Greek Theatre: The Masks They Wear

The Masks We Wear Masks have been quite symbolic to various cultures around the world for centuries. In Greek theater, they were used to disguise the actor, emote their feelings, and helped propel their voices in large venues. Italians wore masks at masquerade balls to conceal their social status to speak more freely amongst people not of their status. To this day, people are still hiding behind masks, making it more difficult to effectively communicate. Our personas are made up of layers of masks used to hide from our fears and insecurities. “The very word "persona" originates in Greek theater, meaning a mask that an actor wears to hide his own identity and to present the one he performs” (Bezzubova, 2011). Everyone loves Halloween,

The drill sergeants constantly on their backs degrading them as a person and physically demanding them to rise above it in spite of their fears, tiredness, and insecurities. “In our final days of training…we were all called together so the drill sergeants could tell us we were going to war. We stood there in stunned silence until someone—Talleywhacker…said we’d fuck that fucking towel-headed sandnigger right in the fucking asshole is what we would do, and we all cheered with our hoarse voices standing there in our young boots” (Crenshaw, 2015). In this moment, their masks turned from comedy to anger to fight their uncertain feelings of going to war. As the dust settles, and the bonds of their comradery come to light, they remove their masks, speak openly: “We could hear the bombs off in the distant part of the base, as if the war had already come. The windows rattled softly in their panes. There were no jokes, no called names. Only a hundred quiet conversations, Alarid...whispering across the big bay dorm, “Hey Crenshaw, hey man, are you scared?” (Crenshaw,

But if we all have fears and insecurities, why do we hid behind masks? Masks make us feel stronger, conceal our weaknesses. “…these are masks we wear to survive. And we keep them into adulthood, refining old ones and adding new ones as we go” (Firman, 2011). Just as in “Names”, Crenshaw describes as a soldier they masked their fears with comedy through boot camp then when told they were going to war, their masks turned to anger towards Saddam Hussein in front of their drill sergeant, but as they lay in their bunks with the noise of war around them, they reveal their fears in true light. It is in this moment, they communicate their authentic feelings or fears, no masks, no jokes, no