On Saturday the 29th of January, I entered the backstage area of the Aula with a small group of eight curious students, to take part of a workshop named “The Archaeology of a Mask”. We were welcomed by Steven Markusfeld, an American director and actor who worked in Germany for the past 40 years. After some presentation and discussion about our interests in theatre and knowledge about masks, we started to work on the creation of our own masks. The goal was not to make something pretty but to put ourselves in the shoes of an archaeologist and create a mask with a history behind it. “Talk to your mask, punch it”, Steven said, and even if we were slightly uncomfortable to ask questions to a piece of carton, he was right: we could feel the mask answering and developing itself. Once we had cut our masks in all kinds of different ways and covered them with paper maché, we followed Steven in the Aula to practice some exercises on stage. We used other neutral masks and learned what it means to be on stage with them, referring to ancient Greek and Roman Theatre. Body language, eye contact and communication on stage were some of the skills that we worked on. For the last hour, we focused again on our masks and their meaning. We worked on them together, to see what they could communicate as a group, from different point of views. Then, we separated them in different parts of the room, spent time observing each of them individually, and found emotions, situations, and questions that they raised in our minds. We took notes of our discoveries, wondering how we could use them later.

On Sunday, we were surprised to see that our masks had changed overnight, they became harder and were now impossible to wear. However, we still felt that we needed to add something, so we spent some time painting our masks. Once again, Steven reminded us not to try to create a perfect mask, but something odd and rough. Then, we went on stage again and worked on vocal training. In theatre, being able to speak loud and clearly is essential and we all learned a lot from the exercises. Finally, it was time for us to build a performance. We separated our masks into groups and discussed what they might have in common and possible connections between them. We used the notes from Saturday and somehow, through collaboration, help from Steven, creativity, and a hint of theatre magic, we created a performance: a very abstract and poetic story, based on our masks and their meaning. On stage, the multiple aspects of theatre that we explored during the weekend were combined and we could apply everything we learned.

This workshop brought a lot to each one of us, in many different aspects. We were able to spend time with other students and discover them in a deeper way than usually. We learned about the history of masks in theatre, their utility and what does it change for us as actors to act with them. We also had the chance to work with an experienced director, and gain from his knowledge. Finally, in the complicated times that we are living now, it was helpful for us to express our creativity in an artistic workshop. We would like to thank the Friends of Salem for financially supporting our workshop and making it possible.

Garance Deville IB 1