Exciting news, everyone!

Antonio Fava's visit is right around the corner. We'd like to thank our donors so much for helping make this happen! For those of you who want to attend either (or both) of the sessions, the information is below. We hope to see as many of you there as possible - Commedia is truly a special art form, and we can't wait to share it with you.

Commedia dell'Arte Lecture/Demonstration

Monday April 17th @ 3 p.m.

Kresge Centennial Hall, room 2415

Admission: Free 

This lecture/demonstration by Maestro Fava, will explain Commedia's origins and will feature a demonstration of Commedia masks created by Antonio Fava.

Commedia dell'Arte Workshop with Antonio Fava

Tuesday April 18th @ 6 p.m.

Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center, Black Box 3

Admission: Free

Experience Commedia first hand. Learn how to use the Commedia masks, their  movements and gestures. A rare opportunity to work with one of the masters of the art. 

Space is limited - sign up here to reserve a spot:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TS9HFUMIaBIoYvO07H3z2FMJvW1k1ZaHWu-Bpo-L988/edit?usp=sharing

For more information please contact: thepaniniplayers@gmail.com

Thank you all so much for your generous contributions! With your help we're now able to bringing Antonio Fava to Northwestern. We could not have done this without you and your support. To our $150 donors, we will be sending you our tears shortly. We cannot thank you enough; learning with Fava is a once in a lifetime experience and we're so excited for the opportunity. Thank you! 

Thanks to the support and efforts of incredible donors like you, we've reached 100% of our goal! We can't thank you enough for making this dream a reality. I know we've gone on and on about how great an opportunity it is to work with Fava, but you've made a big difference in the success of the progress and we deeply appreciate your help.

But it doesn't end here! We'd like to continue raising money towards our stretch goal of a private workshop with Fava, to get specific feedback on our performance and generation of lazzi (comedic bits). Any added help you can give - through sharing our Catalyzer page with friends, family, or social media - is greatly welcomed!​

We've been hard at work planning Fava's visit, and I'm happy to announce that the flight and hotel room have already been booked! He'll be in town April 17th through 19th, with some events in the afternoon and some in the morning. Stay tuned for more details--all are welcome at these events!

Hello everyone!

We're at a whopping 85% of our goal and we settled on travel plans and dates. So we booked it! Antonio Fava is COMING to Northwestern April 17-19 to do a lecture and a workshop. Thank you all so much for helping us get to 85% of our total goal, we're almost to 100% of funding this and we may even hit our stretch goal of a private workshop. 

I can't begin to thank you enough for helping make this possible. You've already made such a big contribution, and if you're interested in doing more and helping us further the practice of commedia in the Evanston community, please feel free to share this project on social media and with friends you have that might be interested (tell them that donations are tax deductible! Tax day is approaching). 

See you soon! Fava is coming to town! 

Jon Mathias 

Company Manager of The Panini Players

We're at 80% already! We really can’t believe this. Right now we’re only $452 away from hosting an incredible lecture and workshop led by Antonio Fava! We are SO thankful for everyone that’s donated so far, and we know we couldn’t have gotten here without you. You are doing so much good for the arts on Northwestern’s campus, and we’re excited to have the opportunity to work with and learn from one of the people that brought commedia back from the dead. Thank you! Just a little bit more to go!

Good news, everyone!

First and foremost, thank you so much for contributing to The Panini Players. We've been absolutely stunned by the outpouring of support we've seen. You are an incredible group.

And now, the good news! Over the past few weeks, we've been in discussion with Maestro Antonio Fava to determine the details of his visit. We've decided that he'll be in Chicago from Monday, April 17th through Wednesday, April 19th. This is actually a shorter time-frame than we originally anticipated, but we're confident we can still fit in all the programming we've got planned. If you're interested in attending the lecture or workshop (or better yet, both!), stay tuned for more specific times and locations!

Because of this change, we will actually be reducing our goal from from $5,000 to $2,300. That means we've actually raised 70% of our goal. Holy slapstick, Batman! That puts our stretch goal of an extra Advanced Workshop with Antonio Fava at roughly $3,500. Seeing as that's still less than our original goal, I'm incredibly optimistic that we can make it happen.

Thank you again for supporting Commedia dell'arte at Northwestern. You've already made a tremendous impact on our project, but you could continue to expand that impact by sharing our projects with your networks or on social media. We hope to see you on campus in late April!

Martin Downs

Artistic Director of The Panini Players

Wow! Thank you all so much for donating! We've hit 25% of our goal. Every dollar really makes a big difference and we’re so excited that this is happening. At this rate, we might even reach our stretch goal! Fava expressed that he can’t wait to come back to Chicago and see his favorite commedia troupe at Northwestern. If you know anyone that’s interested in supporting this classic art form or someone that would benefit from attending Fava’s lecture or workshop, please reach out to them so that they can help support our cause! You’re all amazing.