By JULES SHINKLE
BG Independent News
Commedia dell’arte is alive and well in Horizon Youth Theatre’s latest play, a semi-improvised and slapstick-heavy rendition of Pinocchio.
HYT is putting on Lane Riosley’s “The Commedia Pinocchio” this weekend (August 14 – 16) at Bowling Green City Park’s Needle Hall. Friday and Saturday’s shows are at 7 p.m., and Sunday’s is at 2 p.m. Admission is by donation.
The play leans into its Italian roots by embodying a traditional style of theatre in which actors don masks to play characters, use only the simplest of props, and banter with the audience.
Essentially, “The Commedia Pinocchio” is a play-within-a-play; for one weekend only, HYT has transformed into a traveling troupe of Italian improv comedians.
Making his directorial debut is HYT alum Leonid Roberts-Zibbel. He started playing with the company thirteen years ago and credits the time spent in theatre as a major influence on his current life.
“I discovered so much about myself through HYT. Playing so many roles and meeting so many different and diverse people helped me realize I was trans. Everything about my values, everything I hold true is because of the people in HYT.”
Now, Roberts-Zibbel majors in acting at BGSU. “Like, clearly, this is something that means so much to me.”
On why he wanted to try directing, he says, “A big part of it is wanting to maintain this community that I grew up with. Also, an unwillingness to leave.”
Being enmeshed with the company already, he’s found a lot of support from the actors and production team.
“The first rehearsal was awful because I had no idea what I was doing,” says Roberts-Zibbel. “I was talking to (Liz Robertson, Stage Manager), and she was like, ‘That’s how it is every single time. Every director goes through that, and you’ll pick it up really easily.’”
“Next rehearsal onward was totally fine – the first one told me everything I needed.”
Roberts-Zibbel encouraged the cast to bring all physicality “to a twenty – not even a ten; we gotta go higher.”
Commedia dell’arte shows would historically be performed for audiences who didn’t speak the same language, so the storytelling and humor had to be communicated through exaggerated gestures.
Early in the play, two characters get into a spat – each steals the hat off the other’s head and stomps it into the ground. After a few bouts of this, they forget whose hat is whose and shrug the matter off. A true gentlemen’s argument, no dialogue needed.
“Teaching this theatre history is so important to me. It gets them out of their comfort zones, gets them doing things they haven’t done before.”
The cast is as follows: Zola Barnhill as Columbine, Fox Roberts-Zibbel as Arlequin, Devin Rogel as Pantalone, Brynlee Johnson as Rosetta, and Nic Fecht as Punchin.
HYT’s “The Commedia Pinocchio” is a hilarious homage to an art form that reminds us that good theatre doesn’t require massive set pieces or intricate lighting. With a little bit of the DIY ethos and some spirited performances, a low-tech show can be just as transformative.
