This past weekend at rehearsal, we had our first experience making theatrical masks.

Our upcoming production has a bit of double-casting for some of our senior performers. Some of our dwarves are also fairies, and our Rumplestiltskin is also a king. To avoid some of the difficulties of switching back and forth, rather than have two sets of makeup that need constant changing, our dwarves and Rumple will all wear masks. This decision gave us a whole new skill set to explore. We only just made the first three masks yesterday – the other five will get made next week, and the sculpting and painting of the masks will take place over the next few weeks, and, for the most part, will be a surprise!

Several of the kids gave up their lunch hour, the only free time we had to work with the masks to give them enough time to dry. We had our three subjects lying on a table (not comfortable!) for about an hour while they were masked and drying.

For the “victims,” it was a little worrisome, knowing that the plaster strips could easily stick to anything not thoroughly coated in Vaseline. Everything at theatre, sooner or later, comes down to trusting your team, and this one was no exception. I’m happy to report that no one was robbed of their eyebrows through their team’s neglect. Stay tuned for photos of the finished masks when the project is complete!

Here, Kerri is showing the team how the job will be started.