The Department welcomes its chair, Daniel Rairdin-Hale, back from his spring 2018 sabbatical.
While he was off campus, he was part of the creative team for a new rendition of The Little Prince, performed at the Quad-City Theatre Workshop last May. Now that is he back on campus, he's unveiling some of the process that created the original show as he prepares for its SAU debut. Children's shows, and The Little Prince in particular, encourage children to use their imaginations and explore the characters' world to learn something new. The SAU students involved in this upcoming production are sure to learn as well.
Rairdin-Hale is holding a collection of informal mask-making sessions to encourage theatre enthusiasts and people who are new to theatre alike to explore the complexity surrounding mask-making. He shared exactly what went into creating those otherworldly characters that the Little Prince visits during his travels.
As it turns out, you don't need magic-at least not the otherworldly kind. Instead, the masks for each character come to life with creative magic and the help of a little oil-based clay, plaster, Neoprene latex, acrylic gesso paint, some foam and a lot of careful timing.
SAU theatre last saw mask-making during fall 2016, when the characters Ariel and other spirits were created for The Tempest, a show that used masks to explore themes of freedom and discovering your true self, among others. For The Tempest, Rairdin-Hale was also tasked with the technical challenge of making Ariel's mask glow from within during magic sequences.
None of The Little Prince's characters have to glow, but the mask building is a similar process. For both projects, Rairdin-Hale started with shaping oil-based clay into curiously detailed faces-perhaps not quite resembling a typical person's but with vivid qualities of facial expression and form to bring each character to life.
Next, Rairdin-Hale attached each mask to the bottom of a container, smoothed out the connections, and then covered the masks with liquid plaster. As the plaster hardened, it created a mold of the original mask-a hole the exact shape of the mask that could be used to make more.
Getting the plaster separated from the clay is not always an easy process, considering the oil-based clay is still wet, and plaster is brittle. In fact, the mold for the Businessman character actually ended up cracking! Instead of pouring a new mold, Rairdin-Hale found a thrifty solution that the Businessman would be proud of: painstakingly gluing each piece back together.
The Businessman mask is the character that Rairdin-Hale is currently working on. During his office hours between classes, he finds time to make the latex part of the masks, which is a process that can take some trial and error. At first, the latex step looks like a repeat of his plaster step. He fills the hole in the plaster up to the top with liquid Neoprene latex, taps the mold to remove air bubbles and leaves it to dry.
The tricky part, though, is if the Neoprene sits for too long, too much of it will dry, and the mask will be too thick for the actor to work with comfortably. In The Tempest's case, a thick mask also couldn't light up.
"Usually the magic number is around 90 minutes," Rairdin-Hale said.
After 90 minutes, the rest of the Neoprene gets poured back into its bucket.
"It looks like pancake batter," Rairdin-Hale said, "but you can't eat it!"
A thin film gets left behind on the mold, and the latex will eventually dry to become the mask. Once dry, the latex mask is pulled out, cut and smoothed down for the actor, cushioned with foam and primed for painting. For this round of masks, Rairdin-Hale said they won't need the delicate watercolor work of the originals but will need enough individual character in color, value, moving parts and hair to project to the huge schoolchildren audiences.
The Businessman isn't the first mask to be cast, but there are still plenty to see! If you ever find yourself at Galvin, take a moment to run down to the scene shop to possibly find Rairdin-Hale at work with "pancake batter," sanding down plaster or starting with the first touches of color. It's all part of the exciting creative challenge of theatre, and there's always something new to learn no matter your age.
The Little Prince will grace the Allaert stage on the SAU campus December 4-7, 2019.
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