What's Next?

We gave our non-profit status a shot, and we're quickly learning that we are currently too non-profit to be non-profit. Currently we are operating as a division of Shane-Arts (www.shane-arts.com) until such time comes as we have enough cash flow to warrant the non-profit status. Hopefully we will be able to partner with schools and non-profit theatre companies to do our larger production and not have to hassle with the logistics year round.

In the past years we have had shows that can be performed in 10-30 minute sets, with some school shows that ran from 45-90 minutes. These were geared toward street theatre and outdoor festivals. Now we will putting together full productions that can go on the road to accompany workshops or go up in a community theatre near you. Since we get requests from all over the world from places that do not have a budget to bring us in, we are working on smaller workshops that can be done with only twocommedia performers as well as video and other interactive materials to help with schools. If you have any other ideas on how we can reach more people, please let us know.

Tim Shane
Janurary 1st, 2002

The New 2001 Website

Welcome to the new Commedia dell'Carte Website! Since 1997 our website has become a vital source of information on Commedia dell'arte around the world. This site has been instrumental to commedia performers, fans, students, researchers, dramaturges, enthusiasts, and even hecklers from Europe, Australia, North and South America as well as locally in Texas and the most remote parts of the United States. Keeping up with the demands of directing, performing as well as being a webmaster was hard, and we experienced some problems at our old site. Some pages would stop working and the website would be unavailable for weeks at a time.

The website was originally created to help market the Commedia dell'Carte ensemble into new venues and provide some background on the performers and Commedia dell'arte. Since then I have learned that this site has been included on academic and conservatory syllabi around the world as well as a tried and true resource for people experimenting in commedia style productions, every page must be kept current and updated often. In addition, it will serve as an even more valuable resource for information on Commedia dell'arte. If you are working on an assignment for graduate work, I encourage you to submit your assignments to the website where they can be posted for others to reference. We will also make book orders possible as well as some instructional design and layouts for commedia style workshops. This website will continue to go as we preserve and evolve the style of Commedia dell'Carte into the 21st Century. Please be sure to share your thoughts and ideas either through E-mail or on the guestbook.

Sincerely Yours in Art,

Tim Shane,
Artistic Director
January 24, 2001

The Latest News

Considering our old website had news from 1998, there is a great deal of catching up to do for those of you who have been following this page. I have tried to break some of this up into some hot categories, but I will sum up here. First you might have noticed our new website. This website has technical support, much more space and is easy to update and return E-mail. We are hoping to add some streaming video and other features for the power internet users in the near future.

Another aspect you may have noticed is that we are not doing as many Renaissance and Fantasy Festivals. Commedia dell'Carte was originally conceived as a small group out of the performing company of Scarborough Renaissance Festival located in Waxahachie, TX. However, since we formed this group we have noticed that Renaissance Faires all over the country have adopted (and in some cases revived) Commedia dell'arte troupes. They have come to be expected and I will speak more to this under the Scarborough Faire title. Basically, we are gearing ourselves more toward touring productions and workshops aimed at academic environments.

We have received several requests for deeper research, production notes and diaries as well as workshops for all over the world. Since most school budgets cannot afford to bring the entire troupe in, we are reconfiguring our workshops to be most effective with fewer members of the ensemble. We are also working on putting together some training and educational videos on the topic of commedia dell'arte. If you are interested, we ask that you please drop us a line so that we can better prioritize our efforts.

We are also hoping to tour full length commedia plays such as "The Servant of Two Masters" or "The Three Cuckolds" that we can bring to nearby venue to truly be a "theatre coming near you". If you would be interested in coming to see us, please leave us your contact information, and be sure to keep an eye on this page for updates.

Tim Shane,
Artistic Director
Janurary 25, 2001

Scarborough Faire

There has been many questions and I am sure there will be many more regarding our recent lack of participation at the Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival. It is with mixed emotions that I inform you we will not be performing in their 2001 season. No, we were not fired, although I am putting together a list of my favorite rumors. On one hand, it is this venue that Commedia dell'Carte has referred to as their home for nearly a decade, and to not have it on our annual calendar feels like the death of a friend. On the other hand, this one booking would usually book the ensemble for nearly 5 months. Not to mention that in 1993, I did not know of a Renaissance Festival that currently had a commedia troupe or even did a commedia style presentation, and now I can't think of a festival without one. Whether they have revived old troupes or formed new ones, commedia troupes are becoming staples and are to be expected along with turkey legs, beer, jugglers and belly dancers at such venues. Long live COMMEDIA! I have been fortunate enough to see a few festival based companies, and other ensemble members of dell'Carte have visited others. The good news is some festivals actually have impressive commedia shows, such as I Arroganti from the Texas Renaissance Festival. It is my understanding that one of their members will be coordinating an effort to do a commedia piece for Scarborough Faire in 2001. In the meantime, we are going to focus our time on once again paving (or re-paving) a road to new commedia audiences. If we miss each other too much, we can always submit a proposal for 2002.