Owl Over the Moon Opera-matic, a collaborative arts group in Chicago, contacted me this last spring to make a mask for The Moon on the Lagoon, The community performance featured lullabies and the faces people find in the moon. What a cool idea! Part of designing the mask is figuring how it will align with and/or … Continue reading Birds and Bugs
A few months ago I was approached by a photographer in Eugene, Oregon, named Dennis Galloway. Among his many other projects, he shoots panoramas of artists in their studios. We arranged a time and he came up an took this awesome photo. We chatted about masks and photography and travels as we did this shoot. It … Continue reading A View of My Studio
What makes a mask a mask? How does a change in technology affect this ancient practice of transformation? I stumbled upon this video on Facebook. It's pretty interesting what they are doing. In one respect, it's a live-time version of makeup—the face is decorated with moving images, but the dimensions of the face are not altered … Continue reading Face Hacking
It's taken a few months to organize and upload the photos from my trip to India, but I'm happy to report they are are ready! And good golly, there's a lot of them. So a few options exist. If you want the entire adventure, including all the work on Maya the musical and my subsequent … Continue reading Pictures from India
Hi everyone! I'm leading a workshop on half masks for the stage. Read more below! To be sure to hear about upcoming workshops and performances, join my mailing list. - Tony Making the Stage-ready Mask Learn how to make a mask that feeds the performer and is designed to play powerfully on indoor and outdoor stages. In this … Continue reading Mask Making Intensive Workshop in Portland: March 27-29
The Epic Project Inspired by the study of mythology by Joseph Campbell (a favorite of mine too!), as well as theatre creators Ariane Mnouchkine, Jacques Lecoq, Peter Brook, and Complicite, Professor Stephanie Roberts is leading an exciting collaboration between UMKC Theatre and the UMKC Conservatory IMP Ensemble. The working title is The Epic Project. It is a three … Continue reading So. Epic.
Hoping for a Remount in Fall 2015! Over the course of the last three years, I've had the great pleasure to work with Many Hats Collaboration's Jessica Wallenfels and Eric Nordin (and a slew of other talented artists) on the development of an original work of dance theater, The Snowstorm. It's been a great journey, and I … Continue reading Devising mask theater
You may have seen this video circling around: Among its charms are the masks four of the dancers wear. One thing that caught my eye was the texture of the face. It reminded me of Buckminster Fuller, actually, and geodesic domes. Granted, I know only a little little bit about geodesics, but the visual similarity is … Continue reading Triangle Technology
Once it was confirmed that I would be working in India this fall, I was excited to see if I could find out more about Indian mask traditions. Quick internet searches yielded little, only some tribal Himalayan masks to the north, and a number of colorful pieces in neighboring Sri Lanka.Talking with some people on the Maya … Continue reading Faces of India
We've opened MAYA and the kids have performed at two of the three venues already! Here are some pictures 🙂