Discover Sicilian Puppet Theater with Jo Ann Cavallo on Wednesday, November 15 at Columbus Citizens Foundation (8 East 69th Street, New York, NY). Professor Cavallo, Chair of the Italian Department at Columbia University will guide an exploration of Sicilian puppet theater, a beloved working-class tradition that thrived for over a century.

Cavallo's work examines the history of the Manteo family marionette theater in New York City across seven decades and three generations and the creative adaptation from Italian Renaissance chivalric poetry to nineteenth-century prose to opera dei pupi dramatizations. Don't miss this opportunity to experience the magic of Sicilian puppet theater and gain insight into its historical significance. Reserve your spot now!

Jo Ann Cavallo (PhD, Yale, 1987) is Professor of Italian and Chair of the Italian Department, Columbia University. She has published widely on Italian literature and culture, especially chivalric epic in popular traditions. Her latest book, The Sicilian Puppet Theater of Agrippino Manteo, was recently nominated for the Nancy Staub Publication Award and is forthcoming in Italian in 2024. Her previous book, The World beyond Europe in the Romance Epics of Boiardo and Ariosto, received a Modern Language Association Publication Award and was also translated into Italian. She is editor of several volumes, most recently Teaching World Epics, and of the Anthem World Epic and Romance book series. Read more on Faceboook.