SO MUCH HAS been written about De’ Sommi that we may be faulted for thinking that he was the one and only theatre-maker among the Jews of Mantua. Indeed, it is easy to see how any other writer or theatre producer would remain in the shadows, eclipsed by the great light of this formidable playwright, impresario, and Jewish community leader. However, De’ Sommi was far from the only theatre producer in Mantua. In this chapter, I focus on another man, Shlumiel Basilea, who was famous enough to sustain the approbation and protection of the Gonzaga Dukes in the tumultuous period before and during the establishment of the Jewish Ghetto in Mantua in 1612. Basilea filled the vacuum left by De’ Sommi by forging another model for the Jewish theatre-maker: that of a performer/ producer and company leader. This model contrasted with De’ Sommi’s example of a writer who also produced and choreographed, but never performed. The distinction is important: Basilea’s reliance on his own reputation for virtuoso performances was much influenced by the model of the commedia dell’arte actors who made their fame as performers before becoming company leaders.

Basilea’s rise as an actor was a signal shift for the Jewish theatre-making enterprise and a pronounced example of intercultural influences from the commedia dell’arte affecting a Jewish artist. Basilea’s importance is even more evident if we accept, as I argue in this chapter, that Basilea— known by his stage name of “Shlumiel”— created a Jewish archetype, that of “the Schlemiel,” that would have a lasting impact and is still visible today. The etymological proximity of Shlumiel Basilea’s name to “schlemiel” leads me to associate this “character” actor with impersonation and imitation, the two acting modes that made him famous. While considering this “origin” of the “schlemiel,” I do not lose sight of Basilea’s likely inspiration— the giulliari/ jongleurs and Venetian buffoni— and, therefore, his debt to the Venetian and Northern Italian comic traditions.

Remarkably, Basilea was making theatre at a time of greater restrictions on Jewish– Christian relations, including the imposition of ghettos, which aimed to physically separate Jews and Christians. Basilea’s rise reflects the paradox that in a period of imposed cultural barriers, theatrical emulation, and borrowing nevertheless persisted between the Jews and Christians in Mantua. Even in the tumultuous post-1612 ghettoization period, with shifting rulers and more extravagant staging needs, Basilea’s career flourished.