Collections: Behind the Mask Special Collections reveals the many faces of commedia dell’arte. The typical commedia dell’arte storyline is one of the oldest in the books — two young lovers try to ...

Mask work and movement are key in Commedia dell’arte, an Italian comedy tradition that was popular in the Renaissance period. There were a number of stock characters, eg Pantalone and his ...

Pantomime is often seen as something quaint, something utterly British, but its origins lie in warmer climes. It developed from the Italian street theatre of the Commedia dell’arte in the 16th ...

“The masks found a really good home at Northwestern,” says Zellner, who was an adviser for the student commedia dell’arte group, the Panini Players. In 2007 Northwestern University Press published ...