2-DAY WORKSHOP
MASKS: COMMEDIA
w/ Virginia Scott
Saturday. March 4
10 am - 4 pm
Saturday, March 5
10 am - 4 pm
$190 / PWYC*
*If you need to pay less, pay less. If you can pay more, pay more!
It matters to us that this training is available to anyone who is interested in making work in this way.
Saturday. March 4
10 am - 4 pm
Saturday, March 5
10 am - 4 pm
$190 / PWYC*
*If you need to pay less, pay less. If you can pay more, pay more!
It matters to us that this training is available to anyone who is interested in making work in this way.
WHAT THIS IS
This is a workshop for anyone who is interested in creating specific, physically-connected characters and/or finding game in any type of performance. Commedia starts with the body! And the voice! We call it Commedia instead of commedia dell'arte to signal that we use the archetypes from commedia dell'arte as a jumping off place and we investigate how to bring the masks to life in a contemporary context (like right now!) rather than try to pursue some idea of how they did it in the Renaissance which we don't really know anyway and which might be of little use to you unless you happen to get cast in the yet another production of The Servant of Two Masters (it's a sweet play but seriously, again?!)
We use the masks as a training tool to connect you to your body and voice in a vital way and to enhance the way you create character. The masks are also crazy magic and they allow you to discover game in exciting and unique ways like full pantomime hypotheticals, simple rhythmic and gesture games, verbal gymnastics and "The Cascade" where one thing makes you think of another and you get way off topic as you pursue your fun from one game to another.
We'll investigate status and status relationships to develop comedy as well as give voice to what do you care about THE MOST. Bring that! And then play with it! We'll also pursue a vital connection with the audience: how to move the audience's focus and play with others on the stage through Ping-Pong.
WHAT YOU'LL WALK AWAY WITH
A foundation in mask training (GIMP-T) to use in commedia performance as well as any performance. An augmented relationship to creating character, character relationships, and connection to the audience. An introduction to commedia games and how to employ them in all types of comedy.
BUT LIKE WHO
Anyone and everyone who is down to make the kind of work described above.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Virginia Scott co-founded the Funny School of Good Acting where she taught clown, commedia and bouffon. She is on the faculty of Movement Theatre Studio and the Michael Howard Studio. In 2018 Virginia created The Commedia Company, which performs contemporary, original commedia shows regularly. She also founded and directed Les Enfant Maudit, a bouffon troupe which raised hell and stirred upon trouble all around Los Angeles in the wake of the 2016 election. Virginia has devised new commedia, clown and bouffon shows with several super talented performers around NYC since returning to live in NYC (mostly) full time. Other recent commedia projects include an original commedia performance in concert with a full orchestra (kinda weird but super fun!) for Symphony in the Glen at the Griffith Park stage and another commedia show for the Fowler museum at UCLA. Also in Los Angeles she did some movement direction and devising for Disney (despite not being able to name a single princess beyond Cinderella and never ever visiting the park! Don't tell 'em!). She recently directed Waiting for Godot at SUNY Purchase and is Movement Director for Black Snow.
She teaches/taught clown, commedia, bouffon, play, treteau, or melodrama, and all that kind of wiggling it around at schools such as The Juilliard School, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU: International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam; Meisner Studio; Stella Adler Studio; and Open Arts Studio, CAP 21/Molloy, Montclair State University, Brooklyn College (MFA), Bard College, Pace University, Marymount Manhattan College, USC (MFA), ACT (MFA), the Clown School, the Idiot Workshops and Berg Studios. Shows Virginia has directed and/or devised have appeared at Ars Nova Mainstage, The Strand Theater (SF), 59E59, The Irish Repertory Theatre, The Zipper Theatre, UCB, The PIT, Nuyorican Poet’s Café, Jack, The Shakespeare Forum, The Tank, The New York Fringe Festival and the International Clown Festival; The US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, The Comedy Central Theatre, the Hollywood Fringe, and UCBLA in Los Angeles, and internationally at The Guilded Balloon in Edinburgh, The Centaur Theatre in Montreal and the Grahamstown International Festival in South Africa. TCG just published Discovering the Clown: the Funny Book of Good Acting.
This is a workshop for anyone who is interested in creating specific, physically-connected characters and/or finding game in any type of performance. Commedia starts with the body! And the voice! We call it Commedia instead of commedia dell'arte to signal that we use the archetypes from commedia dell'arte as a jumping off place and we investigate how to bring the masks to life in a contemporary context (like right now!) rather than try to pursue some idea of how they did it in the Renaissance which we don't really know anyway and which might be of little use to you unless you happen to get cast in the yet another production of The Servant of Two Masters (it's a sweet play but seriously, again?!)
We use the masks as a training tool to connect you to your body and voice in a vital way and to enhance the way you create character. The masks are also crazy magic and they allow you to discover game in exciting and unique ways like full pantomime hypotheticals, simple rhythmic and gesture games, verbal gymnastics and "The Cascade" where one thing makes you think of another and you get way off topic as you pursue your fun from one game to another.
We'll investigate status and status relationships to develop comedy as well as give voice to what do you care about THE MOST. Bring that! And then play with it! We'll also pursue a vital connection with the audience: how to move the audience's focus and play with others on the stage through Ping-Pong.
WHAT YOU'LL WALK AWAY WITH
A foundation in mask training (GIMP-T) to use in commedia performance as well as any performance. An augmented relationship to creating character, character relationships, and connection to the audience. An introduction to commedia games and how to employ them in all types of comedy.
BUT LIKE WHO
Anyone and everyone who is down to make the kind of work described above.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Virginia Scott co-founded the Funny School of Good Acting where she taught clown, commedia and bouffon. She is on the faculty of Movement Theatre Studio and the Michael Howard Studio. In 2018 Virginia created The Commedia Company, which performs contemporary, original commedia shows regularly. She also founded and directed Les Enfant Maudit, a bouffon troupe which raised hell and stirred upon trouble all around Los Angeles in the wake of the 2016 election. Virginia has devised new commedia, clown and bouffon shows with several super talented performers around NYC since returning to live in NYC (mostly) full time. Other recent commedia projects include an original commedia performance in concert with a full orchestra (kinda weird but super fun!) for Symphony in the Glen at the Griffith Park stage and another commedia show for the Fowler museum at UCLA. Also in Los Angeles she did some movement direction and devising for Disney (despite not being able to name a single princess beyond Cinderella and never ever visiting the park! Don't tell 'em!). She recently directed Waiting for Godot at SUNY Purchase and is Movement Director for Black Snow.
She teaches/taught clown, commedia, bouffon, play, treteau, or melodrama, and all that kind of wiggling it around at schools such as The Juilliard School, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU: International Theatre Workshop in Amsterdam; Meisner Studio; Stella Adler Studio; and Open Arts Studio, CAP 21/Molloy, Montclair State University, Brooklyn College (MFA), Bard College, Pace University, Marymount Manhattan College, USC (MFA), ACT (MFA), the Clown School, the Idiot Workshops and Berg Studios. Shows Virginia has directed and/or devised have appeared at Ars Nova Mainstage, The Strand Theater (SF), 59E59, The Irish Repertory Theatre, The Zipper Theatre, UCB, The PIT, Nuyorican Poet’s Café, Jack, The Shakespeare Forum, The Tank, The New York Fringe Festival and the International Clown Festival; The US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, The Comedy Central Theatre, the Hollywood Fringe, and UCBLA in Los Angeles, and internationally at The Guilded Balloon in Edinburgh, The Centaur Theatre in Montreal and the Grahamstown International Festival in South Africa. TCG just published Discovering the Clown: the Funny Book of Good Acting.
