Carolyn Balducci

Based on a 1798 book by Charles Brockden Brown - a debate about the rights of women between a man and a woman. Includes a glimpse of 'the future' to the Paradise of Women.

Adaptation of an authentic letter written in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano to Francis I, King of France. A monologue.

Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485 - 1528 ?) was an Italian navigator and explorer in the service of France who was the first European to sight New York Harbor and Narragansett Bay.
After receiving a formal education in Florence, Verrazzano entered France’s maritime service. After several voyages to the Levant, in 1523 he secured two ships for a voyage backed by the French king, Francis I and other investors to discover a westward passage to Asia. In January 1524 he sailed the Dauphine across the Atlantic, reaching Cape Fear in March. He then sailed northward, exploring the eastern coast of North America. He made several discoveries, including the sites of present-day New York Harbor, Block Island, and Narragansett Bay and wrote an account of inhabitants he encountered. His explorations concluded at the eastern part of Newfoundland. His return to France on July 8, 1524, gave King Francis I his nation’s claim to the New World.

Carolyn Balducci’s adaptation of ALCUIN, a Dialogue. A Fierce and Eloquent Plea for the Rights of Women is based on a book written by early American author, Charles Brockden Brown (publ. in 2 vols. 1798 & 1815). It consists of a dialogue between Edwin Alcuin, a Quaker schoolmaster, and a widow, Mrs. Carter, in Philadelphia in 1798. Alcuin and Mrs. Carter argue about women's lack of voting rights, their need for financial independence and access to education and employment opportunities. Mrs. Carter speaks for all women, sharing her insights about marriage and divorce as well as politics. As the two debate these issues, they become friends - and maybe more than friends. The plot includes a remarkable sequence in which Alcuin travels to a future utopia, The Paradise of Women, where men and women are equals and where the word "marriage" does not exist. Though dealing with serious topics, the play includes light moments and a romantic subtext. The script can be done with as few as two actors with Mrs. Carter doubling as the Guide to the Paradise of Women. An expanded version can be done with non-speaking parts for actor/singers as servants, guests and Citizens of the Paradise of Women. Balducci includes lyrics and a Punch & Judy puppet show but those are optional. Suitable for small stages, libraries, and radio.

FIRESTONE, a 10 minute play for solo performance
In December, 1986, Marta Abba is the guest of honor at a reception at Princeton University's Firestone Library. This is the bittersweet day when she will donate her collection of letters written to her by Italian playwright and Nobel prize winner, Luigi Pirandello. They had begun working together in 1925 and she appeared in several of his productions which he had written for her to star in. Their relationship had all the appearance of an affair and caused a scandal even though, in truth, she steadily refused to become his mistress. On this day at Princeton, while others are making speeches, her mind drifts and she recalls moments from the past when, as a young actress, she was Pirandello's Muse.

The title of the anonymous comedy of the early sixteenth century known as La Veniexiana, (Italian spelling, La Venexiana) refers to a situation that would be typically Venetian, alluding to the patrician, cosmopolitan yet dangerous sensuality of the city. An authentic slice of Venetian life and possibly a roman a clef, the play consists of five short acts, interspersed with madrigals with some of the most beautiful erotic scenes ever imagined. It may have been performed in a private palazzo in 1536, after which the script disappeared for 4 centuries until it was discovered in the Marciana Library in Venice in 1928. Considered too erotic for public performances during the Fascist period, with the end of WWII it began to be performed, most often during Carnivale.

The play was published as part Carleton Renaissance Series in 2000.
www.italicapress.com/index462.html.
[ISBN: 1-895537-57-6
]

re the Balducci translation:
Comment by an Amazon Reader: 5.0 out of 5 stars. "impeccable" (01/21/2017)
Scholarly Article - The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Summer, 2002), pp. 508-510

Productions in Italy of the Italian/Venetian script:
2018 Teatro Stabile Veneto at the Palazzo Grimani, Venezia.
http://www.teatrostabileveneto.it/events/event/la-venexiana-spettacolo-…

2009 Al Teatro a l'Avogari, Venezia
https://www.teatro-avogaria.it/la-venexiana/

2012 Associazione MINIMITEATRI, Rovigo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76-m5EISKIA

Calandra was the first significant comedy written in Italian prose. This 'commedia elegantissima' was intended to be performed before audiences of nobles and dignitaries. It was first performed in the Ducal Palace of Urbino and subsequently in other theatres and celebrations for many decades. A standard of Italian comedy, it has never gone out of print and it is periodically revived in Italy. Inspired by Plautus's Menaechmi, Calandra's screwball comedy plot includes long-lost twins, cross-dressings and plenty of sexual hanky-panky. The audience at the time of the play's inception would have recognized literary allusions and puns in the dialogue, but this would not be the case today. To assist in casting and character development, Balducci's translation includes an addendum of literary and linguistic references as well as what the names imply. Making the many Italian jokes and puns work in English was extraordinarily difficult, but Balducci's translation is accurate, performable and extremely funny. Said to be one of the sources of Twelfth Night's gender bending boy-girl twins' misadventures. Topical gender issues, female empowerment, etc.

Lysistrata is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to unite all Greek women in an effort to end the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex from their husbands and lovers —a strategy, that ignites a fiery battle between the sexes. Carolyn Balducci describes her 1991 adaptation as "a meditation upon six translations, plus research, editing, more meditation and creative interpretation. All the previous editions were constantly consulted in the process of creating an exceptionally performable adaptation. The scholarly translations proved to be wonderfully informative, splendidly idiomatic, delightfully archaic, excruciatingly correct and persistently inconsistent; nevertheless, I could not have done this without them!" (Sources are cited in the addendum.) The premiere took place at the University of Michigan in 1991. Subsequently it was one of a number of scripts provided pro bono for the 2003 Lysistrata Project where it was read or produced by approximately 3 dozen theatre groups. It has since been performed by a number of theatre companies in the USA and UK, most recently by The Pear Theatre in 2020.

GIOVANNI THE FEARLESS, a commedia dell’arte musical
music by Mira J. Spektor
book & lyrics by Carolyn Balducci

Brave Giovanni encounters the itinerant Bombasto Commedia Troupe while they perform in the piazza of a small town. He falls in love at first sight with Colombina. When the troupe is chased out of town, Giovanni stows away in the rumble seat of their car. Needing to replace the actor who plays Arlecchino, Colombina's overprotective father, Jacopo tests Giovanni’s acting potential. He makes up a story that there is a treasure buried in a nearby haunted castle which Giovanni can keep — if he can survive one night. The Bombastos unpack parts of an 8 foot puppet from their prop box. Racing ahead to the castle, they arrive ahead of the moonstruck Colombina & Giovanni. At the Castle, however, the atmosphere is so spooky that timid Colombina runs away leaving Giovanni to face the Bombastos' Puppet Ghost alone. When at the castle’s REAL GHOST appears, Jacopo and the other Bombastos flee. Meanwhile the fearless Giovanni befriends the Real Ghost and accompanies him to a creepy dungeon. This act of trust releases the Ghost from the curse that binds him to earth. When the Ghost vanishes, however, Giovanni finds himself alone. When he hears Colombina approaching he feels fear for the first time in his life. Reunited, the sweethearts make their way back to the Great Hall of the castle where they rejoin the Bombastos. They clutch the only thing that remains of the Giant's treasure: a magical Twig. When Giovanni tosses it away, the castle begins to shake and everyone braces for a cataclysm. What is happening, however, is that the magical Twig, nurtured by Colombina and Giovanni’s love, has taken root and is breaking through through the floor and gradually blooming into a magnificent tree shimmering with coins & precious jewels. With the castle as their new home, Giovanni and Colombina - and the Bombastos - live happily ever after.

Production History
An early version of Carolyn Balducci’s GIOVANNI THE FEARLESS was given a full production at the University of Michigan in October, 1997 (Student cast; improvised score; 7 performances). A new score set to Carolyn’s lyrics was composed by Mira J. Spektor in 2010. Staged Readings (60 min. streamlined version) were performed by professional casts at The Dramatists Guild (Oct. 2010); Montauk Library (August 2011, directed by Gary Swanson); The June Havoc Theatre/Abingdon Theatre Complex, NYC (October 2011, directed by Gary Swanson); and the Nimoy/Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space, NYC (June 2012, directed by Karen Carpenter).Showcase (90 min.) Full Production/Professional Cast at the Theatre for the New City, NYC (May 12-21, 2017, directed by Lissa Moira)

5 to 8 actor- singers plus 1 to 3 musicians
length: 90 min. (15 songs, 2 reprises: 42 min. of music)

Time & Place: Early 20th century Italy
Scene 1. A piazza in a typical Italian town
Scene 2. The Road through the Enchanted Forest
Scene 3. Haunted Castle - Great Hall
Scene 4. Haunted Castle - Dungeon
Scene 5. Haunted Castle - Great Hall

Link to SoundCloud compilation https://soundcloud.com/carolyn-b-1/sets/giovanni-the-fearless-songs-201…
2017 Vimeo - Production DVD Theatre for the New City https://vimeo.com/227583597 (password: giovanni)