Theater workshop to perform in Italian

Producing and performing a full-scale production entirely in Italian would be a huge undertaking for most.

But members of the Italian Theater Workshop will perform the comedy “La Marcolfa” by Dario Fo and two short scenes from “La Locandiera” by Carlo Goldoni and “Sabato, Domenica, e Lunedì” by Eduardo De Filippo this weekend. 

Take it from senior Alison Howard, member of the 400-level, semester-long Italian Theater Workshop, taught by Professor Colleen Ryan-Scheutz:

“It’s definitely not easy,” Howard said. “It’s a total language experience. No English is allowed, unless the director, who is our professor, gets frustrated.”

Howard said the diversity of her class, which ranges from a high school Italian aficionado to foreign exchange students, created a unique set of challenges.

“Very few of us had really acted in English before, let alone perform in a foreign language, where you have to communicate and act as though you’ve spoken the language your whole life,” Howard said.

She said everything was done the way an Italian person would perform daily functions, especially when it came to learning proper speech and emphasis with certain words.

“We had to understand where to put emphasis to make things sound natural, and the rhythm of the language,” Howard said. “Some of the people even worked with native speakers.”

She said the students worked with Italian actor Marco Baliani, who came to give everyone tips on how to perform in Italian.

Sophomore and Indian exchange student Naina Singh said the workshop has helped her gain confidence in public speaking.

“I’m an Italian major, so though the language is familiar, the acting and vocal confidence that comes with it is not,” she said. “I have a bit of stage fright, but this is helping me overcome that.”

Singh said students interested in coming should not be discouraged because everything will be in Italian. There is a detailed synopsis of each segment in English in the program.

“It’s all very physical humor,” Howard said. “There’s a lot of slapstick, and it will appeal to people’s emotions. You don’t have to speak Italian necessarily to know what’s going on.”