Tahlia’s Masks is an offshoot of Centrepiece Productions. Venetian masks, both the full-faced and the half mask variety, were always the cornerstone of their visual theatre performances. Now Tahlia sells both kinds of masks online to customers around the world. If you’re wondering where to buy masquerade masks, you’ve come to the right place. Visit the shop now!
Tahlia and Chris Newland created Centrepiece Productions in 1986 to produce their unique Visual Theatre that used Venetian masks in performance plus comedy, striking images, evocative music and the drama of mystery and surprise. A particularly popular part of their performances were the commedia dell arte latex masks. They produced shows for both children and adults and toured extensively in Australia, New Zealand and Asia first as Mr Jupiter’s Children’s Theatre and Jupiter Dance Theatre (for adults), then became Tahlia & Kris for nightclub shows, and finally Centrepiece Productions. They performed in fringe theatre, schools, festivals and nightclubs from 1978 to 2003. Since 2003 the company focused on producing masks for use in schools until Tahlia’s Masks took over that aspect of their work. They launched their publishing company Catapult Press in October 2011 and changed the name to AIA Publications in 2014.
Click here to see some photos and short compilation videos of their performances.
The managers in 1986.
Tahlia and Chris’s creative partnership has always produced unique and inspiring work. Chris (BSC Hons, Dip Ed) created the music, sets and props for the Visual Theatre while Tahlia (NZ Trained Teacher’s Certificate & Certificate of Editing and Proofreading) wrote the scripts, publicity copy and designed the artwork, masks & costumes. Tahlia taught Dance, Art and Video at Albion Park High School for 5 years, and Chris now composes electronic music when he isn’t teaching at Kiama High School.
Apart from the occasional casual teaching day, Tahlia has been writing since 2007, and both her masks and fiction carries on the couple’s tradition of creating art that is unique and inspiring. Tahlia was also responsible for setting up the Awesome Indies, a website dedicated to promoting indie books that meet the same standards as mainstream books. She now works primarily as an editor.
