Annual Clown and Mask Workshop

Drama Department
University of Alberta
Summer Session

Creativity, innovation, and the need for inspiration apply to many fields besides drama.

The clown workshop has been a catalyst for creative awakening for people in areas such as research and development, industrial design, entrepreneurial ventures, psychology, as well as health care professionals, fine artists and more.

Through a study of the essence of the creative process as applied to Character and Neutral Mask techniques, and the art and philosophy of the Fool, students will discover and perform their own unique Clown characters.

This is an Open Studies course and therefore is open to the public, as well as university students. Maximum registration is 14. No previous drama experience required. Acceptance into the course requires an interview with the instructor.

Students will:

• Build three character masks using clay, papier mache and paint
• Bring those masks physically and vocally to life through improvisation
• Develop physical/emotional centering techniques through the Neutral Mask
• Develop the improvisational skills inherent in the character-driven, European style of clowning
• Explore Color and the Elements as Character sources
• Explore makeup and costume as mask
• Learn to juggle

The course will culminate in a public performance. Past graduates of this course have performed for street performer festivals, the Cirque du Soleil, and Tsirkus - a Belgian clown company that performs for children in hospitals.

"In times of widespread chaos and confusion, it has been the duty of more advanced human beings - artists, scientists, clowns and philosophers - to create order."
Tom Robbins