Cari amici,

Faction of Fools is excited to launch Season Three in residence at Gallaudet University, where we will partner with Theatre Arts students and faculty to further explore the multilingual history of Commedia dell’Arte and the rich ways in which gesture and physicality can communicate, enlighten, amuse, and inspire.

Our season opens with a classic Renaissance comedy written by a man more notorious for his politics: Machiavelli’s The Mandrake creates an unlikely happy ending out of the hilarious deceptions people employ for love.  The Mandrake, opening in September of 2011, will be our inaugural performance in Gallaudet’s Elstad Auditorium.

In the New Year, we offer a semester of Shakespeare—adapting two of the Bard’s most famous tragedies to the Commedia dell’Arte style that so greatly influenced him.  Romeo and Juliet, the classic story of two young lovers divided by a family feud, borrows heavily from the tradition of the Italian Comedy, and our high-octane version (featuring five actors in a one-hour cutting) brings physical spectacularity to Shakespeare’s poetry and highlights tragedy by juxtaposing it with humor.  Our Commedia Romeo and Juliet will premiere at Flashpoint’s Mead Theatre Lab in January 2012 and then begin touring local schools and universities. 

We follow this love-story-gone-wrong with another unlikely tragicomedy: Hamlecchino, Clown Prince of Denmark, which puts the Commedia servant Arlecchino in the lead role of Hamlet, matching Shakespeare’s poignant philosophy with Commedia’s surprising physical comedy.  Joining Shakespeare’s original language with Faction of Fools’ inventive style, Hamlecchino is sure to be a Hamlet like no other and will premiere at Gallaudet in April of 2012.

And, of course, we will cap the season by inviting other artists from the DC theatre community to join us in our 3rd Annual “Fool for All”: Tales of Marriage and Mozzarella at the 2012 Capital Fringe Festival.  Over 60 DC actors have performed in previous “Fool for All” productions, and the third installment promises to be bigger, bolder, and funnier than ever.

In addition to producing our three mainstage shows and our annual “Fool for All,” we will continue to offer in-school and after-school workshops for all ages through our Education Department.  Furthermore, we are delighted to bring our brand of Commedia to a variety of upcoming festivals and conferences.  Once again, we will coordinate the worldwide Commedia dell’Arte Day on February 25th, and in DC we will host our annual “Masked Ball,” full of fun and feasting on the eve of Commedia dell’Arte Day.  Additionally, we will present new works at the Kennedy Center’s Page-to-Stage Festival, DC’s Arts on Foot Festival, and the Shakespeare Theatre’s “Happenings at the Harman” Series, to name a few.  We will also partner with Gallaudet to host the northeastern academic “hub” for this year’s International Commedia dell’Arte Conference.

In the brief time since our founding in the fall of 2009, the Faction has grown to include 22 Associated Artists and has reached thousands of audience members and students.  I am humbled by the enthusiasm with which spectators and performers alike have welcomed Commedia dell’Arte to Washington, DC.  In partnership with Gallaudet University Theatre Arts, we are honored to take this grand tradition into a new season of laughter and discovery.

Foolishly,
 
Matthew R. Wilson, Founding Artistic Director