On Halloween night, mischief and mayhem stirred in Tempest Theatre. Starting Thursday evening, Oct. 31, the Elizabethtown College’s Tempest Theatre presented “A Comedy of Terrors.” This production was devised and written by Adjunct Faculty Member Terri Mastrobuono and the company of players and stage management.

In the play, the scene opens on a little town in Italy and its happy residents on the day where the patriarch of the town, Pantalone Pallone, is counting his money. Suddenly, the peaceful day is disturbed when Pantalone discovers that he is missing a single coin! In a rage, he cannot be reasoned with and he punishes the members of his house, each with terrible consequences. His daughter Isabella is to be sent to a nunnery away from her love, Fabio. The Capitano and Capitainette are to be sent off to a newly created war. The servants, the Zanni, are to be without food, and Columbina is confined to the kitchen, cooking Pantalone’s meals all day without rest.

Deeply unhappy with their present situation, the townspeople attempt to reason with Pantalone to rip up the document putting their punishments into law. However, Pantalone’s stubbornness wins and he refuses their pleas. Desperate for a way out of their terrible predicaments, Columbina calls upon the help of the mysterious witch dwelling in the forest, Ruffiana. Hesitant to assist the townspeople at first, she finally agrees to aid them in exchange for Pantalone’s journal, which contains secret information about her past with Pantalone.

Mastrobuono said the play was written in the style of Commedia dell’Arte. “Commedia dell’Arte means ‘comedu of the artist’ — that is, art created and owned by the commedia company itself,” she said. “It was the first time in the history of theatre that theatre artists produced their own material and could therefore request money for it. Bingo! Professional theatre is born!” Everyone in the production of “A Comedy of Terrors” including the players and those working offstage were involved in putting together the script.

“Commedia companies discovered that more people would come to a show about life as they knew it,” Mastrobuono said. “Using everyday characters and themes of greed, love, betrayal, ambition and class, the commedia was able not only to offer audiences plays about themselves, but they were also able to make them laugh about their struggles.” This style of writing is known in some circles as “the mother of comedy” and has been used in works by both Shakespeare and Seinfeld, from the Renaissance to the modern day.

One of the performers, sophomore Nathaniel Marlowe offered his perspective on the creation of the show. “The process of creating the show was primarily playing with the scenes already given to us,” Marlowe said. “We had an outline of the basic plot of the show, but we had no idea what the final product was going to be. We used improv to write the script. Everyone who worked on the show contributed to the final product. We started off with absolutely nothing; by simply playing around with different ideas and acting on the spot, we created a 90-minute show.”

Marlowe emphasized the focus on the story and physical comedy elements in the lighthearted style of Commedia dell’Arte. “Even though I played a stock character, this was the hardest show that I have ever participated in,” he said. “Commedia is all about physicality and movement. Acrobatic movements are incorporated into the show; if you screw up, you could endanger yourself and others.”

In addition to the pressure of the physical movements of the show, the story presented itself with its own challenges. “Although we had the freedom to write our own show, there was the pressure of creating something significant,” Marlowe said. “This took such a toll on me physically and mentally. You have to go beyond your A game if you want to perform in this type of show.”

“I hope that people will expose themselves more to student art after seeing this show,” Marlowe said. “There is incredible work that students here create, but they have few outlets to present their work. We were lucky that we got to perform a 90-minute show several times for all sorts of people. Hopefully this will inspire students to present their artwork to the entire student body.”

“A Comedy of Terrors” runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1, 2, 7 and 8 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. in the Tempest Theatre.