The Northeast Theatre Presents “In Bocca al Lupo” - Study Italian and Commedia Dell’arte in Italy

When students returned last July from the three-week course in Italian language and commedia dell’arte, In Bocca al Lupo, they had one complaint; the course wasn’t long enough. They all wanted more. So, for the spring of 2007, The Northeast Theatre and LinguaSi Istituto di Lingua e Cultura Italiana have figured out a way of extending In Bocca al Lupo to a full month without having to charge any more for it. A miracle? It might seem so, but the entire experience seems miraculous to those who have taken this unique program designed and taught by Zuppa del Giorno, TNT’s international commedia troupe. It has a profound effect on your life, and is profoundly fun at the same time. Students from 16 to 65 are invited to Italy again this spring, May 7 to June 2 for another month of adventure and learning.

The phrase “in bocca al lupo” is what Italian actors use when Americans would say “break a leg”, (or wishing a colleague well before performance; in the topsy-turvy world of theatre, to say “good luck” would be bad luck.) Translated, the Italian phrase means “into the mouth of the wolf”, which is to say “go for it, risk everything, there’s nothing to lose out there but your self-consciousness.” In some traditions, what you say in return is “taglia la gola” or “slit its throat”, a rather earthy Italian version of “knock ‘em dead”. In other words, performing is an act of courage, you’ve got to give it all you’ve got, overcome fear and shyness, transcend the ego, and become as great as you know you are. That is exactly what this course is about, so the name fits.

A typical day looks like this:

* 8:30 a.m., physical and vocal warmup - to help condition and tune the body for the very demanding acting style the commedia tradition requires
* 9:30 a.m., Italian classes - employing immersion techniques of instruction
* 1:30 p.m., lunch - at one of the more than forty excellent restaurants and trattorias that Orvieto has to offer, many of them offering student discounts
* 3:00 p.m., theatre classes - that progress towards performance
* 7:00 p.m., break - to prepare for dinner or a quick trip to Lago di Bolsena (one of the most beautiful lakes in Europe) for a swim
* 10:00 p.m., an end of day gathering - for discussion, gelato, and sharing thoughts on what lies ahead

After four weeks, students present two performances of an improvised play based on a scenario they have created themselves, in Italian and before an Italian-speaking audience. It seems like an impossible feat, then they do it; and they do it brilliantly every time.

The first three weeks of the 2007 course will be conducted in the ancient hill town of Orvieto, a city of 6,000 situated on the A1 autostrada and the main rail line about half way between Florence and Rome.

Orvieto was Velzna to the Etruscans who founded it around about 800 B.C. When Rome began to expand into the Italian peninsula, most Etruscan cities (which shared no unifying political system) fell quickly to Roman rule. Velzna, however, held out, and the Romans, persistent themselves and respectful of persistence in others, spared the population when the city finally fell, but with one condition; it had to quit the town. The war over, and the need for a fortified hilltop diminished by universal Roman rule, Velznians resettled on the shore of a nearby lake and brought the name of their former residence with them. That town is now known as Bolsena, and it doesn’t take much imagination to understand how “Velzna” became “Bolsena”.

Later, after the Empire crumbled and fortified hill towns were viewed as an attractive security device once again, some of the citizens of Bolsena moved back to their old city, or “Urbus Vetto” and rebuilt. Today, Orvieto, sits on a honeycomb made of the tunnels, drains and storage rooms that its various inhabitants have carved into its tabletop plateau over the last 3,000 years. It is steeped in history and thoroughly modern at the same time.

The final week of the course will be hosted by Orvieto’s younger sister, Bolsena, which reclines placidly by her elegant lake like an Etruscan princess. Lago di Bolsena is a crater lake fed by underground springs, its water filtered by black sand. The result is a lake of astounding clarity with shallows that go out as far as 50 meters in some places. The lake is surrounded by black sand beaches. Bolsena has a resort area that is reminiscent of the 19th century, vestiges of the Renaissance, and a medieval quarter with its typically narrow streets, steps, and courtyard gardens. Both towns are large enough to be interesting, yet small enough to be friendly. There are no two places more perfect for getting to know Italy from the inside.

The culminating performances will be held in Teatro Communale di Bolsena, or ex-chiesa di San Francesco. Students will perform in a building that was already ancient when commedia troupes wandered the length and breadth of Europe, inspiring Shakespeare and Moliere, and spreading news and fashion like an Internet of its day.

To call In Bocca al Lupo an experience of a lifetime, although it may seem a bit cliché, is actually an understatement. It changes you. You never forget the days you spend in Italy or the performances you do there, and you never entirely lose touch with the friends you make there. It is to immerse yourself in another culture, to do something you never dreamt possible, to grow and open up as a human being, to live with great civility, to dine excellently, and to be a part of a community that takes itself so for granted that the idea of community is rarely discussed. That’s only some of what you will take with you from In Bocca al Lupo.

If you’re an actor — and you don’t have to be one to take this course — you will also take away a new understanding of comedy, increased physical agility and control, a deeper knowledge of how to tell a story, a better sense of the role that words play in live theatre, a stronger ability to listen, and a more natural tendency to respond to what is going on around you.

Registration for In Bocca al Lupo is now open and will continue until the February 16, 2007 deadline. You may register online at www.thenortheasttheatre.us by placing a deposit of $675. The full course fee (towards which the deposit is applied) is 2,595 lira, payable in dollars by March 16, 2007. The fee includes three weeks in Orvieto (double occupancy at a three star hotel with breakfast) and one week in Bolsena (double occupancy at a three star hotel with half board.) It also covers all costs associated with both Theatre and Italian classes, some local transportation, welcome and farewell feasts, and much more. For details, refer to the web site, above.

Imagine the impossible, then do it. In bocca al lupo, (taglia la gola)!

About Zuppa del Giorno

In September of 2002, six people gathered in a large room (an auditorium, converted from a basketball court, converted from an airplane hangar) with the intention of making something from nothing — a stone soup theatre experiment. They began with what they had in their pockets: theatre sports, stage combat, clowning, acrobatics, various degrees in theatre, and a big book of collected commedia dell’arte scenarios. From that grew a permanent troupe that experiments, creates, dares, and performs original shows crafted from the most lively of theatrical traditions, and as seen through contemporary eyes.

The group is Zuppa del Giorno: “The Soup of the Day.”

An integral part of The Northeast Theatre, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Zuppa del Giorno commandeers TNT’s stage once each season to debut its new creation.

That founding year, they explored the commedia dell’arte tradition in depth, and delivered up a riotous production in the spirit, if not the form, of traditional commedia, called Noble Aspirations. In Noble Aspirations they created the inhabitants of a Felliniesque small Italian town invaded by a menagerie of eccentric tourists, all of them in search of a fabled “Marchese,” a noble who could fulfill each of their most cherished dreams. The four actors portrayed a cast of eleven distinctive, active characters, all ensnared in the same delusion. The play was performed without benefit of a script, and included numerous opportunities for audience interaction. Noble Aspirations set the comic bar that Zuppa del Giorno continues to leap, year after year.

Next, the troupe tackled a somewhat different comic tradition with Legal Snarls, or, Groucho for the Defense, a farce inspired by the Marx Brothers with an original script by Steve Deighan. In it, the famous brothers (along with, of course, a pair of ingenues, a dastardly villain and his eccentric assistant, and a whole host of other hilarious types) attempt to save the Very Lower East Side Home for Orphans, Waifs and Foundlings from certain foreclosure. In doing so, they create as much chaos as possible. Zuppa del Giorno maintained its traditions of acrobatics, improvisation and audience interaction in this milieu, all the while taking advantage of classic devices like slamming doors, rolling furniture, and actual written dialogue. Legal Snarls honed madcap mayhem into finely tuned comedy, and left its audiences hungry for another serving of Zuppa.

Zuppa del Giorno’s creation for 2005 dispensed with dialogue altogether, as it took inspiration from the era of silent film for its homage piece: Silent Lives. In an abandoned hotel in Scranton, three friends awake from an eighty year sleep to discover themselves incapable of speech. Backed by a live band and projected placards, images, and film clips, they recall and relive their lives to a score of music from the 1920’s and 30’s. Characters from silent film visit and inhabit them, and they are filled with images of Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Mabel Normand, Lon Chaney, and many more. By far its most physically exacting and demanding creation, Silent Lives allowed the troupe to articulate the most hysterical and sublime emotions with nothing but movement, often while hanging from a scaffold, falling from ladders or fighting with swords … well, with canes. Silent Lives is made from basic elements, communicable to every audience, regardless of language differences and, best of all, it’s funny and sweetly sad.

In May 2006, Zuppa del Giorno developed Operation Opera in three frantic weeks, and from scratch. The result was a full length farce that employed music, outlandish costumes and a plot reminiscent of Fawlty Towers and Monty Python. It reflected the absurdly real in all of us, using language, physical and verbal, that is both ages old and freshly funny.

In June and July 2006, Zuppa took its talents to Orvieto, Italy, where is conducted a three week course (in conjunction with LinguaSi Istituto di Lingua e Cultura Italiana) in Italian and commedia dell’arte. Eight students ranging in age from 16 to 62 studied language and comic technique for three weeks, then presented an improvised play based on a scenario they helped create, in Italian and to an Italian audience. The course (and the performances) were a huge success, and Zuppa will be offering the course again in May, 2007.