In the week from 20th of July until the 24th of July 2009 Teatro Punto organized the International Masterclasses Festival in the Fijnhouttheater in Amsterdam. During this week there were several workshops, conferences and seminars from directors, actors and mask makers from Europe and the Unites States, specialized in physical theatre, voice, theatre philosophy and mask making. On this page you can read about our guests, the workshops and demonstrations.

Our guests
Donato Sartori - Conference about masks in the Commedia dell´Arte today
Pascale Lecoq - Demonstration about movement and architecture
Sara Romersberger - Workshop physicality in the comic characters of Shakespeare
Carlos García Estévez & Katrien van Beurden - Workshop Modern Commedia dell´Arte    
Herman Verbeeck - Lecture about the 4 pioneers (Meyerhold, Lecoq, Decroux, Grotowski)
David McDonald - Voice workshop
Judith Chaffee - Workshop about Viewpoints         
Frans Strijards - Lecture about grotesque theatre
Den Durand  - Lecture about the myths behind the masks     
Marina Wijn - Workshop camera acting


Donato Sartori  ‘Masks in the Commedia dell´Arte today’
Donato Sartori is the most important artist in the tradition of the sculpture in masks of Commedia dell´Arte. He took over his craftsmanship from his father: Amleto Sartori. Their work served the most important actors, directors and theatre schools connected to this style, like Dario Fo, School of Jacques Lecoq, Eduardo di Filippo, Jean Louis Barrault, Giorgio Strehler, Peter Oskarson and Moni Ovadia. He found the ‘Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali’ together with the architect Paola Piizzi and the set designer Paolo Trombetta. In 2004 they open the ‘Museo Internazionale della Maschera Amleto and Donato Sartori’. Sartori got the price of the Theatre Critic 2006-07 proposed by the National Museum of the Theatre Critics of Piccolo Teatro de Milan.
This conference will introduce the audience into the importance of the use of the mask in our modern theatre and the Sartori´s research work.

Pascale Lecoq ‘L.E.M’
Pascale Lecoq, architect and director of the Laboratory of Movement Study (L.E.M) at the International Theatre School Jacques Lecoq in Paris, will lead an introduction to techniques in gesture and movement for architects.
The renowned International Theatre School Jacques Lecoq in Paris specializes in the teaching of gesture and movement through melodrama, human comedy, tragedy and clowning. The Jacques Lecoq School is open for actors, producers and stage designers, but also architects, teachers and authors. Jacques Lecoqs daughter Pascale Lecoq will lead a conference about the L.E.M which is particularly intended for the dynamic study of space and rhythm through plastic representation. The aim is to discover the movement of colours, forms and structures and to apply this knowledge to scenography.

Sara Romersberger ‘Physical play in the texts of Shakespeare’
Sara Romersberger is a Movement Specialist and currently Associate Professor of Theatre at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She studied at the École Jacques Lecoq, Paris. She coached clowning professionally for Shakespeare Productions as well as other Theatre-, Musical- and Opera productions across the USA and Europe. 
The participants will learn how to create the physical comedy that is dictated by Shakespeare’s text of the clowns, fools and principle comedians. Each student will be guided to find through text the physical action and play.

Teatro Punto ´Modern Commedia dell´Arte workshop´
Teatro Punto is a international theatre ensemble. Katrien van Beurden and Carlos García Estévez are the artistic leaders. They develop performances and workshops, based on modern Commedia dell' Arte. With an international team of actors, Teatro Punto tours  in America and Europe. Its workshops are designed for professional actors and for theatre academies such as the Arnhem acting school, the Wagner University in New York and the Rooftop Theatre in Cyprus.
In this workshop the participants will work on: movement analysis, the archetypes of Commedia dell’ Arte, physical transformation/metamorphoses, acting from tragedy to comedy and the interaction between actor and audience.

Herman Verbeeck ‘Lecture the 4 pioneers’
Herman Verbeeck studied mime corporal with Etienne Decroux in Paris. He worked as an actor, teacher of movement, mime and clowning at the Academy for Expression Utrecht and at the acting school in Arnhem. Verbeeck was the initiator of the International symposium Etienne Decroux 100 in Gent and author of the book ‘De acteur, atleet van het hart’ (Actor, the athlete of the heart).
This demonstration is dedicated to the physical theatre along the 20th century. Herman Verbeeck will lecture about the actors training of the four more important pioneers of movement theatre in our century (Meyerhold, Lecoq, Decroux, Grotowski) and the influence that the Commedia dell´Arte, as a ‘physical acting’, had in their work. Verbeeck will talk about his book and he will show, through visual documentation, the most important aspects of the work of those theatre pioneers.

David McDonald ‘The organic voice’
David McDonald is the Head of Voice at Wagner College Theatre in Staten Island, New York, where he was dialect coach for musicals and shows such as Cabaret, The Three Musketeers and The Diviners. He also worked for theatre companies (The Shakespeare Theatre), movies and television.
This workshop will focus on maximizing vocal expression, and how to best support the voice while developing vocal range. Topics explored will include anatomy and physiology of the voice; training the voice for strength, flexibility and endurance, and exploring language for meaning and clarity of expression.

Judith Chaffee ‘Improvising with Viewpoints’
Judith Chaffee is a Head of Movement for the Boston University School of Theatre and Opera Institute. She is a dancer and choreographer. She has created work for companies such as North Shore Music Theatre, LA Shakespeare Company and Playwright’s Platform. She has worked with actors and dancers in Europe and Asia.
Viewpoints is a process of theatre training first developed by the modern dancer, Mary Overly, and later expanded for theatre by the director, Anne Bogart. Viewpoints are several specific concepts (space, story, time, emotion, movement, and shape), explored through improvisations to stimulate physical awareness, develop focused attention to details, increase dynamics, and encourage playing in the moment.

Marina  Wijn ‘From text to thoughts’ (Camera acting)
Marina Wijn studied theatre art at the University of Amsterdam. Nowadays Wijn works as a freelance casting director, trainer and coach and developed her own acting method (in front of the camera). She works for Kemna Casting (and amongst others) with Mike van Diem, Ben Sombogaart, Paula van der Oest and Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen.
This is an acting workshop which focuses on acting in front of the camera. In this workshop the participants will play movie scenes. The emphasis will be on the text analysis and text handling. Through putting words into mind thoughts, as an actor, you will be able to create a credible personality.

Carlos García Estévez ‘Solo dell´Arte’
Carlos García Estévez is the artistic leader of  Teatro Punto. He creates performances and workshops. He tours with Solo dell’ Arte in Europe and America. He studied at Jacques Lecoq's École Internationale du Théâtre and at the Laboratoire d’Etude de Mouvement (LEM). Motivated by Jacques Lecoq he began researching into the tragic depth that exists in Commedia dell’ Arte. García Estévez is a collaborator of Donato Sartori at the  ‘Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali’.
Carlos García Estévez gives an introduction to the audience of one of the most ancient types of theatre, Commedia dell´Arte and the presence of this art into our days. García Estévez will perform a collection of stories under the theme of love (tragically love, infidel love, casual love). He will demonstrate the audience some of the mechanisms of how this theatre is made (the metamorphosis of the actor, the use of the mask, the grammellot).

Den Durand ‘Symbolics of masks’
Den Durand is mask maker, graduate at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et des Métiers d’Art, Paris. He has been making theatre masks since 1982 for theatre schools, theatre companies, circuses, dance and music ensembles like Teatro Punto, Compagnie du Hibou, Théâtre du Mouvement, Lazzi Théâtre, Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique de Paris and École Supérieure d’Art Dramatique de Strasbourg.
This lecture will be about the symbolics of the masks through the archetypes, myths and numerology.

Round table
This is a discussion between guests and audience lead by Wout van Tongeren. Van Tongeren will start with a short introduction concerning questions like: What is expression and originality? Why a mask? Why Commedia dell’Arte?

Wout van Tongeren
Wout van Tongeren is professor at Fontys University of Fine and Performing Arts (Tilburg, the Netherlands), of history and theory of theatre. He is as well a research master student in metaphysics at the philosophy Radboud University, Nijmegen. He participated in workshops lead by, Zygmunt Molik (actor in Grotowski's Theatre Laboratory) and Bruce Myers (actor in Peter Brook's Centre International de Créations Théâtrales). He participated in the theatre project 'Ur-Hamlet', directed by Eugenio Barba. Wout is Teatro Punto's literary advisor.