What it Is

Welcome to the online development log for the The Puppeteers, an original comedy by the contemporary commedia dell'arte troupe Zuppa del Giorno. Here you will find lots of research, disjointed rambling and spit-balling, all of which has led to the creation of a show.
Want to book it?
The Puppeteers are available for mid-size venues, with sufficient time to remount! It's a show that can be customized to any area, any audience. Simply contact director Jeff Wills on email!

Who or what is Zuppa del Giorno?

In short: Zuppa del Giorno is a contemporary commedia dell'arte troupe of skilled actors, writers and director-choreographers.

On one of his trips to Orvieto, David Zarko met a performer named Andrea Brugnera and - in the course of their talk - had the idea to create a contemporary commedia dell'arte troupe upon his return to the United States.  The idea of commedia dell'arte - the classic, semi-improvised, Italian comic theatre - as a living tradition that continues to evolve and have influence over culture stuck with David, and when he became the artistic director of the Electric Theatre Company (formerly The Northeast Theatre) he immediately set about gathering performers with different skill sets related to a study of the commedia dell'arte.

Zuppa del Giorno ("Soup of the Day," Zuppa for short) was formed in August 2002. The current members of the troupe include Todd d'Amour, Dave Berent, Geoff Gould, Richard Grunn, Erin McMonagle, Samantha Phillips, Grey Valenti, Heather Stuart, Jeff Wills and David Zarko.  Zuppa del Giorno has many aspects, including community development, education outreach and their study-abroad program, In Bocca al Lupo.  Their principal work, however, has been to create original comedy that synthesizes old traditions with contemporary perspectives, resulting in a unified, hilarious and heartfelt story.

  • In May 2003, the troupe created their first show: Noble Aspirations, a colorful and modern commedia dell'arte improvisation.  The show included live sound effects, rampant audience interaction and began their tradition of acrobatic lazzi.
  • In May 2004, they performed (and improvised upon) a new Marx-Brothers-influenced comedy penned by Steve Deighan.  Legal Snarls (or, Groucho for the Defense) was later performed at The Geneva Summer Arts Festival, and voted best play of 2004 by the Scranton entertainment weekly, Electric City.
  • In May 2005, they created a new work entitled Silent Lives, inspired by the characters, stories and stars of silent film.  The show was performed in a reclaimed ballroom, set to live music with absolutely no spoken dialogue.
  • Their May 2006 offering was another of their original improvisations, Operation Opera, which lampooned some of the classic opera characters in a supernatural farce set in rural northeastern Pennsylvania.
  • In October 2007, Zuppa created an improvised vaudeville called Prohibitive Standards.  Performed jointly at ETC and Marywood University, this madcap comedy told a story of bootleggers, aspiring performers and a young man soon to have Martians on the mind.
  • Together with Angelo Crotti, Andrea Brugnera, Mark McKenna and others, they created and performed The Very Nearly Perfect Comedy of Romeo & Juliet at Electric Theatre Company in February of 2009.  In their take, the famous lovers are clowns in a world of masked commedia figures, and the laughter stays alive until the very last possible moment.
In addition, Zuppa has performed their original work in various venues in Italy.  On their first trip abroad for the inaugural semester of In Bocca al Lupo in 2006 they performed an excerpt from Silent Lives in an ancient fountain in Bolsena.  In June 2008, they took a new piece called Love is Hard, But Wonderful to the festival il Teatro Che Cammina at Castel San Pietro Terme; and in November of that same year they took a noir clown piece: Silent Follies, or, It Was a Wednesday, to the international theatre festival, Teatro Diffuso.  In 2009, Jeff and Heather performed the balcony scene from The Very Nearly Perfect Comedy of Romeo & Juliet at the inaugural performance of Teatro Boni's Anfiteatro Cordeschi in Aquapendente.

Zuppa del Giorno is a contemporary commedia Zuppa del Giorno is a contemporary commedia dell'arte troupe that uses a current perspective to bring a traditional style of theatre to life.  They are committed to revealing the living tradition of the commedia dell'arte in its present forms, and to reminding their audiences to appreciate the ever-present and ever-changing dialogue of history, through comedy.
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