The Pandemic: an event that changed the world and society completely. Almost every profession was affected by the social distance and mask mandates that started in 2020. The theatre industry was nearly destroyed following the quarantine. With Broadway shut down and theatre around the world only being lit by the ghost light, the future of the art form was uncertain. Like the rest of the globe, theatre fought back. Their first line of defense was taking the stage on their computer screens and devising artwork over programs like Zoom or Teams. While this was an innovative temporary fix, nothing could replace the feeling of a live performance. After what felt perpetually unending, theatres around the world began opened up again. This time the audience members and actors had to wear masks, sadly not the kind of masks worn in Commedia Dell’arte.
An actor's job is to listen and truthfully respond to an impulse given by a fellow actor. This already hard task was grown infinitely harder when only being able to see their scene partner's eyes. Something is connecting about seeing another human's full face. It is so much easier to relate to a person when you can make eye contact and see their mouth as they are talking to you. In an experiment by Claus-Christian Carbon, a member of the Department of General Psychology and Methodology at the University of Bamburg, Germany, wearing face masks strongly confuses counterparts in reading emotions. According to Carbon, “Lower accuracy and lower confidence in one’s own assessment of the displayed emotions indicate that emotional reading was strongly irritated by the presence of a mask.” Participants couldn’t tell the difference between a happy expression to an angry one while wearing a mask. Actors are responsible for giving the same truthful engagement to their scene partner while only having their eyes as a tool. While masks in the theatre were met with resentment by many, two positives were presented by them. They allowed theatre to come back safely onto the stage and unknowingly made actors so much stronger in their craft. With this of course comes its drawbacks.
I sat down with Professor Andrew Gallant to discuss this debate and specifically how it related to Dean College’s production of "Clybourne Park," which he was the director. "Clybourne Park" ran from February 17th - 20th while masks were required in all public areas of Dean College. Professor Gallant has taught theatre in many states including Chicago, North Carolina, & Massachusetts. As somebody with extended experience teaching before and during the pandemic, I hoped Professor Gallant would offer his knowledge and insight on the topic. “Wearing masks lowers empathy,” Professor Gallant began. “Over the past two years we have spent a lot of time cut off socially from the world around us.” This isolation has built a strong desire for audiences and actors alike to want to get back into a shared space. For many of the actors and crew in "Clybourne Park," it was their first production back in a theatre since March of 2020 when the first quarantine closed theaters around the world. It was the first time for most of the actors that mask wearing was made mandatory while learning and rehearsing a show.
The question I first asked Professor Gallant is if he believed masks have impacted the actors' ability to perform. He openly shared his insight on the topic. “I do think listening has gotten better, not just words but inner life. We tend to draw a lot of information from the mouth and removing that visual cue has deepened our attention.” Listening is an essential tool for actors to have. It is necessary for an actor to not just listen to the words their scene partners are saying, but to take them in, internalize them, letting it truly affect their whole body. “I’ve seen some actors where putting on a mask drops impulses into the body more, from the neck down and into the limbs,” Professor Gallant says. This helps stage acting in particular as the sphere of movement needs to be able to read to the back row of seats in a theatre. “We have gotten better at picking up on those subtle little cues such as the thoughts in the eyes” Having less to react to in a scene partner forces you to have to use what you do have to go off of to the fullest of your ability.
As masks have raised actors' skills with listening and impulses, there are of course down sides. “On the flip side, we have gotten worse at expression” specifically he said that there are more problems with vocalization. “Fabric muffles the voice and keeps lips retracted which fights vocal work; therefore resonance has been hindered.” Masks go directly against the vocalization practices of acting training exercises such as that of Kristen Linklater, who was famous for helping actors free their natural voice. For the entirety of the "Clybourne Park" rehearsal process, masks had to stay on. This only changed in the final dress rehearsal before the show went live. I asked if he noticed any changes in the life of the performance with this difference. “The second masks came off, articulation picked up. Listening got deeper and truer. In a weird way, I think there is some benefit to the masks” Professor Gallant remarked, “We have been so used to communicating and acting on screens that we’re used to being mic’d now.” As a cast member of the show, I will note that the chemistry between actors increased significantly when we took masks off and were able to act with each other, seeing scene partners' full faces and expressions after only seeing their eyes for the four-week rehearsal process. The show took on a whole different energy.
Professor Gallant also brought up how masks impact the perspective of the audience in live theatre. “I'm wondering how the audience would have reacted differently had they not been wearing masks…masks over the face create the illusion of having an internal experience rather than an external expression of the experience.” Would people feel the desire to laugh more, or even cry more having this restriction lifted off? People feel the need to be around other people. There's something about that experience of breathing the same air…which is, of course, something we’ve been trying not to do for three years,” Professor Gallant joked. “But there’s something about breathing in the same moment that is deeply, deeply human.”
Politics aside, there are many pros and cons to wearing masks in general, not just specifically to actors. With the mask mandate being lifted recently at Dean College it was compelling to discuss this topic with somebody as experienced in theatre as Professor Gallant. He closed with this: “I do think that masks have stunted us in certain ways, but It has provided obstacles that have sharpened our skills as actors.” As actors, we can never stop growing and refining our craft. Theatre is such an important and unique art form. Let's all hope that we can continue to sell out seats and fill theaters. Next time we have to see a mask in theatre, it better be for a reenactment of an Ancient Greek play.