Veronica Franco was the model of the modern woman.
She was educated, a poet and became influential in the culture and politics of her city: 16th century Venice. When family finances kept her from marrying the man she loved, Franco became a courtesan. She also survived war, plague and faced the Inquisition on charges of witchcraft.
Franco's life was told in Margaret Rosenthal's "The Honest Courtesan" and went on to become the 1998 film, "Dangerous Beauty." Now it is a musical at the Pasadena Playhouse. Jenny Powers stars.
Knowledge and imagination allowed Franco to "transcend the limitations of the patriarchal society that existed in renaissance Italy," Powers said. "It's definitely a female empowerment piece, but it has great entertainment value for men - it's political, and it drips with sex."
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