Newman's Commedia Mask Company

Handmade Leather Commedia Masks and
Handmade Leather Neutral Masks

Mask maker extraordinaire, Newman makes leather Commedia Dell'Arte and Neutral masks specifically for performers and actor training.

The leather masks are made from 5 to 6 oz (3mm to 4mm thick) vegetable tanned cowhide; wet formed on hand carved wooden matrices and shaped and refined with bone smoothing tools and horn mallets. Using traditional Italian techniques and self discovered innovations; Newman's leather masks are strong, lightweight and comfortable to wear.

"I'm in Barcelona teaching my students at the program I run here, using your wonderful masks every day, seeing them in action with different students, seeing the different risk thresholds they unlock in each actor - these are some of the most outstanding tools I've ever had in the classroom to push students beyond their perceived limits into new space and new creative fire! These masks help them soar. My students are so lucky to work with your masks." .....M.Graham Smith
Director of Movement and Voice at the Barcelona Meisner Program (www.meisner.es)
Movement Instructor,  A.C.T., San Francisco, California, USA.

About Newman

A native of London, England, Newman studied:

• Philosophy at the University of Warwick, England.
• Western Saddle Making with Gail Denman in a program offered by Portland State University, Oregon.
• Mask Carving and Ritual Mask Performance with Ida Bagus Anom in the village of Mas, Bali and Ida Bagus Alit in Lodundtuh, Bali.
• Commedia Dell'Arte and the use of the Neutral Mask for physical actor training at Dell'Arte International School in California under Joan Schirle.
• The Italian techniques of Commedia Dell'Arte and Neutral Mask Making with Donato Sartori in Padova, Italy.

Newman with the Sartoris. Abano Terme, Italy, 1995.

Curriculum Vitae

Newman has made leather performance masks for:

• Cirque du Soleil Saltimbanco (Paris)
• Teatro Zinzanni (San Fransisco)
• Horos Theatro,( Thessaloniki, Greece)
• and many other performance troupes throughout North America, Australia and Europe.

Leather Neutral Masks and Commedia Masks for Theatre training programs at:

• Dell'Arte International, Blue Lake, California
  
• Accademia Dell'Arte, Arezzo, Italy
• The Central School of Speech and Drama (London)
• Globe Theatre (London)
• The Swedish National Theatre (Stockholm)
• The University of California (Berkeley and Fresno)
• Ecole Mondiale (Mumbai, India)
• and countless Universities and Schools throughout Europe, Australia, Asia and the Americas.

Capitano Tres Huevos Most men only have two!!!