moved on. Each day would begin with a review of what we had done the day before. We also began each day with physical and vocal warm up as well as vocal exercises in the mask. After we finished the script, we would use any down time to go over it again and again. The day would end with at least two complete runs of the show in the space.

Day 8 - SHOW TIME

We were excited and nervous when showtime came. It was all we could do not to run ourselves into the ground before the show began. We had been working from 9 am to 12:00 am every day to be sure we were prepared for this performance. Family, friends, colleagues and strangers came out to give their absolute support to our artistic vision. You are always afraid when you create something in a group that it may not be well received by a general audience. This fear subsided immediately in the first scene when giggles grew to full boisterous laughter, gasps and sympathetic awes... it is always fulfilling for us when we are sharing with the audience. It is the reason we are artists. The best feeling was that in 7 days we created a full piece from scratch that was well received and something we were proud to share.

Thanks again to all who came out to support our debut show! We hope you enjoyed the adventure as much as we enjoyed sharing it with you.

And So It Begins!

So we have been meaning to post a new blog post since Wednesday, but we actually have a good excuse- We've literally been running nonstop since Patrick and Allegra arrived. Our legs are very tired.

DAY 1

Patrick and Allegra both arrived at 10:30am Wednesday morning- in opposite terminals. We parked at Allegra's terminal, and promptly received a message from Patrick that he landed early. So we booked it across LAX international airport and made it just in time to wait for him. We had the best sign. We stood in front of all the other sign holders, so as to have the best position.

Those poor sissy sign holders, having to be outshone by our clearly superior sign.

And there he was! We had a completely surreal moment, this being the first time the 3 of us had been together in 6 years. Then Allegra called from baggage claim. The running commenced. With Patrick in tow, we ran shamelessly across the airport, sign in the air, yelling for Allegra, when we could breathe.  Totally in shape. Totally.

Allegra's sweet sign

Then we finally found Allegra outside with her bags... the moment was surreal to say the least.

Excitedly we packed up all of our baggage and quickly headed for ALi's apartment. We dropped off our stuff and departed almost immediately for rehearsal. Luckily we all had time to explore our performance/rehearsal space at MiMoDa Jazzo Studio before we began.

A big thank you to Yasha at the Mimoda Jazzo Studio 

for allowing us to use such a beautiful space

Our first rehearsal consisted of going through the canovaccio and discussing it, starting to choreograph the more acrobatic scenes, and beginning some Lazzi. We realized quickly how much more technical warm-up and commedia games we would need to do before rehearsing. Liam met us with us at ALi's church, our other rehearsal space, in the afternoon. This was a magical moment... for the first time in six years we were all in a room together playing and devising.



DAY 2

Day two began early at ALi's church. They were kind enough to allow us to use the enormous gymnasium that also has a stage in it and really any other room that was free was open for us to utilize. The best part was... we were allowed to full use of the kitchen where we could take short breaks to make lunch and dinner.When you are counting your pennies it is good to have a place to cook your own food.

Makin' some sammiches...

The morning we used to get into our bodies and re find our commedia techniques through games and interviews of each character. We began to improvise some of the lazzi and add to our script. When we got home that night we made Yard Sale signs to advertise for Saturday's fundraiser. We had some Magnum chocolate ice cream bars to celebrate the finish to a busy but productive day.  

DAY 3


Day three started with canvassing the city. We left flyers at every theatre, cafe and studio we could find open. Allegra, Patrick, and Dory were a little distracted at Hollywood and Vine. They made their way down the walk of stars waiting for the flyers to be printed in the early morning.

They enjoyed lunch together at ALi's other job and favorite cafe The Village Bakery and Cafe before going straight to MiMoDa studio to rehearse. At this point only the ending needed to be fleshed out. We played with a mock up of the shadow puppets and silhouettes behind the shadow screen.

We rehearsed and practiced technique until midnight. At this point the show can be run and pieces can be worked over and over again for specificity and cleanliness. Tomorrow we have the Yard Sale at 8 am. We will be rising early (around 6:30) to start our day. Such is the life of the artist... love love love!!