Click Links Below to Learn More About Commedia dell'Arte
Online summaries of Commedia history, characters, or related sites
Commedia dell'Arte from Wikipedia, the free online Encyclopedia (variable accuracy)
Commedia dell'Carte (http://www.tim-shane.com/Commedia-dellcarte/history.htm)-information on characters, history, scenarios, links
Commedia dell'Arte article from Winifred Smith's quite accurate 1912 description of Commedia
I Sebastiani - a well-researched Boston-based Commedia Troupe
Google site about Commedia’s history and characters https://sites.google.com/site/italiancommedia/home?authuser=0
Commedia dell’Arte Italian theatre
https://www.britannica.com/art/commedia-dellarte
Anthony Saunders, historian and author
https://thebooktrap.weebly.com/anthonys-blog/the-history-of-commedia-dellarte
New World Encyclopedia
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/commedia_dell%27 arte
Online Information for Workshops, Training, and Performances
The Pandemonium Studio in NYC with Christopher Bayes and Gabriel Levey https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/commedia_dell%27 arte
Dell’Arte International School in Blue Lake, CA. https://dellarte.com/
Faction of Fools in Washington, DC run by Michael Wilson, Francesca Chilcote and Kathryn Zoerb. https://www.factionoffools.org/
Accademia dell’Arte in Arezzo, Italy, taught by Scott McGehee and guest artists
Manifesto Poetica with Carlos Garcia Estevez and Paige Allerton at LeCoq School in Paris, et al
https://www.manifestopoetico.com/
Commedia by Fava—workshops with Antonio Fava in Reggio-Emilia Italy
http://www.antoniofava.com/en/workshops/
and at Fourth Monkey in London, England
https://www.fourthmonkey.co.uk/train/two-year-rep/commedia-dell-arte/
Make a Scene theatre arts, led by Rosa Compagnano in Australia
http://www.makeascene.com.au/artists/
NYU Tisch Summer workshop abroad in Commedia dell’Arte with Jim Calder
https://tisch.nyu.edu/special-programs/events/commedia-dell-arte-acting-workshop
Celebration Barn in South Paris, Maine
Commedia Mask Makers Websites
Den Durand, France and Spain
https://www.manifestopoetico.com/dendurandmasks/#/masks
Stanley Allen Sherman: Mask Arts Companyin NYC
https://www.maskarts.com/commediadellarte.htm
Newman’s Commedia Mask Company in Ubud, Bali and Oregon, US
Specialita’ Veneziane in Italy
http://www.specialitaveneziane.it/prodotti/maschere-commedia-dell-arte
Dark Side Masks in Australia
https://darksidemasks.com/category/commedia-dellarte
Jonathan Becker at Theater-masks.com USA
https://darksidemasks.com/category/commedia-dellarte
Craig and Zann Jacobrown: The Maskery in WA
Commedia Bibliography
General information on Commedia dell’Arte
Routledge Companion to Commedia dell’Arte. (2015) Ed. By Judith Chaffee and Olly Crick. London and New York: Routledge.
The Italian Comedy.(1996) by Pierre Ducharte. London: Dover Press
The Commedia dell’Arte from the Renaissance to Dario Fo. ((1989) by Christopher Cairns. UK and New York: Edwin Mellon Press.
The Commedia dell’Arte; A Documentary History (1990) by Kenneth and Laura Richards. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
The Commedia dell’Arte (1968) by Giacomo Oreglia. New York: Hill and Wang.
The Venetian Origins of the Commedia dell’Arte (2014) by Peter Jordan. London And NY: Routledge
Italian Popular Comedy, Volumes I and II ((1934) by Kathleen Lea. London: Oxford Uniersity Press.
The World of the Harlequin ((1963) by Allardyce Nicoll. UK: Cambridge University Press
Commedia dell’Arte: An Actor’s Handbook (1994) by John Rudlin. New York: Routledge
Commedia dell’Arte in Context (2018) Ed. by Christopher Balmer, Piermario Vescovo and Daniele Vianello. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Moliere and the Italian Comedy (1867) By Louis Moland. Paris: Didier et Cie.
The History of the Harlequinade (1915) by Maurice Sand. London: Benjamin Blom
Music and Women of the Commedia dell’Arte (2003) by Anne MacNeil. UK: Oxford University Press.
Commedia dell’Arte Scenarios
Scenarios of the Commedia dell’Arte (1967) Ed. By Henry F. Salerno. New York: New York University Press.
Commedia dell’Arte: A Handbook for Troupes (2001) by John Rudlin and Olly Crick. New York and London: Routledge
Commedia Plays: Scenarios, Scripts, Lazzi (2007) by Barry Grantham. UK: Nick Hern Books
Commedia dell’Arte: A Scene Study Book (1977) by Bari Rolfe. San Francisco: Persona Products.
Scripts and Scenarios: the Performance of Comedy in Renaissance Italy. (1993) By Richard Andrews. UK and New York: Oxford University Press.
The Commedia dell’Arte of Flaminio Scala: A Translation of 30 Scenes (2008) by Richard Andrews. US: Scarecrow Press.
The Comic Mask in the Commedia dell’Arte (2007) by Antonio Fava. US: Northwestern University Press.
Lazzi: The Comedy Routines of the Commedia dell’Arte (1983) by Mel Gordon. NY: Performing Arts Journal Publications.
Masks and Maskmaking
Mask Improvisation for Actor Training and Performance (1996) by Eldredge Sears. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Commedia dell’Art and the Masks of Amleto and Donato Sartori (1980) by Alberto Marcia”
Who is Judith Chaffee?
Judith Chaffee, AEA, is Associate Professor Emerita at Boston University, where she was Head of Movement for the School of Theatre and the BU Opera Institute.
With Olly Crick, she co-edited The Routledge Companion to Commedia dell’Arte and narrated two CDs on Period Styles through Insight Media, directed and edited by Joel Asher.
She was a choreographer/dancer/artistic director with Boston Dance Collective for over 20 years, while developing a teaching career in most forms of theatre movement, dance, and opera, and choreographing and directing work throughout New England and abroad.
She studied Commedia with Antonio Fava in Italy, Carlos Garcia Estevez, and Katrien von Beurden in Holland, Avner Eisenberg, and Julie Goell at Celebration Barn, among many others, and has been teaching and performing Commedia dell’Arte for over 25 years.
Judith currently resides on Plum Island, north of Boston where she serves on the Board of Theater in the Open, a 40-year theatre training and performance company specializing in the creative reimagining of classical works and comedies.
