On Stage: Performing Arts at our Oneonta Campuses by Rachel Frick Cardelle
Love, Chaos, Masks and Rascals
"Scapino,” a show adapted by Jim Dale and Frank Dunlop in 1974 from “Les Fourberies de Scapin,” which was first written and produced by Molière in 1671, comes to SUNY Oneonta’s Goodrich Theatre from November 13-16. Directed by Kiara Pipino, the show features a cast of SUNY O students and visiting guest artist Mace Perlman. The plot to this comedy is pretty simple: two young men in love, two disapproving fathers, and one wily servant who spins outrageous schedules. Not to mention the almost half-dozen mischief-making rascals who run around the stage and audience, causing mayhem.
Mace Perlman, who began his theatrical training with two years under Marcel Marceau, is an actor, director, and movement coach whose 40-year career is deeply rooted in physical theatre and commedia dell’arte. Mace shared an evening of commedia dell’arte recently at Hartwick’s Slade Theatre, thanks to a partnership between the two colleges in which the two theater departments coordinate funding and guest artists to the enrichment of their students and our community. Not a bad deal if you’re us! I took the opportunity to interview Kiara, Mace, and most of the cast of “Scapino,” exploring with them both the art of commedia dell’arte and how they had adapted the adaptation for their own production of “Scapino.”
So what in tarnation is commedia dell’arte? Fortunately, I had Mace (“Argante”) to explain that to us.
