The question: why study devising as a theatre artist, actor, creator or playwright will be explored in this blog post. And as always “the mask” will be discussed as the vehicle driving the learning process and leading the student/artist toward understanding a deeper creative product. The current climate in today’s performance practice, on the surface, […]
The Question of Masks in Devising I was recently speaking with a colleague about a devising workshop that we are planning and he asked me, “why use masks?” This prompted a lot of thought, which led to a lot of questions and then to a lot more thought. Here are some of those thoughts shared. […]
What is Economy of movement? Why would that be important? I was once having a conversation with a colleague and had just mentioned having finished the section on neutral theatre mask. She asked me how long I had spent with the students on the neutral mask exercises. I replied eight weeks. She was shocked. What […]
This blog post is going be all over the place so be warned. It has been hard to focus my thoughts on any one aspect of what I do given the events in the world at large. I spend my days caught between the world I live in and the world that is being imposed […]
This past summer 15 artists from eight states, Canada and UK gathered in the studio spaces to create new work using theater masks. The theme of the workshop was The Rise and Fall of the Other. The intention was to create story that reflected the cycle that plagues humanity as concerns the ostracizing of those […]
The following is a sequence in which theater masks provide the cornerstone as concerns understanding and integration of physical principles for the actor. Several movement classes are listed and theater masks play a role in some as well as physical classes that are intended as preparation for the mask work. The sequence is designed to […]
This semester at Ball State University has been about using theater masks in the actor training sequence. The training sequence is based on the work done at the Lecoq School in Paris. We are using the neutral and larval (Basel masks) to teach acting principles so the actors can approach text and scene work more […]
Guest Blog Post 1 This following blog post is what I hope to be a long series of posts by guest bloggers articulating how theater masks are used today in their world of practice, teaching and students of life. The following was written by Jon Stancato, a long time client and collaborator in the design […]
How are theater masks used today? Or perhaps the better question is How is the use of theater masks important in todays worlds of training and performance? I find it wonderfully reassuring that the mask, its expressive form and the power it has to reveal remains as contemporary and applicable as it was 35,000 years […]
The phrase: “the mask reveals,” takes our discussion of masks and their important presence in performance, training, ritual and celebration in many directions. This post will focus on how the theater mask acts as an agent connecting the past and the present as if they existed together in the moment with a sense of immediacy […]
Welcome!! Jonathan Becker offers on-site workshops in partnership with The North American Laboratory of the Performing Arts, a small institute dedicated to a broad cultural exploration of the performing arts, the creation of new works, the exploration of fundamental principles and inspiring artists to be agents of change.
The MansionA workshop for performers, students and teachers. Explore one of the most effective methods of actor training through Neutral, Larval and Character Half Mask. the mask tangibly reveals to the actor the intricacies of the art of performance, directing and an application of understandings to all styles of acting.
This workshop explores the entire process and understandings necessary to create an expressive form, a mask that appears to change expression as it moves through space.
