Lust, Lies, & Marriage

*Lust, Lies, & Marriage* Piccolo Theatre, Evanston, IL							April 2008 Lighting Designer

*Lust, Lies and Marriage* was 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. These scenarios represent the most important discovery in Commedia dell’Arte history.
							photo ©REP3 *Coviello, Orazio, and Pucinella rehearse for the introduction of the false Pascariello*

	This production was presented on a traditional Commedia platform and costumed in the style of the engravings by Jacques Callot, from the period of the Casamarciano scenarios. As Commedia dell'Arte is a theatrical form that is primarily about the actor - his movements, vocal quality, costuming, and mask - the task of the lighting design was very simple - not to be noticed. Other than general illumination, the lighting served only to denote "button" moments at the beginning and end of scenes, and to denote a change of locale (from the town square to the doorstep of Dottore's house).
							photo ©REP3 *"Yes?" - Isabelle is called out from her house by her father to hear the news of her impending marriage.*
photo ©REP3 *Dottore is confronted by the false Isabella*


				Directed by Maestro Antonio Fava Lighting by Cathy Bowren Scenic Design by John Szostek Costumes by Michelle Rossi & Angela Elowsky Photography courtesy of REP3
photo ©REP3 *El Capatian, brandishing a sword, strikes fear into the hearts of onstage performers & offstage musicians alike*

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Cathy L. Darrow

Lighting Design & Stage Management

cathy@cathybowren.com
8301 44th Street, Lyons, IL