*** Only 2 spots left!! ***
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| Masks by Amleto Sartori |
NEUTRAL MASK:
Unfolding your poetic potential through Neutral Mask
with Elizabeth Baron
Fri - Sun, September 16 - 18
at the Boulder Circus Center, Boulder, CO - USA
To REGISTER, please contact LaLaTheater@gmail.com
or call (303) 746-2669
- Schedule: Friday 3pm - 9pm / Saturday and Sunday 11am - 7pm
- Studio Location: Boulder Circus Center, 4747 26th Street, Boulder, CO 80301
- Ages: 16 and Older
- Class Size: Max. 10 / Min. 6
- Clothing: Clothes you can move in - not too baggy
- Color of clothes: Black required
- WORKSHOP COST: $ 270 / $ 255 (Early Bird Discount)
- EARLY BIRD: Deposit must be received by Friday, September 2
- Deposit: $100 (non-refundable)
This workshop will be taught in English, with lots of French and Italian whenever needed...
or Spanish, that can happen too...
NEUTRAL MASK WORKSHOP: Who are we, and what are our impulses and reactions when we our closer to our purer presence? And how do we then begin to tell the stories that come to us in this state of neutrality and full presence? The Neutral Mask is a fundamental step in the experience, practice, and play of Movement Theatre. It is a mask with no dramatic expression. It allows the actor to explore a state of pure presence – in the here and now of space and time.
In this extended weekend intensive workshop, the artist is introduced to the state of neutrality – the neutrality that exists before the action. The Neutral Mask has no memory and no agenda – it lives in the present. The Neutral Mask allows the artist to discover the difference between movement and drama – to explore the fluidity of the body and the essence of human gestures.
The Neutral Mask gives the artist the awareness of the natural "drama" that is present in her/his body. This “drama” tends to become a character, form, or persona. Eventually, it can become a story or pattern - one that affects or even 'speaks' for the artist, before even uttering a word. By unfolding these physical "background noises," the body reaches a state of silence and presence, available to the theatrical space. Once the actor has discovered this space, she becomes like “a white page, ready to be written on in the future dramas.“ - Jacques Lecoq.
With this growing awareness, increased presence in space and availability to play, the artist journeys through the Neutral Mask through Nature and the Elements, developing his ability to identify and mimic nature. From Nature, we learn the inarguable and cross-cultural aspects of human existence, and the crucial elements of arch, rhythm, tempo and crescendo. By focusing also on movement and mask technique the artist gains needed skills and tools for creating and story telling.
Through a neutral body, listening and play, the work created by the actor in Neutral Mask can rise to levels of thrilling adventure and epic drama. Simultaneously, the actor learns through Neutral Mask to trust in the simplicity, possibility and power of her neutral presence in space.
With this growing awareness, increased presence in space and availability to play, the artist journeys through the Neutral Mask through Nature and the Elements, developing his ability to identify and mimic nature. From Nature, we learn the inarguable and cross-cultural aspects of human existence, and the crucial elements of arch, rhythm, tempo and crescendo. By focusing also on movement and mask technique the artist gains needed skills and tools for creating and story telling.
Through a neutral body, listening and play, the work created by the actor in Neutral Mask can rise to levels of thrilling adventure and epic drama. Simultaneously, the actor learns through Neutral Mask to trust in the simplicity, possibility and power of her neutral presence in space.
ELIZABETH BARON is an award-winning teacher, director, actor and collaborative theater-maker. She leads mask, voice, acting, red nose, and movement workshops and classes throughout the US and Internationally. She holds an MFA in Lecoq Based Actor-Created Physical Theater, from Naropa University/London International School of the Performing Arts (LISPA.)
Elizabeth is part of the teaching team at GIOVANNI FUSETTI's international school of theater creation – Helikos: Scuola Internazionale Di Creazione Teatrale, in Florence, Italy.
For Elizabeth's full bio, click here.
Excerpted Student and Teacher Blurbs
Thank you again for leading us through this most amazing work. I've never had this much fun learning so intensely. You are gifted in recognizing and encouraging the playful aspects of each person and in getting the group to engage meaningfully with each other. I experienced insights into myself and my relationships that astonished and explained so much – much more than therapy or any other method of self-exploration! I can't thank you enough for bringing your wisdom and compassion to bear on the human vulnerability we all share.-- Katie McElroy
-- Tory Capron, Senior Teacher - The Dharma Ocean FoundationLiz is a powerful, insightful, compassionate and incredibly keen warrior. A true teacher. I love her.
I loved it. I felt held and I felt totally engaged in the work, and I feel that you have such a gift for bringing out each person's soft spots and gently bringing them to the surface, beautiful work. The best performance I have seen in a long time… What a lovely, exciting, fun, brilliant workshop you brought to us.-- Joanna Rotkin, Tinhouse Experimental Dance Theatre and Naropa University Faculty
Ms. Baron is an enthusiastic and engaging teacher, who is able to meet students on their level (whatever level that might be) and inspire them to work and make discoveries about both the topic and themselves. Her enthusiasm and professionalism in her work carries over into her teaching, and she sets a lively and productive atmosphere in the classroom/ performance laboratory. She provides a supportive environment for creative play and active learning that encourages students to take risks and try new things.-- Elizabeth Ann Jochum, M.A., Department of Theatre and Dance – University of Colorado, Boulder
To read more student and teacher blurbs on Elizabeth's teaching: click here
Excerpted Audience and Theater Reviews from PRODUCTIONS INFLUENCED BY NEUTRAL MASK WORK
LaLa Theater's Agamemnon - Directed and performed by Elizabeth Baron:
...Baron doesn't inhabit the eight characters so much as she invites them in and they inhabit her. Her performance during the nearly two-and-half-hour play is a remarkable display of an actor in full command of her vocal and physical instrument, and with complete access to a rich emotional palate.
Using only a scarf and her own skill, she moves between elegant, flowing, grizzled, clownish and earthy personas with striking precision and nuance... Baron's performance is captivating... -- Mark Collins, Daily Camera, Theater Review
To read more of Mark Collins' review of Agamemnon: click here!
...I felt most grateful for experiencing what I consider to be a rare art... the art of storytelling. Contemporary productions have actors reaching out to entertain the audience, but during Agamemnon I felt invited in, by the vocation of Story, into another world. It was like taking a drink when I didn't even know I was thirsty... -- Audience member, Agamemnon
Elizabeth Baron's commanding, delicate, and heartfelt performance brought me to my knees. -- Audience member, Agamemnon
... I loved, loved, loved your Agamemnon performance. You looked and sounded positively Olympian! Did you know that the word "enthusiasm" comes from the Greeks? It originally meant "infused with the energy of the gods.” You were magnificent… -- Robert Spellman, Naropa University - Visual Arts and Religious Studies
To read more Audience reviews of Agamemnon: click here!
Gemma Wilcox Productions' 52 Pick Up, directed by Elizabeth Baron:
".... 52 Pick Up" requires ferocious and fully committed performances, and that's what Gemma Wilcox and Sam Elmore have honed...These two are confident and comfortable together. Between scenes they circle each other like animals in heat, then dive in to whatever scene comes up with abandon and total trust. It all makes for a quick evening that's at times funny, passionate and sad, but at all times honest..."-- John Moore, Denver Post, Theater Review of 52 Pick Up - 2009, Denver
...utterly surprising and invigorating. I do not expect this level of precision and rhythm in the physicality, while ALSO getting a genuine emotional depth. The actors have a vigor in the "connective tissue" of the piece, where each vignette is strung together, that is such a pleasure to witness. Each freeze and continue moment is crisp and creates separating frames... I miss this kind of theatrical discipline; like one of Gumps' chocolates, unknown and then you happily find a soft delicious center...
Wilcox and Elmore have that 'human attractiveness' that draws you in and they become your points of affinity for the emotional journey you take. Your surrogates. They made the trust worth it... -- Audience Member, 52 Pick Up - 2008, Boulder Fringe
I loved the presence with which you had to hold each moment, to weave together such a powerful performance! -- Audience Member, 52 Pick-Up
