In Defense of Women: An Illuminated Lecture
An Italian theatre maker advocates for women's rights in the age of Shakespeare.
2024 Kirk Davis Jr. Annual Public Shakespeare Lecture
Written in Italy in the 16th century by Jewish dramatist Leone De' Sommi Portaleone, the poem "In Defense of Women" touches on the role of women in drama and reveals a great deal about the cultural considerations and power dynamics of this time when women were coming to the fore on the theatrical stages of Northern Italy, Rome, and Venice in the professional world of the commedia dell’arte. Dr. Erith Jaffe-Berg guides us through the work and its relevance to both historical and contemporary issues of equity and belonging as actors from theatre dybbuk read selections from the poem and other related texts.
Erith Jaffe-Berg is a Professor of Theatre at the Department of Theatre, Film and Digital Production at the University of California at Riverside. Her research focuses on the commedia dell’arte and performances by minority groups in Early Modern Italy. She is the author of three books: Jewish Theatre Making in Mantua, 1520-1650 (2022), Commedia dell’Arte and the Mediterranean: Charting Journeys and Mapping “Others” (2015), and The Multilingual Theatre of Commedia dell’Arte (2008). She is currently at work as part of an ongoing international research collaboration tracing the appearance of dragons in theatre. She is a member of LA-based Theatre Dybbuk (www.theatredybbuk.org), a recipient of the UCR Distinguished Teaching Award (2020), a recipient of a UC Humanities Research Institute fellowship, and a Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation grant, among others.
theatre dybbuk creates provocative performances and innovative educational encounters that use Jewish history and texts as entry points to explore universal human experience. Its projects include illuminated lectures, multidisciplinary events, and theatrical productions which are crafted through an ensemble based development process and incorporate lyrical language, stylized movement, and visceral metaphors. www.theatredybbuk.org