INTERNATIONAL OPERA THEATER
American International School for Commedia dell’Arte
Master classes with Italian Maestro Antonio Fava, the world’s preeminent authority on Commedia dell’Arte, brought to Philadelphia each year for actors, singers, opera singers, directors, and historic reenactors from around the world. Participants perform daily, free Commedia canovacci presentations open to the public.
Interested in taking a class, or hosting Maestro Fava? Contact Christian at favadelphia@gmail.com
How It Began
Transformative Fava in Philadelphia
Karen Saillant first learned of Antonio Fava through her son Bernard, who watched a struggling actor bring down the house at a New York audition — and credited it all to his training with Fava in Italy. That night, Karen decided she would bring Antonio Fava to Philadelphia. For five years, IOT sponsored his classes here, sharing not just improvisation but a lifetime of historical research proving Commedia dell’Arte was the highest form of Renaissance theater, performed indoors by the most celebrated actors in Italy.
“Being with Antonio is like that,” Saillant has said. “He is at the same time master and audience.” His teaching connected her to the historic roots of her own artform — and to the principles now at the heart of IOT’s creative process.
From Maestro Fava’s The Comic Mask in the Commedia dell’Arte
The Four Commedia Archetypes
The Old Man
Magnifico, the libidinous merchant, and Dottore, the endless-talking braggart-scholar — both forever chasing objects of desire far beyond their reach.
The Servant
Zanni, the fool who somehow pulls off the impossible; Servetta, the first professional actress — ancestor of Colombina, Despina, and Zerlina.
The Lover
Innamorato and Innamorata — young, beautiful, and inexpert in life, loving each other with an idealistic passion that becomes unbearable when interrupted.
The Captain
Capitano, the boastful war hero and impostor foreigner, brags of valor yet turns to stone at the mere mention of violence. He is Don Giovanni.
A Living Tradition
From Commedia to Opera
Commedia dell’Arte’s archetypes run straight through the operatic canon. Mozart himself dressed as Arlecchino for Carnival and wrote Commedia cues into his string quartets; by 1791 his operas — Le nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute — were built on these same Renaissance character types. Richard Wagner put it simply: “We are all Atellans,” tracing every one of us back to the archetypes born in Atella, Italy, more than two thousand years ago.
“Antonio Fava, the great Pulcinella of our day, has brought back to vibrant life a whole art form.”Simon Callow, Olivier Award–winning actor & director
