General Mask Class Information
* I offer both Neutral and Commedia dell’Arte Mask classes. They can be taught separately
or together for short or long term workshops. For a longer term Commedia workshop, I recommend starting with Neutral for
a strong understanding of how to work with a Mask, then moving on to Commedia. Clown and Bouffon work can
also be incorporated into the workshops.
* All class and workshop offerings can be tailored to the time frame and particular interests of a
school, company, or theatre project.
* I have taught all levels: Professionals, MFA, BFA, BA, and High School students. See testimonial and
resume tabs for specifics.
* I provide all Masks, Neutral and Commedia, for the workshops or I can work with Masks you provide.
There is no Mask making in my classes.
* My beautiful Neutral and Commedia dell’Arte Masks are all leather and were made in France by the
highest quality artisans who create Masks specifically for actors in performance, not for display. My Commedia dell’Arte
Masks represent all the stock characters of the Italian Comedy.
* Fees are based on the length and location of the workshops.
End of semester mask performance at University of Delaware, UD Photos: Nadine Howatt
Neutral Mask
A Neutral Mask is a Mask with no expression and no opening for the mouth. The work is silent. The exercises we learn will enhance the actors’ spatial awareness, timing, listening, concentration, management of focus, economy of movement, spontaneity, and ability to guide the audience. Students will have a new idea of what it is to be present on stage and a side benefit will be enhanced stage presence. They will discover the expressive potential in the most basic movement and become acutely aware of extraneous or habitual patterns or postures revealed by the simplicity of the Mask. With Neutral Masks actors find their simplest states, devoid of personal character as far as possible. Onto this blank canvas they can later build and add the traits of a brand new character of any style, age or type, while they themselves transform and become unrecognizable. I tell my students that what we learn with Neutral Mask is the skeleton that holds us up on stage, the most basic stage technique.
Commedia dell’Arte Mask
In this section of the workshop, the students will use the basic technique they learned with the Neutral Masks, advancing to create their own highly expressive characters. Commedia Masks are used to free and transform the actor. Through improvisation, the actors’ imaginations, and my guidance, the students will create their own stories and names for the characters and discover appropriate physicality and voices for them. Working individually and in groups, we will incorporate the use of dance, song, improvisation, props, and text. By the end of the class, the students will have created several characters and have a new sense of themselves as actors who are creative artists.
Why Mask Training?
Masks have a seemingly magical ability to liberate an actor’s expressive potential and imagination. Having taught a full spectrum of acting classes, I can attest that the freedom students find and progress that they make with Mask work far exceeds that of an ordinary acting class. Over twenty-five years ago as a student of this work, I made this discovery first hand and felt I had found – completely unexpectedly – who I wanted to be as an artist. It brought me joy, a sense of play, freedom, discipline, and artistry; it gave me a passionate desire to continue as both a participant and teacher.
Though we work with Commedia dell’Arte Masks and the basics of the Italian stock characters, we use Masks as tools to spark the students’ imaginations; we do not necessarily create characters under the strictest tradition of the Italian Comedy. Through improvisation and class response, students learn to create characters, stories, and situations using their own imaginations . They also learn that the methods used can apply to the creation of roles in any style of play, from the most theatrical to the most naturalistic. Often the students are hilarious, but sometimes their characters are tragic, sad, or scary. I encourage them to find what is most real with each character they bring to life. The workshops are always filled with laughter and joy, but the goal is authenticity.
Origins of Technique and Training
The technique for Mask learned in this class is largely the invention of Mario Gonzalez, who was my teacher at the Conservatoire National Superieur d’Art Dramatique (the national theatre school of France), and whose work I have studied and taught for over twenty-five years. Mario was a long time member of Ariane Mnouchkine’s world renowned Theatre du Soleil. His Mask technique is inspired by his work with Mnouchkine and a response to Jacques LeCoq. I think Chris Bayes and Philippe Gaulier are brilliant teachers and I was lucky enough to study “Clown” with Chris over the course of several years and “Bouffon” with Philippe. They have both influenced my work. Trained by these wonderful physical theatre artists, and developed through years of my work in the theatre as both a classical actress and teacher, I’ve created my own practice of this craft to share with students.
Amherst College; New York Workshop; University of Delaware – photos: Deenie Howatt; WildWind Performance Lab at Texas Tech Universityphotos: www.tifholmes.com
Carine coaches privately and in groups on a number of skills:
Executive Speaker Coach:
Carine is a personal speaker coach for C-Level executives in the business world, and has also coached a great number of conference speakers. She has coached for presentations in large spaces, like the Javitz Center, smaller rooms, zoom presentations, and on camera. She addresses clarity of speech, persuasive speaking, presence, audience connection, movement, dramatic structure/writing, nerves and more, always catering to the individual’s needs.
Audiobook Coach:
Carine has over 25 years experience narrating audiobooks for top companies like Recorded Books, Audible and Penguin Random House. She has received numerous awards for her reading from the American Library Association and AudioFile Magazine. She has successfully given group classes and private sessions on the complex set of skills needed to narrate a book.
Accent, Dialect, & Text Coaching For Actors:
Carine teaches accents and dialects for the stage. She is also a coach for professional and educational productions.
Accent Acquisition For The Business World:
Carine has also worked with people of varying professions, from software engineers to models to bankers, who are interested in improving their pronunciation for ease of communicating with English as a second language. She caters her private classes to the needs of her students, identifying rhythm, tone, and sound changes, and giving students tools for working on clarity of speech outside the classroom. In addition to her experience as a voice and speech teacher for actors, she spent about five years teaching English as a second language (ESL). As a dual citizen, she is particularly attuned to the needs of international students. Rates depend on the location and frequency of sessions.
Audition Coach:
Carine has coached auditions privately as well as in the classroom. She has many years of experience in the audition room herself, so she is aware of what’s necessary when an actor walks through the door! She can coach monologues as well as sides, and has had good success coaching students auditioning for graduate school.
Coaching clients giving talks at the Javitz Center, MongoDB World Conference, 2022