STRANAMORE / IL MOSTRO TURCHINO is a story about the transformative power of love in a corrupt world.

Karin Coonrod is in Italy for two weeks of developmental workshops for a new adaptation from Carlo Gozzi's IL MOSTRO TURCHINO (The Blue Monster), minting it in the place where it was written, Venice, with actors and creators from the region. Karin is thrilled to work with Sarah Sartori from the Sartori Family of Maskmakers, with Dramaturg Walter Valeri and eventually with Costume Designer Stefano Nicolao. The five actors were all a part of Colombari's 2016 MERCHANT OF VENICE: Andrea Brugnera, Francesca Sarah Toich, Lele Piovene, Jenni Lea Jones and Michele Guidi.

A work-in-process studio presentation took place at the Sartori Mask Museum in Abano Terme, Padova, Italy, on June 16, 2026. Previous workshops have been conducted in spring 2025 and summer 2024.

The workshops were generously funded in part by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. 

ABOUT STRANAMORE / IL MOSTRO TURCHINO:

In Carlo Gozzi's The Blue Monster (Il Mostro Turchino), the monster of the title has been punished and imprisoned inside a monstrous skin by higher powers for his narcissism and selfishness. His liberation depends entirely on two lovers proving true after many unusual and cruel tests, but the world has proven a loveless place, an arid desert, and the Blue Monster has been ravaging the land for one hundred years. Yet now--at the moment of the play's opening--he recognizes his opportunity for freedom in the deep love between Prince Taer and Princess Dardané. The kingdom's challenges have been legion: an old, tired king, his corrupt queen, a virgin-eating hydra, a calamitous giant knight, competitive bureaucrats and, of course, the Blue Monster. Compagnia de' Colombari, in its signature way, gives theatricality to the remarkable resonance of this theater fable from 18th-century Venice with our present moment in the 21st century.

Nel Mostro Turchino di Carlo Gozzi, l'eponimo 'mostro' e' stato imprigionato da piu' alti poteri dentro un corpo mostruoso come punizione per il suo narcisismo ed egoismo. La sua liberazione dipende interamente dalla capacità di due amanti di restare fedeli nonostante una serie di inattese e crudeli prove. Il mondo, però, pare essere un arido deserto senza amore e da cento anni il Mostro turchino continua a devastare il paese. Ma adesso, proprio mentre inizia lo spettacolo, intravede la possibile liberta' nel profondo amore tra il principe Taer e la Principessa Dardane'. Il reame ha dovuto affrontare infinite sfide: un vecchio re stanco, la regina corrotta, un'idra che divora le fanciulle, un terribile cavaliere gigante, dei burocrati agguerriti e competitivi e, ovviamente, il Mostro turchino. La Compagnia de' Colombari, con il suo tocco unico, mette in luce la dimensione teatrale di questa favola drammatica veneziana del diciottesimo secolo e le sue notevoli eco nella realtà del nostro tempo.

Regia (Director): Karin Coonrod

Drammaturgo (Dramaturg): Walter Valeri

Musica (Music): Pheeroan akLaf

Attori (Actors): Francesca Sarah Toich, Jenni Lea Jones,

Andrea Brugnera, Lele Piovene, Michele Guidi

Costumi (Costumes): Stefano Nicolao (in progresso)

Maschere (Masks): Sarah Sartori from the Sartori Family of Maskmakers 

Organizzazione (Organizer): Pieter Jurriaanse

Ragazzi (Child Actors): Amane Brugnera, Ilaria Biscontin, Zaccaria

Vianello Novaga