For this week’s ADA blog, physical theatre students Liliana and Michael discuss their recent adventures both in and out of the classroom. Read on to hear all about it!

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Liliana Mastroanni, Skidmore College

Semester Physical Theatre Program

Hey again! It’s Liliana coming at you with highlights from last week.

Last weekend, we went to Perugia for the annual chocolate festival! For a 9 Euro entry we got all kinds of free chocolate and got to experience chocolate makers from all over Italy and the world. There were clowns on stilts, a small immersive exhibit about how chocolate is made, and a chocolate circus show, among several other sights to see and sweets to smell. The photos below capture some of the clowns on stilts, and some of the treats that were available for purchase, including chocolate covered apples and hot chocolate! 

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This past week was our second week of learning Commedia dell’Arte with the amazing Dr. Chiara D’Anna. We finished learning most of the masks, and we got to incorporate actual Commedia masks into our improvisations, which was a game changer. Personally, I find wearing the mask more rewarding and more difficult than not. But Chiara is really pushing us to get used to the masks, and remember that our eyes are on our noses when we wear them. It’s been wildly fun, and I can feel myself growing as an artist in ways I couldn’t have imagined. At the end of the week, we each decided on 2 (sometimes 3) characters that we wanted to focus on the most, and next Friday we will be performing a whole Commedia show for an audience with those characters. We have a week to put it together and I cannot wait.

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Michael Reddy, Coastal Carolina University

One Year Physical Theatre Program

This Halloween season we found out we weren’t the only Americans in town. Earlier this week we visited the Oklahoma University’s campus in town. We spent the night carving pumpkins and getting to know each other. There was corn hole, ladder ball, Halloween candy, and a fire pit. These games stayed out when we visited again on Halloween for their Halloween party. They served an impressive selection of homemade desserts like Nutella filled witches’ hats, chocolate dipped cookies and many more. They brought out their projector and played Halloween music. They showed a video of the just dance version of thriller, and we had a dance battle. After that they put on The Addam’s Family, and we watched the movie until the ADA students had to come back to watch Rocky Horror at our own party.