Imagine Masks is an intense journey into the world of mask performance. For seven days, participants of Deborah Hunt’s workshop will learn what theatre masks are and what they can do. The workshop begins with some experiments on training masks to explore, play and understand how the masks come alive and change their expression. During the following days, the participants will be able to make their own masks out of papier-mâché, with a focus on creating clear, strong lines and facial features that are exaggerated but not decorative and allow flexibility in expression. Some exercise on the new masks will enable participants to venture out into the public sphere to give a final performance together.

The workshop is organised as part of the STOP project, which features Zoe Gudović creating a performance together with Deborah Hunt and author Barbi Marković. The story of drag king character Zed Zeldich Zed will premiere at studio brut on 26 April 2025.

Programme

07–13 April
10:00–13:00 mask training
13:00–14:00 lunch break
14:00–18:00 mask production

13 April
final presentation of workshop results

Deborah Hunt has been working as a mask-maker, a mask and animation artist and a performer since 1972. She devises and presents witty plays and performances at festivals as well as encounters in the South Pacific, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. Born in New Zealand, Deborah Hunt has lived in Puerto Rico since 1990. She is the founder of Maskhunt Motions, a nomadic laboratory for experimental object theatre work. Deborah Hunt describes her own work as ‘theatre of the useless’.