Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Prologue: Theater Performance with American Students -- I. Theater in Italian Literature and Culture -- ONE: Authors, Texts, and Innovative Movements: An Overview of the Italian Theatrical Canon -- TWO: Acting Italian: From the Piazza to the Stage -- II. Theater Courses in the Italian Language Curriculum -- THREE: The Theatrical Workshop in the Italian Curriculum -- FOUR: Creative Connections: The Theater Practicum and the Integration of Language and Literature Study -- FIVE: Theater Texts and Techniques in the High School Classroom -- III. Genres, Themes, and Techniques of Italian Theater -- SIX: Epic Theater, Comic Mode: Understanding Italian Society through the Works of Dario Fo and Franca Rame -- SEVEN: Commedia dell'Arte's Techniques: Theater Research and Italian Language Interplay -- EIGHT: Opera as Theme, Opera as Theater: A Content-Based Approach to the Teaching of Italian Language and Culture -- IV. Methods and Assessment in Italian Theater Workshops -- NINE: Full-Scale Play Production: Filling the "Empty Space" between Language and Literature with Fo and Pirandello -- TEN: Community, Culture, and Body Language: Staging the Female Voice in the Italian Drama Workshop -- ELEVEN: Proficiency and Performance: Assessing Learner Progress in the Italian Theater Workshop -- V. Director's Handbook -- Text Selection: A Few Criteria -- Financial Resources, Publicity, and Community -- The Italian Drama Workshop in Three Acts -- Training the Body, Coaching the Mind: Preliminary Acting Exercises -- Monologue/Monodrama Projects -- English Translations and Surtitles for the Public Performance: Rationale and Practicalities -- "It's Showtime!" A Concise Guide to Italian Theater Production for New Directors.

Afterword: An Interview with Dario Fo and Franca Rame. Thoughts on Theater, Engagement, and the Comic. Examples for a New Pedagogy -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z -- Illustrations.