Set the Stage!: Teaching Italian through Theater

✍ Scribed by Nicoletta Marini-Maio, Colleen Ryan-Scheutz

• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 424
• Edition: Bilingual
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Set the Stage! is a collection of essays on teaching Italian language, literature, and culture through theater.  From theoretical background to course models, this book provides all the resources that teachers and students need to incorporate the rich and abundant Italian theater tradition into the curriculum.   Features of the book include•  the “Director's Handbook,” a comprehensive guide with detailed instructions for every step of the process, from choosing a text to the final performance,•  an exclusive interview with Nobel laureate Dario Fo,•  a foreword by prize-winning author Dacia Maraini.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 8
Acknowledgments......Page 10
Introduction......Page 12
Prologue: Theater Performance with American Students......Page 30
I. Theater in Italian Literature and Culture......Page 36
ONE: Authors, Texts, and Innovative Movements: An Overview of the Italian Theatrical Canon......Page 38
TWO: Acting Italian: From the Piazza to the Stage......Page 61
II. Theater Courses in the Italian Language Curriculum......Page 92
THREE: The Theatrical Workshop in the Italian Curriculum......Page 94
FOUR: Creative Connections: The Theater Practicum and the Integration of Language and Literature Study......Page 125
FIVE: Theater Texts and Techniques in the High School Classroom......Page 155
III. Genres, Themes, and Techniques of Italian Theater......Page 180
SIX: Epic Theater, Comic Mode: Understanding Italian Society through the Works of Dario Fo and Franca Rame......Page 182
SEVEN: Commedia dell’Arte’s Techniques: Theater Research and Italian Language Interplay......Page 198
EIGHT: Opera as Theme, Opera as Theater: A Content-Based Approach to the Teaching of Italian Language and Culture......Page 223
IV. Methods and Assessment in Italian Theater Workshops......Page 248
NINE: Full-Scale Play Production: Filling the “Empty Space” between Language and Literature with Fo and Pirandello......Page 250
TEN: Community, Culture, and Body Language: Staging the Female Voice in the Italian Drama Workshop......Page 278
ELEVEN: Proficiency and Performance: Assessing Learner Progress in the Italian Theater Workshop......Page 302
V. Director’s Handbook......Page 332
Text Selection: A Few Criteria......Page 334
Financial Resources, Publicity, and Community......Page 341
The Italian Drama Workshop in Three Acts......Page 344
Training the Body, Coaching the Mind: Preliminary Acting Exercises......Page 345
Monologue/Monodrama Projects......Page 350
English Translations and Surtitles for the Public Performance: Rationale and Practicalities......Page 353
“It’s Showtime!” A Concise Guide to Italian Theater Production for New Directors......Page 361
Afterword: An Interview with Dario Fo and Franca Rame. Thoughts on Theater, Engagement, and the Comic. Examples for a New Pedagogy......Page 402
A......Page 416
C......Page 417
E......Page 418
G......Page 419
M......Page 420
P......Page 421
S......Page 422
T......Page 423
Z......Page 424
Illustrations......Page 394