- Aaron Johnson
To whom it may concern,
As the former Artistic Director of The Austin Commedia Society, an arts organization known for its enthusiastic, and often guerilla interpretation of the influential style of Commedia dell'Arte, I'd like to take a moment to inform you that in the last year our company has reformed under the name of La Fenice, Italian for "the phoenix."
Those of you familiar with our past antics are probably wondering if you can expect to see simulated multi-orifice sex, suffer blunt force political commentary, and experience the sort of manual disemboweling that coated the Off Center in a thin layer of Karo blood during the Frontera Long Fringe Festival back in 2000. Rest assured you will be far from disappointed, though in our accumulated wisdom, we have decided to replaced Karo blood with "representational" red velvet because it isn't nearly as sticky.
The debut performance of our newest original scenario, Suitors and Tutors later this month is a reunion in every respect with four of the original members of The Austin Commedia Society, Aaron Johnson, Paul Joiner, Genevieve Kinney, and Kate Meehan, being joined by film maker, comedian and Esther's Follies veteran Adam Wade Rodriguez. The venue we have chosen is Club Deville, the site of our very first production, The Isosceles Love Triangle, in 1999. For good measure, we've even managed to convince Dr. Gian Giacomo Colli, an Italian born master of modern Commedia dell'Arte to serve as our director, proving that there isn't much a good bottle of Barbera D'Asti can't do.
For those of you new to town, with short memories, or convinced that we were never much of a blip on the radar in the first place, a brief history lesson, followed by tea and Scrabble.
The Austin Commedia Society was formed in March of 1999 under the umbrella of the Austin Circle of Theatres, and was organized to advance a greater understanding and appreciation of Commedia dell’Arte, a highly stylized mix of masked, archetypical characters, improvised scenarios, and slapstick comedy that was performed in the streets and town squares of Renaissance Italy. Commedia dell’Arte paved the way for the rebirth of professional theater in Europe, influencing the comedic works of Moliere and Shakespeare, the opera stylings of Puccini and Mozart, and eventually the later day developments of Vaudeville and the modern television sitcom. During our tenure we produced over a dozen original works, performing them in venues typical of the form, such as coffee shops, bars, parks, and museums, encouraging a broad audience to enjoy the show in an authentic setting.
(It all sounds pretty, but basically it means we performed a variation of traditional black and blue comedy where people were known to hang out.)
In 2001, we produced the Commedia dell’Austin Festival, attracting a number of performance companies from across the United States, and two recognized European masters to facilitate workshops for the festival participants. This is when we met Gian Giacomo Colli, an Italian born expert theater practitioner, who studied under the direction of the God Father’s of Commedia dell’Arte and who has published a book and a number of articles on the subject as well as a producing an educational play: Commedia dell’Arte, The World of Harlequin, Then and Now. The festival, while critically acclaimed and financially successful, opened on September 8th and was sadly overshadowed by the tragic events of September the 11th that year.
(On a lighter note, Gian Giacomo has been joined by the Department of Homeland security in celebrating his his time in Austin so far by marking the "days without a major terrorist attack.")
In conclusion, I know that there are often too many local interest stories pertaining to the arts to award them all the media real estate they rightfully deserve, so all we ask is that you grant us someone else's 15 minutes. We feel we have a good story to tell, even if in our lack of forethought we chose to name our company La Fenice, thus branding it “rising from the ashes.” Still, there is something to be said for the core membership of the little theater company that could, shaking hands and parting ways in harmonious fashion to follow their own pursuits, only to return years later to the same city and the same art, garnering the assistance an old friend and modern maestro in the process.
So what do you say, column inches anyone? How about just a few precious moment in between commercials on the local news cast? Just give us an interview, I promise you won't be disappointed.
Sincerely,
Aaron Johnson
Artistic Director
La Fenice
-Aaron Johnson 
Gian has provided another juicy tidbit that is ripe for publication here. It is largely the translation of a blog entry that first appeared, in Italian, on the Guiness World Records website. All, except for the last sentence, which is a personal reflection provided by Dr. Colli. To quote one of our members, it makes the news all the more “badass!”
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Let me be clear: I am not old..JPG)
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Having Dr. Gian Giacomo Colli serve as our guest director for Suitors and Tutors was an honor, an education, and a true gift. Apparently, of the variety that keeps on giving. Just today, I discovered a journal he kept of his time in Austin posted on Facebook in a series of status updates. I have compiled them all here them here for convenience, unedited. It’s hard for me to read without hearing his sometimes perfect English in my head.
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If you have a passion for Commedia dell'Arte, then as a performer it’s like riding a bicycle, you never quite forget how. That statement does nothing to account for the shape of the bicycle when you dig it out of the garage years later, however, or the shape of the rider for that matter. We've had to knock the rust of the frame, tighten the brakes, and true the wheels and then, of course, there is the issue of repairing the bike.
