Upcoming physical theatre, mask making, and makeup effects workshops

Upcoming Workshops:

Upcoming: Primate Cinema Workshop May 4 & 5 see below Neoprene Mask Making Workshop in June dates TBA
Primate Cinema Workshop: How to Act like an Animal What: A performance workshop exploring primate communication and social organization leading to a videotaped nature documentary, part of the Primate Cinema series. Participants will watch video clips of animal behavior in the wild and in cinema, learn about primatology, and engage in physical theater techniques and improvisation. When: Meeting 1: Sunday May 4, 2-5 PM, Meeting 2: Monday, May 5, 6-9 PM, Two-four other meetings in May to be determined on May 4 meeting. Live performance/shoot: May 24 Screening of completed video: June 11-22 at TELIC Participants need not attend all meetings, but commitment is important. Who: Rachel Mayeri, artist and media studies professor, is organizing the workshop as part of her research and video production at TELIC. Deborah Forster is a cognitive scientist who has worked with primates at the San Diego Zoo, and has studied wild baboons in Kenya. Alyssa Ravenwood is a physical theater director, performer, and mask-maker. Biographies of workshop leaders are below. How: With video clips of wildlife documentaries and Hollywood movies, we will explore media representations of human and nonhuman primate "nature." Forster will discuss how primates and other animals perform social organization and communication, covering a range of perspectives from behavioral ecology and sociology to cognitive science. Ravenwood will show how commedia dell' arte and other theatrical traditions have found animals a source of inspiration for personality and movement. Performers will explore animal behavior and society through warm-ups, group exercises, and improvisational games. Why: Participants will expand acting and social skills by learning about animal behavior. This is a rare chance to be involved in an interdisciplinary project creating dialogue around art, science and politics. Exploring alternative social organization could lead to world peace...or at least to comedy. Participants will be festooned with food and a DVD of the completed project. And you get to act like monkeys. Where: TELIC Arts Exchange (Field Station Hollywood for the month of May), 975 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012; Map and directions How to Participate: Free, open to everyone, performance experience is a plus. RSVP Rachel.Mayeri@gmail.com if you are interested in participating and come to the first meeting. Workshop will be videotaped and used as part of completed nature documentary. Biographies: Deborah Forster Trained in behavioral ecology and cognitive science at UCSD, Forster spent many years studying wild baboons in Kenya and worked with other primates at the San Diego Zoo. She has done design-context research and organizational development consulting at Nissan Design America. She is currently teaching cognitive science to architects at Woodbury University in San Diego, and is contributing to a studio course led by Teddy Cruz at Harvard Graduate School of Design, to build housing in Nicaragua. Alyssa Ravenwood An award winning physical theatre director, performer and mask designer. Artistic Director of the new Los Angeles mask troupe, Ravenwood Performance Group. A graduate of the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre. She also studied Clowning with Sue Morrison at the Canadian Clown Institute and Commedia with Ole Brekke of The Denmark Commedia School. Rachel Mayeri Los Angeles-based artist working at the intersection of science and art, her videos, installations, and writing projects explore scientific representation in topics ranging from the history of special effects to the human animal. Shown at Los Angeles Filmforum, ZKM in Karlsruhe, and P.S.1/MoMA in New York, Mayeri is a guest curator of the Museum of Jurassic Technology and Associate Professor of Media Studies at Harvey Mudd College.

Coming in June: Neoprene Mask Making Workshop at Ravenwood Studio, Los Angeles CA

Contact for more information:

Alyssa Ravenwood
Mask Design
Ph: 323 – 227 - 8028
ravenwoodmasks @ yahoo . com

You will learn:
* sculpting in clay
* how to sculpt expressions
* plaster mold making techniques
* casting with neoprene rubber
* trimming and sanding neoprene
* fitting a mask to a person’s face
* making an adjustable elastic strap
* painting techniques

You will leave class with a neoprene mask and a plaster mask mold.

Small class size allows for individual direction.

Location:
The Brewery Arts Complex in downtown Los Angeles, CA.

Cost:
$340 tuition + $40 materials.

A $200 non-refundable deposit is required to reserve your place in class.
These are exclusive workshops. Class size is limited to six students.
Checks, cash or credit cards accepted. Credit cards accepted through Paypal.

Alyssa Ravenwood has been sculpting masks for theatre productions since 1988. Her masks are seen in performances by theatre companies and schools in the USA, Europe, Canada, and Japan. She was awarded the Portland Drammy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mask Design and is a two time winner of the Best Performance Mask Award at the Ink People Maskibition. She has taught mask making and mask performance workshops at theatres and Universities across the US.


	Mask and Clown Performance Workshops Contact for more information: Alyssa Ravenwood Mask Design Ph: 323 – 227 - 8028 ravenwoodmasks @ yahoo . com
An introduction to mask and clown performance techniques. Learn to express yourself with greater spontaneity and physical dexterity. Appropriate for people with no physical theatre performance background and for experienced performers looking to practice and expand their skills. Film Actors and FX Puppeteers: Mask performance technique is very useful for actors performing with special makeup effects. If you are an actor wearing a prosthetic makeup that covers your face or a puppeteer bringing an animatronic creature to life, mask performance technique teaches you how to turn that piece of rubber into a memorable character, alive with emotion. About Alyssa Ravenwood: An award winning physical theatre director, performer and mask designer. Artistic Director of the new Los Angeles mask troupe, Ravenwood Performance Group. A graduate of the Dell’Arte School of Physical Theatre. She also studied Clowning with Sue Morrison at the Canadian Clown Institute and Commedia with Ole Brekke of The Denmark Commedia School. Student Testimonials: "I've learned and grown immensely while participating in the Ravenwood Performance Group workshops. The clown and mask training is at once challenging, provocative and inspiring, and strikes at the heart of the creative process. I recommend it for all students serious about the art of physical theatre." Jon Monastero, Ten West Comedy Troupe “I’ll start with applauding her dive-right-in approach. The physical work was immediately appropriate and helpful. The workshop was also excellent in jarring me out of my comfort zone, challenging me to stretch for more risky, interesting choices.” - Mark Twohy, workshop graduate From Stage Directions Magazine Jan 08: “The benefits of having performed in mask are body awareness and body freedom. Training in effectively communicating emotion and action with the body gives actors another tool to use besides the voice and face… Los Angeles mask designer and physical theatre expert Alyssa Ravenwood creates expressive masks and individualized workshops for theatre companies. In her classes, performers learn to enact characters with movements and emotions that embody their masks. ‘My focus,” Ravenwood says, ‘is teaching actors practical techniques in order to give the best performance possible.”

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