$0 Sew er R at Ma s k

All materials were salvaged, repurposed, found or “borrowed.” My materials and tools were limited to what I could find so a lot of simple aspects of the mask became very complicated. I didn’t have a screwdriver/electric drill for the screws so I brute-forced and spun everything in with my hands. I couldn’t find wire cutters for the nose ring and whiskers so I had to flex and twist the wires to break them apart instead of cutting the lengths I needed. And - most annoying of all, I couldn’t find tape or glue, so I cut the cardboard and worked at it for a while with my hands to make it more flexible, then completely stapled the mask together. While these processes were very tedious, they emphasize the message I was trying to convey through this piece: Prop production is super punk rock. Artists can create almost anything out of nothing - it just takes some skill, impulsivity, determination and time. Creating for the stage is solely about creating an illusion of legitimacy for the audience - making the cheap/trivial look impressive through a little DIY is the foundation of prop production.