Piccolo Theatre to Open 'Lust, Lies and Marriage'

Piccolo Theatre will open Lust, Lies and Marriage ( Il Pozzo Dei Furbi ), at the Evanston Arts Depot, 600 Main Street, Evanston. 

Lust, Lies and Marriage is a world premiere directed by, the internationally acclaimed master of Italian comedy, Antonio Fava. In the play Dottore tells his daughter she'll be marrying Lelio when all she wants to do is marry the handsome Orazio. A foreign woman named Celia falls in love with the same Orazio while another gentlemen named Odoardo falls in love with her. What's a servant or two to do but dress up in disguise and help love-struck masters figure the whole mess out! Add an enchanted well, a wily thief, a voluptuous inn-keeper and greedy fathers and you've got a classic set-up for an Italian farce Commedia dell'Arte style! The script, found in 1896 among 176 other scenarios in Casamarciano in the province of Naples, Italy, had been lost for over two centuries. It then languished, in the Biblioteca Nazionale of Naples, for another century. Italian scholars endeavored to study and transcribe the text. The English translation has only been available in the past few years. They represent the most important discovery in Commedia dell'Arte history.

Maestro Fava and John Szostek, Piccolo's Artistic Director, chose one that American audiences would most appreciate. This production will be presented on a traditional Commedia platform and costumed in the style of the engravings by Jacques Callot, from the period of the Casamarciano scenarios. Maestro Fava feels that the Piccolo Theatre Ensemble is perfectly suited to bring Lust, Lies & Marriage (Il Pozzo dei Furbi) back to the stage.

Maestro Antonio Fava, one of the world's foremost scholars, performers and directors of this art form will direct the production while staying in Chicago for the five weeks of rehearsal. He will also write the dialogue, compose the music, and design and construct the signature leather masks. Maestro Fava is the Director of the International School of the Comic Actor in Italy and author of two definitive texts on Commedia, The Comic Mask in Commedia dell'Arte and Actor, Training, Improvisation and the Poetics of Survival (Northwestern University Press).

Cast includes ensemble members: Ken Raabe, John Szostek (Artistic Director), Denita Linnertz, Leeann Zahrt, Amy Gorelow, Deborah Craft, David Kelch and Ryan Musil and also Karen Yates and Sam Wootten.

Production crew includes: Antonio Fava (Director), Denita Linnertz (Managing Director), Drew Dir (AD/Dramaturg), Zac Davis (Production Manager), Luke Holladay (Stage Manager), Michelle Rossi (Costume Design), Angela Elowsky (Assitant Costume Design), Cathy Bowren (Lighting Design).

Lust, Lies and Marriage will be presented at the Evanston Arts Depot, located at 600 Main Street, Evanston in the Main Street METRA Station. Previews are Friday, March 28, 8:00 p.m., Saturday, March 29, 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 3:00 p.m. Preview tickets are $12.50, Seniors - $10 and Students $7.50. The run continues through Saturday, May 10. Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.
                           
Tickets are $25.00, Seniors - $20 and Students- $15.00. Running time is approximately 2 hours with a 15-minute intermission. For ticket reservations and group rates, call the box office at 847-424-0089 or visit www.piccolotheatre.com. Email info@piccolotheatre.com for more information.

Founded in 2001, the Piccolo Theatre embodies and realizes the human comedy through physical theatre, eloquence and humor in order to move, delight and transform audiences. In residence at the recently renovated Evanston Arts Depot, a cultural arts center in South Evanston, the comfortable 50-seat house perfectly immerses the audience in a distinctive little world, giving them a truly incomparable theatre experience.
 

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