This wokshop organized by the Amleto and Donato Sartori International Mask Museum aims to tell the experience and the history of masks creation by the Sartori family, from 1928 till today, through a line of research starting from pedagogical masks to those specially designed for acting. They are extraordinary masks inspired by the Commedia dell’Arte, by the classical Greek-Latin theatre and by the 20th century, according to an interdisciplinary and multicultural approach.
The Sartoris, thanks to their methodology and technique, have created and continue to create original masks for well-known authors, characters, actors and theatre companies including: Ruzante, Carlo Goldoni, Luigi Pirandello, Bertolt Brecht, Jean Louis Barrault, Giorgio Strehler, Dario Fo, Eduardo De Filippo, Jacques Lecoq, Peter Oskarson, Gianfranco De Bosio, Eugenio Barba, Moni Ovadia, the Piccolo Teatro of Milan, the Teatro Stabile of Turin, the Teatro Stabile of Padua, the Teatro Stabile of Bolzano.

Every theatrical mask is alive and contains something unique (yet repeatable) that can stimulate, guide and motivate the actor who wears it during the performance. That same mask is the culmination of a long process of research, study, concentration and formal definition of the role of mask makers; of their artistic knowledge and evolution, their relationship with the outside world, including the basic principles of physiognomy, the geometry of moving surfaces exposed to light, the dramaturgy of space-time, the meaning of colours, myths and legends, cultural changes with respect to the past, and so on. It should also always be borne in mind that the face of an actor, when performing with the mask, is both a symptom and a sign of a particular expressive event that is only partly defined. Made up of a ‘before’ and an ‘after’, wavering between creation and reinvention, confirmation and improvisation of a ‘stage body’ contending with the magic of the play and the watchful eyes of the spectator. Creating a theatrical mask, following the Sartori method, essentially means concretely and critically devising something intimately connected to a pre-existing, certain, yet perpetually incomplete expressive practice. Even today, we still owe much to the words of Copeau who, quite convincingly, reminds us that “the theatrical art derives its necessity, its function and its cohesion, solely from dramatic invention. Each original creation demands an authentic, new expression.”This subject will be specifically addressed during their lecture by Paola Piizzi Sartori, director of the Amleto and Donato Sartori International Museum of the Mask and Sarah Sartori, current director of the Centro Maschere e Strutture Gestuali, and creator of brand new Sartori masks presented during the lecture.