Mina Yakin
Drama Faculty

Mina Yakin in the 1970s, in a mimodrama titled The Poet.

Mina Yakin, who teaches mask work in the Drama Division, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in Israel and France. She began her mime career in the companies of both Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau. A Juilliard faculty member since 1997, she also teaches at Circle in the Square. She co-founded (with her husband and fellow drama faculty member Moni Yakim) the New York Pantomine Theater, where she taught, performed, and directed.

Who was the teacher or mentor who most inspired you when you were growing up and what did you learn from that person?
The teacher who most inspired me—and continues to inspire to this day—is the great Stella Adler. She generously shared her extensive knowledge, life experience, and views on the arts and politics with passion and conviction, never holding anything back from her students. We came out of her brilliant script-analysis and acting-technique classes seeing the world with a deeper understanding of the people and characters that inhabit our world and what motivates them.

When did you first know you wanted to be an actor/director or other theater-related professional and how did you come to know it?
In my youth, in Israel, I used to skip school and sneak into the movie theater in order to see American movie musicals. I wanted to be in them, and it was there that the desire was born—a desire that was realized in my studies in Paris, where I attended classes in the Comédie Française and the Théâtre Nationale Populaire.

What theatrical performance have you attended that changed the way you think about theater?
One evening, I attended a performance by Marcel Marceau, and I saw his magical ability to create worlds out of thin air. It was also there that I met my future husband and artistic partner, Moni Yakim. Another seminal experience: the Berliner Ensemble, which came from East Germany to perform in Paris. It was awe-inspiring in its themes, political and epic in its courage, and expressionistic and gutsy in a way I had never experienced before.

What's the most embarrassing moment you've had as a performer?
In one of our pantomime shows, I was in the middle of the stage, playing an immobile statue, when a bat made an appearance onstage and began flying around my head. It took all my technique to stay in "character" and remain frozen in place.

What are your non-drama related interests or hobbies?
I love to travel, and explore architecture and museums.

What book are you reading right now?
I always read a number of books at once. Right now they are The Tao of Inner Peace by Diane Dreher and Touched With Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison.

If you could have your students visit any place in the world, where would it be, and why?
Paris, because it's the most beautiful city in the world.

What is your favorite thing about New York City?
I love the variety of neighborhoods, as well access to Fairway and other organic food markets.

If your students could only remember one thing from your teaching, what would you want it to be?
I like to keep my classes experimental, process-oriented, and open to exploration. My most important goal is to help my students expand their mental and physical imaginations, and explore their individuality, through use of neutral, animal, and character masks.

If you weren't in the career you are in, what would you be doing?
I would write the book that is waiting impatiently to be written about my experience with masks, which would include a large number of essays from my students over the years.