Workshop – Masks and Actors

Masks encourage actors to change themselves; to conceal and reveal, and masks allow the actor the ability to replace one reality with another. Masks provide the actor and the audience with a better understanding of who and what the character really is.

Superb! My actors learned more in an evening than I could have taught them in a week.

– Kenneth Hill, Ripon College
(Moliere’s “The Miser”)

In this workshop “BY THE SEAT OF YOUR BAGGY PANTS,” performing artist Jacob Mills brings to your students a collection of over 25 masks from the world, including:

• Full-face masks from Basel, Switzerland
• Half-masks of the Italian Commedia del’Arte Theater style
• Masks from Thailand, Indonesia, U.S. and Bali

Group and individual improvisational exercises will help the actor better understand and appreciate the value of physical expression. The class will help create a common language among actors/cast members and promote the concept of ensemble.

The comic vitality of the physical comedian, Vaudeville, and Circus will also be a part of this fun, action-filled workshop. Students learn 3-ball juggling pattern and the fine art of balancing an object on the nose, as well as an assortment of related skills.

Workshop activities can be geared toward specific production needs.

My deepest enthusiasm and recommendation… as movement coach, speaker and workshop instructor, an encyclopedic knowledge of his craft… a phenomenal difference for the performers, for me as a director and for the show overall.  (read entire)

– Prof.Megan Randolf, Executive Director
Music Theatre of Madison, Wisconsin

A relaxed atmosphere for learning … boundless energy, creativity and leadership stimulated all of us.

– Prof. Harv Thompson, Director
Rhinelander School of the Arts