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SMON FRASER UNIVERSITY March 2000 MASKS: A JOURNEY FOR DISCOVERY by Stephanie Miller P. D. P., Simon Fraser University, 1994 B.G.S., Simon Fraser University, 1993 Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Education Q Stephanie Miller 2000 SMON FRASER UNIVERSITY March 2000 Al1 rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part. by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. National Library Bibliottièque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Sîreet 395. rwWdÎnglm OaawaON K1AW OItawaON K1AW canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence ailowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibiiothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conseme la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otheMise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. iii ABSTRACT This thesis explores the educational value of mask improvisation. It argues that within the stylized medium of the mask, the actor and audience create an original non-realistic reality rather than remaining within a naturalistic or traditional framework. This is an important element in drama education because working in a non-realistic, stylized medium inspires the exploration of fresh paradigms and challenges any unitary or single interpretation of the world. It encourages both the actor and audience to perceive and respond in imaginative and interpretive ways. In mask improvisation participants go beyond their usual relationship to their everyday environment because they transform their own natural physical appearance. This cm result in their imagining new possibilities intellectually, physically and emotionally. When improvisation is only focused on private experience and the student's own inner resources, the understanding of circumstances, social values or conventions that affect human behaviour may be ignored. When limited to this type of improvisation, where the focus is on the authenticity of the student's own reactions in a problem-solving situation, the actor only explores familiar contexts. These are determined by leamed behaviours and experiences and result in habitua1 gestures and interpretations which are a reflection of the actor's own experiences. This results in a reproduction of ready-made ideas. Mask improvisation introduces students to the dramatic elements of characterization, movement and voice. It requires a set i v of skills through movement and voice that are explored while the participant is wearing the mask. Mask work demands an active act of imagining things to be different because the body and face are changed as a result of the mask. The mask frees the participants to imagine being another, and express images from a point of view other than their own. Dedication In memory of my father Henryk Miller, who imagined many possibilities. To my mother , Jadwiga. To my sons, Mxand Jared. To my husband, Stephen. who has traveled the journey with me. Acknowledgments My sincere thank you to the following for their gracious assistance in providing research materials, ideas, discussions. direction, encouragement, writing and editing techniques: Dr. Sharon Bailin, Dr. Flemming Larsen. Dr. Yaroslav Senyshyn, my fellow colleagues in the graduate program and Shirley Heap. A special thanks to my friend and colleague Danielle Vezina, my husband, Stephen Miller. and my sons, Max and Jared. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Approval page ii Abstract iii Dedication v Acknowledgments vi Table of Contents vii INTRODUCTTON: 1 Mask Improvisation and Role-play Improvisation 5 CHAPTER 1: History of Mask in Drama 18 CHAPTER 11: The Mask, the Actor and the Audience 3 1 The Actor and the Masks 3 6 The Audience 5 O CHAPTER 111: The Educational Value of Mask Improvisation 61 Non-realistic medium 6 1 Exploration of Social Conventions 6 5 Enhancing Characterization 7 2 Divided Consciousness 7 8 Introduction Every face tells a story. Each nuance reveals a different chapter, a possibility, a mystery or even an invitation. Faces make you smile, laugh, cry and even hide. What happens when you put on a mask? Does the face tell a different story? What effect does the mask have on the individual who wears it? What about the effect on the audience that watches the masked performer? In this dissertation 1 will argue for the benefits of mask improvisation in drarna education. It is my claim that through the use of masks in improvisation, an original non-realistic reality can be created rather than the staging of a naturalistic or traditional one. This is an important eiement in drama education because working in a non-realistic, stylized medium inspires the exploration. of fresh paradigms and challenges a unitary and single interpretation of the world. It encourages both the actor and audience to perceive and respond in an imaginative and interpretive way. The mask connects to other histories, cultures, arts, utilitarian and religious purposes, however, these areas are beyond the scope of this thesis. Mask improvisation places less of an emphasis on the actor as an individual and creates a social activity which requires the participation of two partners, the actor and the audience. The latter becomes active in creating the finished product because they are "reading" the interpretation of the former. Since it is a non-realistic situation that is being modeled, the audience must extend its critical thinking in order for interpretation to be manifested. The audience is not imrnediately drawn into a "slice of life" as in a naturalistic 2 improvisation. but they are awakened to actively become aware. recreate and reconstmct an interpretation of their experience so that it will have meaning. It is important to emphasize the role of the audience in drama education because the participatory role of the audience is largely ignored by some drama theorists including Brian Way (1967) and Dorothy Heathcote (1984~).whose focus is primarily on the interna1 development of the student. When the audience component of drama is ignored, they do not become validated as recipients and influencers of ciramatic art. Although audiences today are comfortable when it cornes to electronic media, students need to become stage literate if they are to understand the multitude of signifiers with which they are presented in live theatre (Hornbrook, 1991, p.96). An audience's ability to critically perceive and respond to drama requires the development of the skill of interpretation. In mask improvisation, the actor's face is covered with a mask that can be made out of paper, papier mache, leather or plaster. This presents the challenge of discovering ways of expression that go beyond the reliance that the actor has on the face. Although relevant to transforming the physical characteristics of the performer, the effect of make-up as a facial covering and masks used in ritual. are beyond the scope of this paper. Mask improvisation requires a variety of masks. There are masks that are expressionless and those are called neutral masks. Neutra1 masks prompt an exploration of the habitua1 rnovement and gestures of the actor. This is important because these idiosyncratic movements or gestures might be out of place when playing certain 3 roles when not in the mask. 1 will eiaborate in chapter 2. In contrast to the neutral mask there are character masks that have exaggerated, peculiar or distinctive features or characteristics. The characteristics of these masks are of a descriptive rather than a prescriptive nature. They enable the participants to interpret the dominant features of the mask into an image and from that image explore the possibilities of creating and representing a fictional character. For dramacic purposes, this is also referred to as characterization. Character masks are discussed further in detail in chapter 2. Mask improvisation is one of the ways of inviting an audience to become actively aware of the social process of interpretation. It is not an introspective experience but one that requires becoming awake to the social interaction that occurs in a dramatic event which includes the exploration of characters, social values and conventions surrounding the context of the mask improvisation. German sociologist, Alphons Silbermann (as cited by F. Graeme Chalmers in Blandy and Congdon, 1987), makes the foliowing claim about art: no modem thinking social scientist... can overlook the fact that the arts, like economics, law, religion, the state, etc., are ultimately expression of culture and society. as is already clear from the fact that they can be viewed from such different angles as symbolic representation, communication processes or. in the last analysis. social processes (p.6). Central to mask use in drama education is the ability for both actor and audience to go beyond their relationship to their everyday environment as well as to transform their own natural physical appearance. Through mask improvisation the actor can imagine other possibilities intellectually, physically and emotionaliy. Helen Nicholson claims that in the earlier days of the Anglo- American women's movement, theories of drama education leaned toward the notion of exploring realism as a way of finding the truth of a situation with the aim of studying the self and its social circumstances (Nicholson. 1995. p.33). She goes on to explain that later theories have questioned the idea of a universal female experience and an essential inner self.
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