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Staging the World beyond Europe: From Italian Renaissance Epic to Sicilian Puppet Theater
Mar
26
2026
2:40pm - 4:00pm
On Campus Event - Dalton, Dalton Hall 25
The Department of Transnational Italian Studies is delighted to announce “Staging the World beyond Europe: From Italian Renaissance Epic to Sicilian Puppet Theater,” a lecture by Professor Jo Ann Cavallo, Professor of Italian in the Italian Department of Columbia University. The event is organized within Luca Zipoli's course “Theory in Practice: Critical Discourses in the Humanities” (COML B213) and is open to everyone interested.
Please contact lzipoli@brynmawr.edu for more information.
The event is co-sponsored by the Bi-Co Program in Comparative Literature, the Theater Program, and the Program in Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and North African Studies (MECANA).
Abstract:
The expansive geographies of Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato and Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso – stretching across Europe, Asia, Africa, and, in the latter case, even the moon – posed a particular challenge when these Renaissance epics were incorporated into the Paladins of France cycle of Sicilian puppet theater. How did puppeteers give tangible form to such distant and imagined spaces? Drawing on the poetic sources as well as visual materials and filmed performances, this talk examines how Cathay, North Africa, and the moon are represented in selected Opera dei Pupi adaptations. In so doing, it seeks to capture the vision of the world that emerges from these puppet plays, shaped by the historical horizons and cultural frameworks of their makers.
Speaker's bio:
Jo Ann Cavallo is Professor of Italian in the Italian Department of Columbia University, where she has taught since 1988 and that she has chaired for many years since 2014. She received an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Italian Studies from Yale University respectively in 1984 and 1987, and, in the summer of 1982, she attended the Institut d’Études Françaises d’Avignon, France, run by Bryn Mawr College. She has published widely on Italian literature and culture, especially Renaissance chivalric epics and their adaptations in popular performance traditions. Her latest books, The Sicilian Puppet Theater of Agrippino Manteo (1884–1947): The Paladins of France in America and The World beyond Europe in the Romance Epics of Boiardo and Ariosto, received multiple awards and have been published in Italian translation. She is editor of several volumes, including World Epics and Puppet Theater and Teaching World Epics, founding editor of the Anthem World Epic and Romance book series, and creator of the websites eBOIARDO and World Epics.
Transnational Italian Studies Comparative Literature Theatre Program Middle Eastern, Central Asian, and North African Studies
Audience: Public
Type(s): Discussion, Lecture
Submitted by:
Contact:
Luca Zipoli
Bryn Mawr College welcomes the full participation of all individuals in all aspects of campus life. Should you wish to request a disability-related accommodation for this event, please contact the event sponsor/coordinator. Requests should be made as early as possible.