Jay Cross [Sept 6 2002]

This play was a break-through for us. For this play to work, the audience had to care a lot about how things were going for Pantalone, and not just see him as someone who deserved the abuse he got. Alex Newman was very effective in this role.

Early in this play, there was a scene in which the Dottore and Capitano [his assistant] discussed the boat ride they just had. Dottore revelled in it, and Capitano gets seasick just recounting the tossing and turning of the boat. This scene had been rehearsed line-by-line, and was not improvised. As we got more experience, this practice became very rare.

Jay Cross [Sept 5 2002]

Casting in our first forty or so shows always presented a problem, especially for the women, since we had more talent than available parts. Jeff Hatalsky used to joke about the casting couch and certain sexual favors, but if there was ever a man who was above such hijinx, it was Jeff. To foster the effort to develop stock characters, Jeff had a rule that if you played a part in the last play, you would get that part in the current casting effort if you wanted it. [He gave up this policy for the women's roles after a short while]. For me, I played Dottore Gratiano in 25 straight shows. In retrospect, I learned a lot about the part, but it came more slowly than it should have.

Jay Cross [Sept 2 2002]

Clare Valucci came to practices [at our old 4th floor of MIT building 8 location] for most of the 1992-3 School Year. I think she was a grad student at Harvard. Unfortuantely, she was only in one show. She had a very sharp wit, and portrayed very believable characters with the right amount of Commedia twist. She was one of the best players we've ever had on stage.