ABSTRACT
One of the most influential acting traditions for the performing arts in Europe, the commedia dell’arte, originated in sixteenth-century Italy and reached Spain that same century. Although at the beginning the actors in Italian companies had been primarily aristocrats and bourgeois amateurs, soon the commedia attracted participants from different social classes who relied on acting for their livelihood. As a result, these companies had to become more professional and profitable, with actors endeavoring to improve their acting skills and generate a steady repertoire.1 Their work began to be conceived as an art, thereby earning the designation of commedia dell’arte. At the same time, there appeared in Italy the first technical and cultural academies from which the most celebrated professional companies of the commedia developed. Theater scholar Paul Castagno points out that this tradition of “academic” performers originated in Venice in the early sixteenth century with the Compagnia della calza (65). Many others followed: the Gelosi, the Confidenti-which would work in Spain around 1580-the Fedeli and the Accesi, corroborating the belief that these companies participated in and contributed to the high cultural activities attributed to the academies. Moreover, the relations among their members were not hierarchical, included both men and women, and all shared equally in artistic and organizational responsibilities. This chapter will consider the role of some of the women in these companies in bringing the commedia dell’arte tradition to Spain.
