***** THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL !! *****
NEUTRAL MASK:
Discovering our Purest Potential
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| Mask by Sartori Photo by Elizabeth Baron |
with Elizabeth Baron
assisted by Giulio Vanzan
November 30 - December 2, 2018
(Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
(Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
- Schedule: Friday - 4 or 5 hours, Saturday and Sunday - 6 hours
- Studio Location: Radical Movement Factory,Wrigley Building, 2801 Mission St. Extension, 95060
- Ages: 16 and Older
- Class Size: Max. 12 / Min. 8
- Clothing: Clothes you can move in - not too baggy
- Color of clothes: Black REQUIRED, long sleeve and leg
- WORKSHOP COST: $ 325 / $ 295 (Early Bird Discount)
- EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: Deposit must be received by FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26th!!
- Deposit: $100 (non-refundable)
***** THIS WORKSHOP IS FULL (as of 10/16/18) *****
To be placed on the waitlist, or to find out about
Neutral Mask with Elizabeth in 2019,
email: LaLaTheater@gmail.com
NEUTRAL MASK EXTENDED WEEKEND INTENSIVE WORKSHOP:
What does it mean for you to be fully present in the theatrical space, your body completely engaged - listening to the space, your body, and your imagination? How do we move from this state of pure potential? What gestures do we share as humans? How can we be present and active without falling into trite drama or set patterns? What do we communicate to an audience that inhibits our ability to tell the story we wish to? How do we learn the fundamentals necessary for thrilling and epic drama? How do we use nature to guide us as performers?
The Neutral Mask is a crucial component of Movement Theatre training, and it is a vital tool for any performer. The neutral mask has no dramatic expression. It allows us to explore our unadulterated and vital human presence, and to touch the state of neutrality that exists before the action. The Neutral Mask has no memory and no agenda, it lives in the present, and it helps us to discover the difference between movement and drama. Through neutral mask, we can unfold the stories inherent in our bodies and work towards existing in the present moment, able to utilize our genuinely vast potential as creators and storytellers.
The Neutral Mask work gives the artist the awareness of the natural "drama" that is present in her/his/their body. This “drama” tends to reveal itself in characters, forms, or personae, depending on the dynamics of the situation and the space. Eventually, this 'drama' becomes a story or pattern that affect or 'speak' for the artist, before even uttering a word. Through unfolding these physical or subtler "background noises," the body reaches a state of silence and presence, available to the theatrical space...
We will use the Sartori Neutral Mask, specifically those made by Donato Sartori, who died in 2016. The original version was created by his father, Amleto Sartori, in close discussion with Jacques Lecoq. To learn more about the Sartori, go to: http://www.sartorimaskmuseum.it/. Elizabeth will be assisted in this workshop by Giulio Vanzan, a student of Elizabeth’s, who is an Italian artist and teacher, coming from Italy to help lead this extended intensive.
To be clear - the study of neutrality can interest us for a lifetime and is fantastically difficult. One could call it impossible, except that each time we explore it, people have moments of neutrality and the power and clarity of those moments keep us thirsting for the next discovery. Perhaps to sidestep the frustration and failure rate, there are approaches that provide a set ‘way’ to be neutral. In Liz's approach to it, which is based in part on the pedagogy of her mentor, Giovanni Fusetti, there is not one form or attitude a person can take to find neutral. Instead, each player learns to find his/her/their neutrality, the work of which may differ radically from what a colleague needs to do. The class/audience serves as the community reflection, the finder of what is ‘juste’ - what is true and what, put simply: works.
The work on neutrality, especially in combination with the red nose clown work, equips the actor with deep and useful insights and initiates them into myriad new possibilities as creators and performers.
Through movement and release work, improvisation, mask technique, Lecoq-based exercises and technique, mime, voice work, and much more, we will wrestle with, let go into, and courageously seek our neutrality, in search of the timeless poetic movement of which we all are capable. The goal of the work of the neutral mask, in my opinion, is for the student to have full access to their activated body, the ability to just the story they want to tell, to listen to the space and the others, and to be fully alive to their imagination.
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
Excerpted Student and Teacher Blurbs
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.
Elizabeth is the kind of teacher who is able to fearlessly put her good human qualities in her work. Such as her sensitivity, her strength, equivalent to that of a super-party leader, matched by her care for small things all while keeping the bigger picture in sight, and lastly her attention to individual needs.
-- Joanna Rotkin, Joanna and the Agitators - Movement Educator, Choreographer and Performer,
For anyone considering attending, just know that I seriously consider this to be one of the most profound classes I've ever taken in my life. It (along with the teacher) deserve a love letter. I signed up intending to learn a little about clowning, but I came away with the feeling I'd gone through a transformation. In a way, it was a soul retrieval. But instead of a steady drumbeat, it was the laughter of my classmates and the careful attention Liz held for us all that revived a lovable and comedic part of myself. I compare all classes, workshops, therapies and healings to this weekend, and they all fall a little short.
Liz is a powerful (and unsurprisingly now world renowned) teacher...
-- Ted Reavey - AandD Counselor at Community Works
Liz is a powerful, insightful, compassionate and incredibly keen warrior. A true teacher. I love her.
-- Tory Capron, Senior Teacher - The Dharma Ocean Foundation
... As a teacher Liz has nigh super-natural powers of listening and guides students of all levels "down the rabbit hole" to explore the richest parts of themselves and transpose it into moving theater performances. She has been one of the most important influences in my development as an artist. I've had breakthroughs in her workshops that have completely exploded my expressive ability both as an artist and as a person.
-- Peter Sweet, International Circus and Theater Artist
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
Elizabeth is the kind of teacher who is able to fearlessly put her good human qualities in her work. Such as her sensitivity, her strength, equivalent to that of a super-party leader, matched by her care for small things all while keeping the bigger picture in sight, and lastly her attention to individual needs.
What she offers is precious and unique. The most beautiful thing is that she offers it with love! Priceless!
-- Teresa Scaletti, Florence, Italy
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 and Aalborg University - Denmark
Excerpted Audience and Theater Reviews from
PRODUCTIONS UTILIZING THE 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. -- Mary-Laurence Bevington, Founder and Director at Light Yoga
... 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
