The Mask as Messenger
By Sandra Lee Hughes
[Photographs © Jan Sittleburg, used by permission]

It's October. Thoughts of Halloween, Samhain, All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and El Dia de los Muertos hover in the air. In traditions worldwide it's time to honor the saints and ancestral dead who are believed to come closest to us during this holiday — a celebration that lasts three days in some geographic areas and one night in others. This annual rendezvous with the dead engenders a variety of feelings that include fear, comfort or gratitude depending on the culture and the relationship to and disposition of the departed. It's not unusual for the ancestors to transform into gods and goddesses portrayed in masks.

Masks are part of the longest running show in history. To what can we attribute our species' long time fascination with them? 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 history, visions, and the deepest understandings of humankind. Eventually, these enactments morphed into theatre with live performances for paying audiences.

When regarded solely as objects of art or culture 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 we 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) creates and reveals community.

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 ourselves, each other, and our source.<.p>

The 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 embraced 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 (resonances delete) with ceremony and ritual and the immediacy of enactment to engender a shared 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 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, 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 who've 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. That performance always lingers at the edge of my artistic consciousness.

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. In September 2000 Gateway's board of directors established The MASK Center at the Little Five Points Community Center in Atlanta.

Michael also performs with Gateway. Since college Michael and I have shared most of the same training, influences, experiences, career and for a time thirteen years of marriage. We've 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. During our 2006-2007 Season we provided four hundred live performances and workshops for forty thousand people. The programs we've created for Public Television and cable channels have reached millions more.

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.

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 creation of mask theatre is not rocket science or genetic research. The elements are ephemeral, alchemical and, at times, defy categorization and definition in order to serve their own surprising purposes. A Healer could also be 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.

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.

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."

...and 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.

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.

Over thirty years ago I read the words "Hypatia of Alexandria" in a book about philosophers. This name insisted itself upon me and I knew I would one day create a performance about this woman — even though only a short explanation followed that said she was a beloved 4th century female philosopher (head of the Neo-Platonic school) mathematician, scientist and healer who was brutally murder by a fanatic mob. In July of this year I heard Hypatia's name spoken aloud for the first time at a lecture I attended by David Hirschorn — the director of the Atlanta Center of the New Acropolis Cultural Association. As I listened to David's words I knew the time had arrived for Hypatia to emerge. Re-Membering Hypatia combines, theatre, masks, poetry, music, dance and puppetry. It opens as a workshop production at The MASK Center on Thursday, October 18 and will be performed on Fridays and Saturdays, October 19, 20, 26 and 27 as well. In November there is Coyotes Tales inspired by the stories and history of the American Southwest and in December our Irish Mummers join us for A Mid-Winter Mummers Tale. For details visit the Mythic Journeys Calendar or www.masktheatre.org.

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. 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
• Southern Artistry: features streaming video
• Sandra L. Hughes Theatre Collection

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