This is what I was thinking as I drove to the William and Mary Campus this morning for our extra Mask class session to welcome our Swedish Guests, as we have dubbed the masks, to their first stop on their North American tour.
My name is Vivian Appler and I am teaching a class in mask making and performance at the College of William and Mary. So far this semester, students have created one mask of their own out of papier mache. They have explored in larval, neutral, and character masks, and are working on creating a second mask of their own design. I have been following the Journey of the Masks since Torbjorn's first invitation went out on facebook. Now, I am so excited to be able to incorporate these masks and their North American Journey into my students' final explorations this semester.
In preparation for the masks' arrival, we planned the manner in which we would like to greet them, and welcome them to their temporary home in Williamsburg, VA. They decided that we should open the box together, at sunrise, on campus in front of the Wren Building. The Wren building, designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built between 1695 and 1700, the building is the oldest academic building in the United States. Its East side faces Duke of Gloucester Street. The students decided that there, we should open the box containing the masks so that we could all watch the sun rise over the Capitol Building, which lies one mile East of the Wren Building. It seemed like an appropriate place to begin a Journey.
OK! We had a plan. To ensure that all of my students (many of them seniors in their final weeks of classes) I bribed them with coffee and donuts at the end of our ritual. I arrived, just in time, with the masks and met my cheerful, if sleepy, class. Many brought cameras, Zach brought his guitar.
We gathered around the box (which had only just beat the Icelandic volcano on its journey to the States). I had forgotten my box cutters, but luckily grabbed a pair of safety scissors out of my office in the early morning. We opened the box to find...
Another box!
This one metal with a combination on the front of it. "Oh no!" I had forgotten my special instructions, which I'm sure had included the combination. A truly 21st Century ritual, Lucy immediately pulled out her iphone. Taylor helped me to type myself into all of my accounts, but I could not find that letter anywhere! Where had I put it? "Could it be locked in my office?" I felt like the flakiest teacher ever! And here they were! My trusting students, who had dragged themselves out of bed for a 6:26 AM mask ritual, were putting on a good face, but I knew I had let them down. Throughout the frantic e-search, Zach kept playing his guitar. he knew it would all work out, somehow.
We decided that we could still process back to Phi Beta Kappa Hall, to my office, and find the piece of paper with the code on it. Just as we were gathering our belongings to begin a somewhat sheepish march back to the Theatre building, I heard a cry, "There it is!" Some students had raised up the metal box, to carry it high over their heads on solemn procession, and there it was: the code.
We all breathed a sigh of relief and laughed quite a bit.
We opened the box and found the masks. We hadn't missed the sunrise after all.
We performed our procession back to PBK, playing in the mask and exploring the William and Mary Campus with fresh eyes, each student taking a turn to play in mask and lead the rest of the group.
We ambled around the Wren Building, across the Sunken Gardens, through Crim Dell, checked the time at the Sun Dial, and took a bow on the PBK stage. On the way, we were able to entertain the early risers of this college community: birds, squirrels, a stray cat, and a few students and staff.
And then, we took off the masks, had coffee and donuts, and talked about the first part of our Journey in the Masks.
GREAT !!!!! I AM HAPPY TO READ THAT YOU HAVE THEM AND FOUND THE COMBINATION::: Good luck... looking forward to read more ! / Torbjorn
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