A Chorus of Clowns in Masked Comic Theater

A Chorus of Clowns was initially inspired by my research into the Italian Commedia dell' Arte, an improvisational and wonderfully funny renaissance theater. I thought about not only Commedia's origins in the early Greek and Roman theaters, but their descendants in the Marx Brothers -- famous for their "zany" antics (from the Italian "zanni" referring to the buffoons and clowns of the Commedia). The article originally appeared in Realms of Fantasy's "Folk Roots Column" (2007) and was republished in the Journal of Mythic Arts, Winter 2007.