Friday, December 30, 2011

Mask Theatre Workshop

From Executive Director Dale Savidge

For 3 hours on December 17, 2011 I was privileged to participate in a theatre workshop with a group of teens and young adults on the autism spectrum in Anderson, IN. Doug Berky (a mask theatre performer) and Andrew Nelson (leader of the Autism Theatre Network) led us through a series of theatre games and mask work. The 8 young men and their teachers entered in with enthusiasm and afterward expressed how much they enjoyed and benefited from the mask theatre exercises.
The young men tried on expressive masks (masks created with an identifiable emotional expression), animal masks and character masks. It was fascinating to observe them enter into these “characters” as they played out scenarios and interviews. Their bodies became animated; their voices ranged widely in volume and inflection. The masks provided the guys a safe space to hide in as well as a way to express themselves.
What’s interesting about this workshop is how the three of us came to share that space with that group of guys on the spectrum. I met Andrew at an autism conference in 2010, when I was just beginning to learn about how theatre works with autism. I’ve known Doug for many years as a solo performer. Andrew came to the 2011 Applied Theatre Conference as a teacher and Doug registered as a student in the autism/theatre track Andrew was teaching, a track I also participated in.
After the 2011 conference Doug and Andrew started talking about how Doug’s masks might contribute to theatre therapy and autism, and Andrew started using them in his work in WV. What a happy collaboration of a professional theatre artist and an autism expert! This kind of synergy is exactly what we hope for in the Applied Theatre Center and in our conferences.  Since the 2011 conference participants have taken what they learned and placed that training in service to other people in their communities.
I’m convinced there are many other ways theatre can be applied to the needs of individuals and communities, and we’ve only just started exploring collaborations such as Doug and Andrew’s. It’s one of my dreams for the ATC – a place where people network, connect and create together new ways of applying theatre.

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