Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
Spring 2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
School of Theatre and Dance
Advisor(s)
Ingrid De Sanctis
Zachary A. Dorsey
Benjamin C. Lambert
Abstract
This paper serves to synthesize and reflect upon the Creative Honors Capstone project entitled “Masks: A New Face for the Theatre.” This project sought to answer the questions: 1. What is the role of masks in theatre today? 2. How can a director use ancient mask traditions to inspire new work? The ancient mask traditions that were the primary focus of this study were Greek Theatre, Japanese Noh Theatre, and Egungun Masquerades of Yorubaland. The initial steps of the project included research into the historical context of these masked traditions as well as contemporary practices. This research was then used to inspire a masked performance of Charles Mee’s text Life is a Dream. The performance featured each of the ancient masking styles and a final section that explored masks in a contemporary theatrical style. The goal of the project was to pull masks out of their historical context in order to discuss their relevance to the contemporary theatre artist and to demonstrate how ancient traditions can inspire new work.
Recommended Citation
Siegel, Alexi M., "Masks: A new face for the theatre" (2017). Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019. 342.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/honors201019/342
