On Jan. 16 , twenty Rutland High School Encore students participated in a workshop led by Stanley Allen Sherman, an expert in Italian masked comedy (Commedia dell’Arte.) He has been working as a performing artist since 1972. Mr. Sherman has had several solo shows; “Aero Show” was rated as a “critics choice” in the LA Times and received rave reviews. In the 90′s he moved more into acting, performing as a member of the original cast of the Off Broadway hit “Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral.” He has often been cast as a rabbi, appearing in comedy bits 41 times on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and with “David Letterman”.

Mr. Sherman worked with Encore students for three hours providing an in depth history of this style of theatre, a variety of ways of moving and incorporating movement into characterization, and working with the traditional half-masks of Commedia, which he also creates. The students will use the skills they began to develop with Stanley in their upcoming one act, The Scarlet Heart. Students commented on the experience: ” It was enjoyable and fun and it made us think more about characters and how to develop them.” “As the costume designer, it was helpful to get a sense of the characters’ personality and how they were dressed in the 16th century.”