Domnica Radulescu is a distinguished professor of Romance languages at Washington and Lee University. She has authored, edited, or coedited nine scholarly books and collections of essays. Two of her plays have received recognition from the Jane Chambers Playwriting award and she is the author of two best-selling novels, with a third novel soon to be released. She is the founding director of the National Symposium of Theater in Academe.

“detailed study of the historical and practical ways in which women’s humor serves as social commentary. Recommended”—Choice; “Never before has the history of Western women in comedy been written with such historical scope or comparative detail. Radulescu brings the astute eye of the theatre historian to a socially committed feminist inquiry into women’s humor, creating a study useful for scholars and practitioners, teachers and students.”—Jill Dolan, Princeton University.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Preface      Introduction      1. Isabella’s “Tricks”: Carnival and Mimicry in Sixteenth Century Italy      2. Caterina Biancolelli: Seventeenth Century Trickster and Parisian Coquette      3. Franca Rame: Militant Isabella, Feminist Colombina in Twentieth Century Italy      4. Contemporary American Colombinas: The Personal, the Public, the Political, the Intimate, and the Comical      5. The Heritage of the Commedia dell’Arte for Today’s Feminist Theaters, Comedy and Activism, and Radical Acts by Women Artists      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index

Domnica Radulescu is a distinguished professor of Romance languages at Washington and Lee University. She has authored, edited, or coedited nine scholarly books and collections of essays. Two of her plays have received recognition from the Jane Chambers Playwriting award and she is the author of two best-selling novels, with a third novel soon to be released. She is the founding director of the National Symposium of Theater in Academe.

“detailed study of the historical and practical ways in which women’s humor serves as social commentary. Recommended”—Choice; “Never before has the history of Western women in comedy been written with such historical scope or comparative detail. Radulescu brings the astute eye of the theatre historian to a socially committed feminist inquiry into women’s humor, creating a study useful for scholars and practitioners, teachers and students.”—Jill Dolan, Princeton University.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Preface      Introduction      1. Isabella’s “Tricks”: Carnival and Mimicry in Sixteenth Century Italy      2. Caterina Biancolelli: Seventeenth Century Trickster and Parisian Coquette      3. Franca Rame: Militant Isabella, Feminist Colombina in Twentieth Century Italy      4. Contemporary American Colombinas: The Personal, the Public, the Political, the Intimate, and the Comical      5. The Heritage of the Commedia dell’Arte for Today’s Feminist Theaters, Comedy and Activism, and Radical Acts by Women Artists      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index