My Experiences with the Masks

I got to explore with both the male and female masks, in two different areas and situations...

I wore the female mask when our class did some explorations with masks at the Lake Matoaka Amphitheater, a large outdoor amphitheater made half up of seats closer to the stage and grassy area. Lake Matoaka itself sits behind the stage.

As I wore the mask, I wasn't a female character but instead a young, powerful king. I couldn't let anyone know that I was insecure in my position or that I didn't really know what to do; I had to show that I was strong and in control. I went to the back of the amphitheater, up the stadium seating, where I was elevated higher than the rest of the amphitheater and could observe my kingdom. I was lonely but I didn't care. I was angry but I didn't care. My movement was gliding and I gestured with my arms in a horizontal sweeping motion. When our professor told us to find an object and move it, I found a small stick that was somehow going to help me, and I hid it where no one else would find it.

My exploration with the male mask ("Hans" as my friend Keegan calls him) happened outside of a small museum on campus. The occasion was a mercury awareness expo, and my job was to direct people who were leaving to turn around and go to a watch a show that was to be performed in a trailer that transforms into a stage called the Virginia Theater Machine. I spent about 15 minutes approaching people, trying to motion them in the opposite direction, away from the parking lot. Several people, after seeing the mask, chose to ignore me and keep walking. Most people acknowledged me, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone responded with a smile to the mask; not that the mask itself is scary, but turning to find a wooden face looking at you could be unsettling (I thought).

My mood was jovial, I led with my feet, and angled my torso a lot in my bodily communication with people. People enjoyed it when I mimicked their movements or joined in their conversations by agreeing or acting out what they were saying. The good mood I was in spread easily to those I was around. I would pretend to be a regular member of the crowd as long as I could, until someone looked at me and acknowledged me as something different. That's when I would being to gesture and get "bigger." Overall, the experience was very positive, and the mask got to meet lots of new people and communicate a lot, which was a fun and interesting challenge to communicate information with only my body, eyes, angle of my head, and the mask itself.