Grade 11's and Masks

Last year, while attending an IB Theatre workshop in San Francisco, somebody suggested that if you're studying Greek Theatre, and don't have time to make masks, it would be okay to throw something together with, say, cardboard and masking tape. After all, something is better than nothing, right?

Well, maybe not quite.

My Grade 11's last year made masks.....
Out of cardboard....
and masking tape.....

Okay, it seemed like a good idea at the time. But later, as the Grade 7 girls watched our performance?
Ummm.... not so hot.

This is a formal apology to last year's Grade 11's for that traumatizing incident.
Please accept it.

This year, my Grade 11's made the masks a large part of our study. They made phone calls, sent e-mails, read books, searched the internet, all in an effort to understand everything they could about Greek masks.

How were they used?
What did they look like?
How were they made?
How big were they?
What materials did they use?

Well, as it often does, their persistence paid off with some very useful information.
Today, we began to build our "authentic" Greek masks. (We committed ouselves to making ample time this year to do it right.)

I've made masks with students before, but never with this particular process. So this is a bit of an experiment for me.

I wasn't exactly planning to make one, but in a moment of spontaneity, I cut some clay and began to mold.

It all underscores a few of the things I love about teaching this subject. I have the freedom to change what I teach, and how I teach it. That's a beautiful thing. I am able to explore safely with my students those things that I am not totally familiar with, and learn with them.

I have studied Greek Theatre before, but each year with my students, as they persist in their research, I learn new things. That's completely perfect to me.

These next two weeks should be really great, as we explore a new (to us) process of mask-making, make mistakes, help each other, laugh with each other, and hopefully learn a thing or two.

Thanks IB Theatre Arts 11 for keeping it real for me.
You're great!