I Never Knew

Finished the rest of the mask presentation that we weren't able to get to yesterday. This included Commedia dell'Arte, Balinese masks, and Korean masks. The information on Commedia wasn't overwhelmingly new, considering that I did study an entire unit of it during freshman year. It was distinctly set apart from the rest the theaters involving masks simply because it was the only one to use primarily half masks, I guess you could say. Many of the other theaters involving masks used full-faced masks. Balinese masks was actually my own topic. They were basically used for dance-dramas and even tribal purposes. We then moved on to Korean masks, which was quite interesting considering that in a way it intertwined with my topic, at least in relation to our teacher. It turns out that our theater teacher worked for the US military at one point and in all places, Korea. While in charge of the recreational services provided to the army through a theater, my teacher was also able to travel and experience Asian theater. It was in this way that my teacher was able to amass the collection of masks that she now displays in our classroom, along with the invaluable knowledge of basically everything. Though the specific topics of masks may not have interested us all, it was just really neat to learn about all this international credit our teacher had that we never really knew about. It just really goes to show that you never know...

Going to be heading out later to see my high school's fall production of Noises Off. So far the responses have been largely positive and enthusiastic. Can't wait. I'll write again once I'm back.