La Fenice

Gian Giacomo Colli comes from a family of commedia dell'arte performers and practitioners. He holds an MFA and a PhD, and is the only actual Italian performing on our stage. In the past, he's visited as a guest director, flying in to tidy up shows at the last moments before performances. After many moons of cajoling, harassment, and plying with wine, he finally agreed to join us as Pantalone in For Whom the Dong Tolls. We caught up with him, now that we've performed the show

Adam Rodriguez is rehearsing his fourth show with La Fenice. Previously, he has only played the role of Pulcinella, but this time he's shaking off his hunchback to play Capitano. In this interview, Adam, stand up comic and Esther's Follies veteran, is joined intermittently by Company Member at Large, Paolo Garbanzo (who was making eggs), and Managing Director Kate Meehan. Kate: Usually you play Punch. This time you're playing Capitano. How different are you finding the c

Aaron Johnson serves as La Fenice's Artistic Director, and is currently playing Orlando, the male lover, in our next show. In this interview, he speaks with Managing Director and long-time collaborator, Kate Meehan. You had your laptop out the entire rehearsal. Well, not the entire rehearsal, but for a significant portion of it, yes. Were you looking at pornography? Yes, if by pornography you mean our scenario. We're using technology this time around. Talk about that. We're

Kate Meehan has been performing with La Fenice since it's very first show as Austin Commedia Society back in 1999. Over the years, she's played a number of the Commedia stock characters with us, and currently serves as Managing Director. Before joining ACS, she performed on many famous Chicago improv stages, including ImprovOlympic and Second City. How does La Fenice's approach to Commedia differ from other Commedia dell'Arte troupes? Well, I've really only created Commedia

Tate Green is our sprightly young actor playing Arlecchino - the first since it was retired by Jason Fawcett back in 2002. Tate was last seen as Ottavio in Sloop of the Damned, and is the creator and host of the wildly popular YouTube Gong Show. How has the process of stepping into the fabled shoes of Arlecchino been? Well, all of the tales of past La Fenice Arlecchinos – shots lined up across the stage and all – I’m feeling it’s the perfect role for me. Although I don’t thi