Mask, Death, and Circus

Colin Gee, "John," 2021. Photo credit: Paula Court

Colin Gee: Mask, Death, and Circus 

Colin Gee’s involvement will be in two parts: a lecture-demonstration and a workshop. The lecture-demonstration will focus on circus dramaturgy as a way of considering mask theater. He'll explore how masks sustain an imagined perspective, what limitations are required for that perspective to be believable, the usefulness of failing those limitations, and the consequences of risk. He’ll look at the usefulness of Clown as a way to expose the vulnerability of a perspective, and the usefulness of Mask to shape persona in an age of increased vulnerability. Ideas presented in the lecture-demonstration will be developed through the workshop, with participants being led through techniques of physical performance to explore the limitations of the perspectives those techniques are intended to communicate, drawing from performance forms used in Gee's own work. The context of this session will be the relationship between circus dramaturgy, individual perspective, performed persona, and the dramatization of risk.  Since these two sessions are distinct offerings, participants may choose one or both.