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The Mask as
Messenger
By Sandra Lee Hughes
Masks are part of the longest running
show in history. The earliest inquiries
into the nature of the human condition
included masks as part of worldwide
cultural traditions and sacred rites
intended to preserve the teachings,
memories, visions and deepest
understandings of humankind. Eventually,
these enactments morphed into theatre
with live performances for paying
audiences. To what can we attribute our
species' long time fascination with
masks?
When regarded solely as objects of art
masks are deeply protective of their
mysteries. A mask has the ability to
mask itself and become a visual opiate
that wraps us in a forgetful dream where
we may realize that an artist was
inspired to carefully craft it, but
seldom consider that the soul value
the mask's meaning and purpose only
emerges when a living person expertly
animates it. The mask and masker are
one. Most importantly, the person who
serves the mask manages to create and
reveal community. |
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Photo: Jan
Stittleburg
Performer: Sandra Hughes
Faces of the Moon - Full Moon |
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Iroquois
False Face Mask
Source: Unknown
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The word "person" is
Middle English from the Anglo-French person,
which is from the Latin persona (an actor's
mask). Person is probably from the Etruscan
phersu (mask), which is from the Greek prosOpa.
This is the plural of prosOpon (face/mask).
Person, face and mask are one. There is no
indication that anything untrue is at work here.
Even when called False Faces as in the Iroquois
culture, this doesn't negate the value and
healing power of the masks in Native American
communities. The traditional use of masks then
and now was and is to connect us to our
source, each other and ourselves. |
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mask theatre I create as writer, director,
choreographer and performer is a conscious
expression of my long-time concerns. It seeks to
transcend cultural, economic and other societal
barriers to communicate deeply and effectively
about the human condition to persons of diverse
backgrounds. At its core, my work strives to be
of service to respond to the needs of a
profound planet-wide historical, societal and
philosophical transition and to promote human
compassion and understanding. |
Three decades ago I began to create original
performances intended to engage a particular and
especially precious part of the human psyche in
dialogue, reverie and dreams-made-manifest. The
content of this work insisted itself upon me in
non-drug induced visions, waking dreams and
moments of electric insight drawn from the
mythic substance and mind stuff of humanity. I
discovered that in performance my efforts
provided many audience members with a sense of
imaginative participation, transcendence and
internal refuge. I sensed the preservation of
this quality of mind and spirit was to become
more and more vital to humanity's wholeness.
Masks are one of the oldest depositories of
shared human memory. I embrace them and combine
them with mime, music, dance, puppetry, poetry
and dialogue in various combinations that range
from totally guised silent visitations that rely
on resonance with ceremony, ritual and the
immediacy of enactment to engender a shared
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Photo: Sverre
Koxvold
Mask Workshop
Findhorn Foundation, Scotland |
Photo: Sverre Koxvold
Findhorn
Foundation, Scotland
Mask Workshop
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energetic
matrix that sustains a communication
conduit that flows from source through
performer to audience and back again
to narrative based plays that feature
speaking masked characters along with
unmasked performers. Masks are also
utilized experientially in
non-performance settings as tools to
support and explore Personal and
Planetary Transformation especially in
areas of environmental concern such as
the Worldwide Plight of the Honeybee and
World Human Consumption.
I
draw on the creative reservoirs gifted
to me in dance, mime, theatre,
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puppetry and
music from teachers, mentors and institutions
that include Israeli mime Juki Arkin, French
mime artist Marcel Marceau, Valentina Litvinof
from Isadora Duncan's Russian Dance Company and
School, Master Puppeteer Bruce Schwartz,
Japanese Noh Training with Richard Emmert and
Akira Matsui, traditional Native American Flute
with Creek Elder Woodrow (Wotko) Haney,
classical flute at the Erie Conservatory of
Music, acting at Stella Adler Acting
Conservatory, a professional acting and
directing apprenticeship at the Cleveland
Playhouse, and Theatre Arts at Ohio University.
Beyond this, over the years there've been many
others whove encouraged, supported and
influenced the development of my work. These
include Jean Houston, Dr. James Flannery of the
Yeats Foundation, Nena Couch curator of the
Sandra L. Hughes Theatre Collection at the
Jerome Robbins and Robert E. Lee Theatre
Institute at Ohio State University and Faye
Landey of Georgia Nonviolent Communication. In
1978 while presenting a workshop for a
conference on mysticism, I attended the
masterful mask theatre production of northwest
raven myths created by Jean Erdman. Her husband,
Joseph Campbell, was keynote speaker at this
event. Ms. Erdmans production always lingers at
the edge of my artistic consciousness.
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For a mask theatre
to exist and become manifest, there must be a
mask maker. One artist crafted the hundreds of
masks in my productions. His name is Michael
Hickey. His remarkable creations in wood,
leather, gourd, paper and other mediums are
award-winning, museum quality works of art. In
1974 we founded with Gregory Ornas the Great
American Mime Experiment (GAME), which in 1991
was re-named Gateway Performance Productions.
Michael also performs with Gateway. Since
college, Michael and I have shared most of the
same training, influences, experiences, and
career path. We once shared thirteen years of
marriage. Michael and I have created thirty-five
new productions for mask theatre that include a
body of work inspired by the ancient Irish
Masked Mummer tradition. We've also toured to
thirty states in the U.S. and twelve other
countries to perform and teach persons of all
ages and backgrounds at theatres, festivals,
museums, art centers, community centers,
schools, colleges, universities, hospitals,
senior citizen centers and a multitude of
non-traditional performance venues. We provided
hundreds of live performances and workshops
annually that have reached thousands of people.
The programs we've created for Public Television
and cable channels have reached millions more.
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Photo by: Jan Stittleburg
Performers:
Lft: Sandra Hughes Rt: Michael
Hickey
Irish Mummers |
Our long-time
collaboration is passionate, philosophical,
political, heartfelt and, occasionally,
volatile. We've had the opportunity to test the
humanity of our work with performances and
workshops behind the Iron Curtain in Yugoslavia
and Hungary in performances annually for six
years for a
Peace Process Project in Belfast's Murder Mile
and in Amsterdam with a spontaneous artistic
response to the murder of civilians on a Dutch
train seized by Mollucan terrorists. Michael has
put his considerable talent and untold hours a
lifetime into the service of my artistic
vision. I grow silent with gratitude and awe as
I ponder the journey we've taken together. Other
long time and deeply appreciated artistic
collaborators include Atlanta Composers Tom
Spach and Allen Welty-Green and dancer/mask
performer Jerilynn Bedingfield.
The company spent many years traveling and
touring. We were based in Atlanta, but had no
home facility. In September 2000 Gateway's board
of directors with leadership from our
chairperson Chris Moser and board members Doug
Cloud and Tom Spach established The MASK Center
in the Little Five Points Community Center in
Atlanta.
Recently, as I worked on a book about our work
entitled Re-membering the Mystery The Mask
Theatre of Sandra Hughes and Michael Hickey, I
realized the pantheon of mask characters we've
given birth to could be organized as Healers,
Helpers, Teachers, Ancestors and Humans. The
elements of mask theatre are ephemeral,
alchemical and, at times, defy categorization
and definition in order to serve their own
surprising purposes. A Healer could also become
someone's Ancestor. A Teacher might function
from time to time as a Healer. If what I tell
you I intend isn't what you experience when you
attend of one of our productions, that's fine.
The wonder and great gift of mythic substance is
the many levels of meaning that are offered.
You're invited to provide your own story, the
one you need most at the time. Nevertheless, to
introduce the work to you in terms of these five
categories may provide certain insights.
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Healers are
powerfully revealed in the non-verbal work. Free
from the limitations and restraints of language
their true essence comes to the forefront. The
journey with them is essential, elliptical and
poetical. They live and move between the worlds
in perfect balance and are able to retrieve and
reveal, often in timeless moments, the images,
myths and magical connections that create peace
deep within our souls.
The flute player in our production Old Man
Kokopeli is a Healer in both his young and old
aspects. When he discovers a woman alone in the
desert lamenting the loss of her infant child he
wills himself young again, woos and then weds
her Pueblo Indian style. Together they give
birth to a spirit child born from a water jar
and the woman's sense of hope is renewed.
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Photo by: Jan
Stittleburg
Performer: Sandra Hughes
Ancient Brid |
All three aspects of
Faces of the Moon Mother, Maiden, and Crone
have their healing modalities, but it is The
Mother who reaches out to us and holds each of
us within her great archetypal heart who has the
power to heal our deepest wounds.
Healers don't always take human-like forms. In
our theatre a half human, half Hawk being
reveals himself in response to this invocation:
"Feathered God,
Ancient Knowing
Let me drink again
At the Hawk's Well."
...a Great Blue Heron manifests when these words
are spoken:
"Great Blue Bird of my Dreams
Shower us with Compassion."
The obvious exception to the strong, silent
Healer type is our chatty, comic old-timey
Doctor (sometimes known as The Quack), inspired
by the 2500-year-old Irish masked Mummer folk
theatre tradition. He knows the old charms and
rhymes and loves to minister to our ills during
Mid-winter and May Day revels.
The Helpers take many forms animal, bird,
mythical beast and halfling. Birds, bears and
dragons are capable of remarkable feats of
archetypal multi-tasking. These creatures remind
us of nature's blessings and the unexpected
support that often appears from unforeseen
sources and unknown realms.
Our archetypal Teachers tend to instruct
(usually with comic results) by demonstrating
what not to do in any given situation. They
flock to our theatre in droves in their gourd,
straw, paper and red rubber nose masks anxious
to participate in the cosmic clown tradition
honored in many worldwide cultures and
societies.
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Photo: Jan Stittleburg
Performer: Sandra Hughes
OOPS! |
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If all
human belief systems were
considered, it's possible we'd
discover that every mask character
in our theatre is someone's
ancestor. With our strong Irish
backgrounds Michael and I identify
and rejoice in our straw-headed
Irish Mummers. I gladly inhabit
ancient Bridget a Healer,
Protector and Inspirer of Poets and
Smiths and am honored to feel the
strength of the mighty Cailleach
course through me she who created
the mountains and the rocks
and is the most ancient goddess
force in Ireland.
Our Humans are diverse and typically
transformed by their interactions
with the other four categories of
beings. Occasionally, a couple of
them manage to take to the stage on
their own as our beleaguered actor
and the playwright Samuel Beckett
did in my Mummers play The Death and
Resurrection of Samuel Beckett
presented during the International
Year of Beckett. Luckily, when
things got rough for the two humans
left to their own theatrical
devices, our Mummer Doctor and
Captain shamelessly took over the
stage.
Masks continue to be available to
serve the needs of humanity. When
utilized with knowledge and respect
they are powerful tools for personal
and planetary transformation with
the ability to provide transcendent
experiences that connect us to our
deepest knowing. |
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Masks are
messengers. They offer profoundly personal
insights that also serve collective humanity.
This guidance supports us as we meet present and
future challenges on our beloved Planet Earth.
I'm honored to have the privilege to serve and
work with leaders in communities locally to
worldwide and to continue to play my part in
mask theatre the longest running show in human
history.
In many cultures performances were and are done
for the gods. Earliest humans created masks so
that when the gods looked down from afar they
could see the expressions on the faces of the
performers. The gods are often considered our
ancestors. If this is so, then my beloved Irish
born and raised Grandmother who carefully
nurtured my artistic inclinations watches my
efforts. "Leave her be," she'd say to family
members. "She's got the dark blood, don't you
know. It's a gift that comes back to us every
five generations or so." As far back as I can
remember she enlisted my artistic talents as
budding dramatist, director, choreographer and
performer in the multitude of family films she
shot. With her four foot ten inch frame obscured
by the brilliant white light needed to
illuminate scenes of dance, theatre and
pantomime for her camera she'd lean down and
whisper to me, "Everyone in Ireland is an
artist, Sandy so you can never be strange to
me." And surely my father (her son) stands
beside her the director, dancer, actor,
musician, singer, playwright, poet and painter
who initiated me into these arts and included me
in all his endeavors.
Related Websites:
www.masktheatre.org
www.thebeeproject.org
Upcoming events -
Southern Artistry
Southern Artistry: features streaming video
Sandra L. Hughes Theatre Collection
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Sandra Hughes is an
international performer and workshop
facilitator. She dedicates a significant portion
of her career to arts and education projects
throughout the U.S. and abroad. She's taught
acting, mime and contemporary performance for
the theatre departments at Antioch College, Lake
Erie College and the University of Akron as well
as mask theatre for Marcel Marceau's Advanced
Mime Seminar at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor. Her work includes arts, education and
community presentations and projects that focus
on the worldwide plight of the honeybee and as
well as presentations on world human
consumption. She's presented her workshop using
masks for Personal and Planetary Transformation
by invitation at the
Findhorn
Foundation a United Nations recognized
training center for planetary sustainability
located in Scotland and at the Eastlake
Co-housing Community a community dedicated to
sustainiblity and diversity located in Atlanta.
Sandra is the Founding Artistic Director of
Gateway Performance Productions and
The MASK
Center in Atlanta.
Article publish in 2007 by Mythic Journeys -
Mythic Passages Newsletter |
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