A 19th century drawing depicting the costumes of the commedia dell'arte stock characters. ... Commedia dell’arte started in Italy as performers traveled from town to town and performed outdoors.

Commedia dell’arte can be traced back to the Atellan Farces of Rome in 300 B.C. It became especially popular during the Renaissance, and would ultimately be used as a tool of social change.

Lovers of the Italian tradition, which grew out of commedia dell’arte and featured the same stock characters, had to make do with performances staged by traveling troupes at fairs held in Paris ...

The characters of this, the commedia dell'arte, were initially created by individual actors, but through repeated performance they became codified as stock figures: the pretentious Dottore, the ...

Theater company offers ‘Hamlet’ through the filter of commedia dell’arte, resulting in a black comedy aesthetic that complements the play’s themes.

P laywright George Herman's best-known play, "A Company of Wayward Saints," has been in print since it was first published 50 years ago. The slapstick comedy will open July 11 at Armstrong Atlantic… ...