Reflection on Mask Unit

The second unit in the drama course at Jarvis is all about masks, how to make them and how to act in them. This unit is probably one of the most enjoyable units of drama because it combines hands on activities with drama. Masks are a very important piece of art in many plays and live shows. Using masks during a show enables the actor to become more than one character, and enhances their ability to act by letting them experience different personalities. Masks in the theatre are also used to express and reinforce the character and the story, create a distance between the actor on stage and the character of the story. Also, at times an actor may not be able to create a facial expression, in which masks come in.

Masks are used all over the world for cultural and/or religious purposes. For example the African mask is used all over Africa for religious ceremonial purposes, such as communicating with sprits and ancestors. For that reason, the African masks are considered a treasure. Along with religious ceremonies, African masks are used in rituals that celebrate birth, funerals, initiation rights and changes of seasons with people dancing while wearing the masks. The African masks were also used in masquerades, which were similar to plays.

Asian masks are another example of cultural masks, which were also used for ancient religious ceremonies, ceremonial rituals and theatre. Masks that were used in theatre were used specifically for opera during the Tang dynasty. Masks had different colors on them to represent the characteristics of each mask. For example, a red mask represented loyalty, white for treachery and death, and gold and silver for supernatural beings. Asian masks were also used for ceremonial purposes, especially the Noh ...

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...the performances and interacting with other characters, I found myself slightly altering my mask’s personality to go along with the setting and story. But by the time of the final performance, I had created a whole new character with a good solid personality.

Lastly, we had ended out mask unit with final performances. Our performance consisted of an old woman, in the doctor’s waiting room with an annoying child. As I mentioned before, by the time of this performance, my mask as transformed into its own person, and it was an adventure playing it on stage. I also learned from other performances, one particular one was about a model and an old man at a club. This performance really helped me because I noticed that the model and my character had similar personalities, and during their performance, I noticed the model’s acting envisioned my character doing that.