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.
