The chaste, eh? You're not going to make much money at this gig! ;)

We'd love to meet you at one of our performances! We'll be at Valhalla (2nd weekend), Central Coast/SLO, Golden Gate, and Folsom.

As to what information to include in your curriculum... for those averse to research, I suggest the fiction book "In the Company of the Courtesan." For those who love research -- "The Honest Courtesan" is great but a dry read. A great alternative, although out of print and therefore hard to find, is "Lives of the Courtesans: Portraits of the Renaissance." A great scholarly journal article is "Julia Lombardo, Somtusoa Meretrize: A Portrait by Property" (Renaissance Quarterly, Spring 1988) which goes in detail into the property left by a courtesan at her death. Finally, there are many histories of Venice and other Italian city-states (Rome was particularly rife with courtesans - all of the clergy created quite a demand!), histories of women in 16th c. Italy, etc. And don't forget all of the published courtesans, like Gaspara Stampa -- reading their works is amazing.

For costume, of course the Realm of Venus website. I would also read "Moda di Firenze," which focuses on Florentine costume, but much is similar. There is sadly not a lot of published (in English) research on Venetian costume, but all of the classic 16th c. costume books (Janet Arnold, Tudor Tailor, etc.) are very helpful.