LEARNING TO WRITE STORIES FOR MASK

By Rita Grimaldi

One of my goals for taking a week-long writing course at the Haliburton School of the Arts was to write stories for my masks to tell. The course instructor was Ken Murray. Ken gave us instruction on how to write, edit, form paragraphs and most important, how to ‘resonate’ with the reader or in my role as an oral storyteller, how it will resonate with the listener.

Writing For Mask

It was not until the morning of Day Three that I had the courage to attempt to write stories for my masks. To help me write, I had brought photos of myself in mask and of the masks themselves. I started with a photo of Small Bear mask. This mask has only been used once, by a dancer in the performance of Skeleton Woman. I have never told a story in it. 

I began by setting up the photo of Small Bear in front of me.

As I looked at it I thought of all the traditional stories I knew about bears. I knew many transformation stories about males who had been transformed into bears.  So I began one of these. The writing went nowhere. I stopped writing the story and began to write lists of all the ways transformation happens, and all the variations of getting the male back to his male form. But still no story emerged.

Ken’s Perspective On Writing For Mask

         

On Day Four, Ken met personally with each of us to give feedback and to answer questions. When my turn came, I brought my photos of masks and showed them to him.

I said, “Ken how would I write stories for these masks to tell?”

Ken looked at the first picture - the one of Black Bear mask in the forest.

 You can read the story of this mask in my article ‘The Connectedness Of All Things’

(March 24, 2014) in the ‘Tales and Tips’ story blog of Peterborough Storytellers (www.peterboroughstorytellers.blogspot.com).

He said, “Look. Its eyes are looking at something. What is it?”

         

He was telling me to start with the face of the mask.  He was telling me to let the mask tell me what the story is. Of course! This is how I always pair story and mask - intuitively reading stories until I find a story the mask face tells me it can tell.

But now I had to begin not by reading but by pulling the story directly out of the mask face. So I went back to the classroom and once again set the photo of Small Bear mask in front of me and I wrote this story. It is the second draft and it has been rewritten in the first person for telling and performance in mask.

Small Bear Mask’s Story Spoken In Its Voice

I am looking hard. Something is moving. What is it? I am frightened. I feel my heart pounding.  What is coming?  I wish it were my mother coming. I lost her when the ice we were walking on cracked apart. Then the wind stops. And the snow stops swirling and I see that there is nothing coming. I am safe.

         

I curl up against a snow ridge to try and keep warm. I think about my mother. How warm she was to curl up beside. It is so dark. So dark. The sun has gone now. I hear the ice creak. Then I get up. I begin to run over the packed snow. I am hungry. I run hard. Look! I see a dark patch in the snow. Yes! Yes! It is a circle, a fishing hole left by an Inuit hunter. Now I can hunt for fish. Now my belly will be filled.

I stop by the hole. My sharp eyes look into the hole.

My sharp ears listen for movement in the water below.

Sound.

Then the blur of movement

The slap of my paw

The feel of cold fish

Taste in my mouth

Warmth in my belly

Feeling better

Sleep now in the dark day/night.

 My Thoughts On Small Bear Mask’s Story

This story is a very immediate narrative. I regard it as the first step in writing story for mask. It is based on experience rather than events. I think Ken’s instruction to me was designed to get me into the experience of the mask as a being. This is a good starting point for writing. As I go on, the story content will evolve out of the experience content.

An Interesting Post-Script To The Small Bear Mask Story...

Rita writes: On Sunday November 8, I again told the above story in Small Bear Mask.

The next day, I looked at the photos from the performance.

Seeing the photos I remembered Small Bear’s feelings when telling his story.

I remembered Small Bear’s fear. I remembered his inner drive for survival even when he was so alone and so frightened.

Early this morning and for several early mornings previously, I reflected on my Small Bear mask telling experience. I came to realize that Small Bear’s drive to find what is necessary for his survival is, in truth, a deep part of my own life.

Like Small Bear, I too lost my mother at a young age. The survival drive within me is similar to that possessed by Small Bear. Mine has led me to search for ‘food’ and find it. This search is not only just a part of ‘story land’. It is part of this world as well.

Small Bear’s words about catching fish are my words too. I was so careful to learn and say each one exactly as I had written them because they brought into my body the truth of my own life.

Such is the power of the mask for me and my life.

Addendum:

1.   Ken Murray is an excellent writing teacher. To get more information about Ken go to kenmurray.ca

2.   To get more information on the Haliburton School of the Arts go to flemingcollege.ca/school/haliburton-school-of-the-arts

Rita Grimaldi is an active member of the Peterborough Storytellers

in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

To contact Rita, email her at peterboroughstorytellers@cogeco.ca.