EVENT DETAILS

A Jewish Renaissance Comedy: Staged Reading with Commentary

Women, Weddings, and Reversals: Leone de' Sommi's "Comedy of Betrothal": Dramatic Readings with Commentary

50 years before Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice, Leone de' Sommi wrote Tzaḥut bediḥuta de-kiddushin (Comedy of Betrothal), the oldest known Hebrew-language play. It combines features of Italian Commedia dell'arte with elements from biblical and rabbinic literature. This performance-cum-symposium examines the Comedy against the backdrop of the history of the Jews of Mantua and explores Leone de' Sommi as a dramatic artist; his use of classical Jewish sources; and the significance of the Comedy of Betrothal's location in Sidon, Lebanon. The Comedy was written as entertainment for Purim. This program's playful intermixing of the theatrical and the academic represents the perfect preparation for this carnivalesque festival, which takes place on March 20th and 21st. Readings mostly in English (with samplings of Hebrew and Italian for flavor).

Presenters: Ariane Helou (UCLA), Erith Jaffe-Berg (UC Riverside), Elsa Martinez (UCLA), and Daniel Stein Kokin (UCLA and Universität Greifswald)

Register here. Free and open to all. Parking in Mesa Parking Structure (for a fee).

Co-sponsored by the UCI Center for Jewish Studies and the Group for the Study of Early Cultures