These masks were created as a commission by Ellena Schoop for "The Foundation etc", her collaborative work with Maia Maiden. Ellena and I have collaborated before as actor/playwrights. This new work finds us each on our home turf--Ellena as a choreographer and me as a visual artist--in exploration of a new dimension of our work.

Special thanks to:

Anna Stanley, master mask maker and performer at Heart of the Beast, for mentoring, technical advice, and transmission of wisdom about the spiritual dimension of the mask. What is wisest and best in this work belongs to her, and she has our thanks for guiding two novices who found themselves drawn into unknown territory.

Gregory Ruffa for logistical support, encouragement and independent feedback on the work in progress.

Djola Branner, our performance teacher. We did our best to follow his sage advice to "get out of your head!"

Performance