Galactia- Female, Venetian, Painter, 46 years old.
Carpeta- Male, Painter of "pity", Galactia's lover, appears to be around the same age as Sordo so possibly about 37 years old.
Urgentino- Male, politician, the Doge, Venetian.
Suffici- Male, Venetian Admiral, being painted by Glactia.
Rivera- Female, critic, poet, sensualist, brought to critique Galactia's work by Urgentino.
Ostensibile- Male, Cardinale, Secretary of State for Public Education.
Prodo- Male, "Man with the Crossbow Bolt in His Head", shows battle wounds for money to Galactia.
Sketchbook- Androgynous, sort of a narrator to Galactia's painting, no sense of age, race, etc.
Supporta- Female, Venetian, Galactia's daughter, in a professional relationship with her mother for 20 years.
Dimentia- Female, Venetian, Galactia's daughter.
Sordo- painter, acquaintance of Carpeta, 37 years old.
The text of this play lends very little to the race or ethnicity of the characters except for one named Mustafa who is an Albanian. Beyond that, there is no reference besides being Venetian and European. However, gender seems to matter significantly. If Anna Galactia were played by a man it would completely alter major themes of the play. It would also alter relationships that Galactia is suppose to have with Carpeta and her daughters and mainly everyone else's view of her being a female painter. I happen to believe that altering any of the major character's gender would result in completely changing author's intention and even further than that it would create a sense of confusion amongst the audience. I strongly believe that gender should stay as intended except for maybe more minor roles such as the Sketchbook or Sailor.
