This hands-on mask making laboratory invites participants into a dynamic exploration of abstraction in mask performance, blending visual creation with embodied theatrical expression.
INSIDE THE MASK is both a creative laboratory and a performative search into new potential theatre forms, where abstract form becomes a living, expressive force.
Through guided movement explorations, participants will analyze and embody the principles of motion, using the body as a tool to inform and inspire the construction of their own abstract masks. With simple yet versatile materials—primarily cardboard—they will experiment with the dynamics of form, structure, and color, learning techniques to design and build masks that resonate in dramatic space and evoke strong audience engagement.
By merging movement, design, and performance, INSIDE THE MASK opens a doorway to bold, imaginative storytelling and offers participants a glimpse into the evolving language of tomorrow’s theatre.
THE LABORATORY FOCUSES ON:
- Understanding abstraction within the context of mask performance
- Creating three-dimensional forms with minimal materials
- Exploring how movement informs and enhances visual design
- Discovering expressive potential in the dialogue between performer and object
- Developing simple practical skills in mask construction and finishing techniques
- Study of the inner structure of the mask
- Improvisation
- Movement technique, musicality and timing
- Daily sessions will combine the constructive aspects of mask-making with movement techniques and explorations that serve as a source of creation
Details
Dates
Monday June 15th – Friday June 19th
10am – 5pm
Location
Old Trout Puppet Workshop
3640 15a St SE, Calgary, AB
Cost & Registration
Cost: $600 + GST
To register contact Elaine at elaine@maskandpuppet.com
Cancellation Policy
There are no refunds on tickets, but a spot can be transferable to another participant if organised by the buyer.
Your Instructor
Carlos García Estévez is an international artist born in Spain. He is Artistic Director of Manifesto Poetico, an actor, stage director, theatre researcher, pedagogue and specialist in Contemporary Commedia dell’Arte and mask performance.
Manifesto Poetico comes from Carlos’ 25 years of research and productions done internationally. He has also performed and directed in over 20 different countries and over 45 different Universities. Over his career he has developed his research into multi-style mis-en-scene, inter- disciplinary productions and devised theatre that is contemporary. The success of his work and the enthusiastic response from the audience comes from a reinvention of traditional- popular theatre. As he learned from Dario Fo, Carlos keeps the spirit of popular theatre in order to create new contemporary theatrical languages that speak to audiences today.
He is currently touring his solo performance Solo dell’Arte. It has been in Spain, France, The Netherlands, Argentina, Romania, Austria, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Cyprus, Greece, United Kingdom, United States and Canada.
Other artists with whom he worked include Donato Sartori, Yoshi Oida, Dario Fo, Simon McBurney, Peter Sellars, Marcello Magni, Gennadi Bogdanov, Pierre Byland, Eric de Bont, Kevin Crawford and Kaya Anderson (Roy Hart – Voice technique), Mario Gonzáles (Theatre de Soleil), José Luís Gómez (Teatro de La Abadía, Madrid), Tapa Sudana (Tribuana master and a former actor of Peter Brook’s company) and Miquel A. Barceló.
He trained with Jacques Lecoq for three years, both at his École Internationale de Théâtre and at L.E.M. (Laboratoire d’Etude de Mouvement). He is regularly hosted as a teacher at L’École Jacques Lecoq in Paris in the Laboratory for the Study of Movement (L.E.M.) where he is an associate artist and co-contributor to the unique research undertaken there.
Carlos directs, performs and teaches in English, French, Italian and Spanish.
“As a young artist, I always wanted to know what was behind the mask.
Working with Donato Sartori and teaching as an associate artist at the L.E.M. (School of Jacques Lecoq), I was fascinated by the process before the mask was completed. This process requires a great deal of knowledge, practice, and cultural understanding.
Ah, those fascinating elements that appear before the mask! Balance, forces, breath, space, proportions, duration, weight. It’s a whole dimension — an ecosystem of many lives contained within an extraordinary object.
The mask catches and traps something inside us—something that comes from generations past, something calling to us from beyond this lifetime. It’s something we recognize but can’t quite place—neither when nor where it’s from—something encoded in our DNA. It goes far, far back!
Venture into new ways of seeing reality—transpose it, dive into its abstraction. Let’s reach the audience in ways that make them question their existence today.
Embark on the exploration of what lies behind the mask and the natural forces that drive the essential human types.”
Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry
© 2017 Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry
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In the spirit of reconciliation, Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry acknowledges that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (which includes the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani). We would also like to acknowledge the Tsuut'ina, the Îyâxe Nakoda Nations(Bearspaw, Chiniki, and Wesley), the Métis Nation (Region 3), and all of us who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.