PaperFace changes the way we stage and play theatre. Instead of preparing something to show, the offering shifts to sensing and tending to the audience. The players are played by the viewers who put the masks to work, reflecting their own stories and understanding of themselves.
This book is a guide to arriving at this new collaboration. It is a hands-on resource for anyone interested in theatrical full masks. Improvisers, actors, and directors will find dozens of practical exercises and inspiring scene set-ups that highlight simple, silent stories. With a tendency towards spontaneity, PaperFace illuminates the journey of the masked and unmasked actor alike.
Also included is bonus material about warm-ups, leading classes, online training, formats, mask-making, and more…
Here is an excerpt from the Introduction…
I have been given access to a tradition with broader traditions behind it like tribal full mask ceremonies in Africa and beyond, classical Japanese mask theatre, religious mask traditions pantomime, silent films and even some forms of puppetry. To honor what has come before and as a thank you for those gifts, I try to keep the masks alive and cultivate the conditions for ongoing discovery. With a focus on improvisation, I use them to challenge players to overcome physical and psychological obstacles and to come out from behind the mask stronger and wiser than before.
The masks themselves are merely paper (and sometimes plastic or foam). But as Keith Johnstone says, when connected to the body and soul of the performer, they become so much more. Despite Keith’s recommendation to scrap the title, I have decided to keep it as a challenge to myself. Is my teaching, playing and staging the masks as well as the writing in this book able to do justice to them? Can I properly portray what a simple item made from recycled bags and destined for the compost heap can achieve in the meantime? Will the object’s simplicity and the wearer’s complexity harmonize to deliver meaningful human stories? Is there magic in the mask?
Enjoy these paper pages.
Enjoy PaperFace.
*To order, send an email to: info@stevejarand.com
ENDORSEMENTS
Mark Jane – France – Author of Creating Improvised Theatre
Masks are at the origin of theatrical work. They are about sincerity, imagination, spontaneity and emotion… all things good theatre is about. The beauty of Steve’s work is that even if you never put on a mask, this book still contains a wide range of exercises and tools that you can use to improve your sensibility to the stage. Through his unique and extensive experience Steve will show you how masks teach us to discover and rediscover the art of live performance. Obviously, if you work with masks this book is a must have. However, I believe that if you don’t use masks then this book is even more invaluable as a source of inspiration for all actors and directors.
Even if you never put on a mask, this book will strengthen your sensibility to the stage. Steve reveals how to discover, and rediscover, the art of live performance.
Gunter Lösel – Germany – Author of The Play of Archetypes
“The unmoving face is a puzzle, and our minds can’t help but attempt to solve it.”
Why is that so? What kind of psychological automatism makes us see faces and make faces all the time? How can we use this to both make theatre and learn something about ourselves? Steve Jarand would never teach you what is right or wrong in mask play, but invites you to find out for yourself.
Steve Jarand is probably the person who propels Keith Johnstone’s mask work most directly and purely into the present. But he has also expanded this system in several directions, adding a multitude of exercises and insights that have been filtered and proven useful by decades of practice.
What else can I say about this book?
Steve Jarand has been an inspiration for mask players all over the world for decades now, and he is ready to share it all. There is an unbelievable generosity underlying everything he writes. The book comprises dozens of exercises, a multitude of scenarios, mantras, and setups, while at the same time being more than a collection of exercises or a “how-to” book—it is an invitation to join the tribe.
Tessa Vugts – The Netherlands
At last—a truly practical book on improvisation and mask work! With compassion and infectious passion, Steve guides you into the world of full masks, inspiring you to dive in and start exploring this powerful form of theatre right away.
William Hall – USA
I have known Steve Jarand for years as a friend, colleague, and generous explorer of improvisation and mask, and this book captures what makes his work so rare. It is a beautiful dance between the practical and the magical: exercises, activities, and invitations you can use right away, without ever diminishing the mystery that makes mask work so powerful. For anyone who has ever been intrigued by masks, intimidated by them, or curious about why they remain one of theatre’s most ancient and transformative tools, this book gives you a way in. Bring it into your class, your ensemble, your rehearsal room, or your own artistic practice, and begin. So many future performers and performances will have Steve to thank for opening this door.