Jardín de Sueños — unmasked!

In just a few weeks, Miracle Theatre Group will be presenting Jardín de Sueños, our family-friendly Spanish-language production (with easy-to-follow supertitles in English). This is going to be a magical show with lots of surprises, including original masks designed by Kate B. Phoenix. Kate is a professional mask designer, actor, and co-artistic director of physical theatre ensemble WONDERHEADS.  She has been building and performing in masks for the past 10 years and her sets and commissioned works are seen in schools and on stages both nationally and internationally.  Kate was last seen on the Milagro stage in Lazarillo, but she is also a phenomenal mask creator! So we checked in with Kate to find out more about what to expect in our “Garden of Dreams” …

Miracle Insider: Tell us about the masks that you're creating for Jardín de Sueños. What will they look like, and how did you come up with the designs? 
Kate B. Phoenix: Jardín de Sueños focuses on the character of Christina and takes place in two realms — the “real world” and Christina's “dream world”.  Nelda Reyes, the director of the show, came to me with the idea that she wanted to use masks in the “real world” sections to offer the audience an even stronger understanding of Christina's own perspective of the world around her.  She and her family all wear masks which embody Christina's view of them and herself.  So for instance, Christina perceives her brother as a negligent, irresponsible slacker, so I designed his mask with those qualities in mind.

What do you think masks bring to a production? What can they add to a performance? How will they be used in this particular show?
It's a strange paradox — masks cover the face, but are incredibly revealing.  A good mask will reveal to the audience a great deal about the character in front of them, and the actor reveals even more by “filling the mask”, in other words, using their body and voice to complete the character as a whole.  Masks can be revealing as a stylistic choice, as well.  You can use masks to step away from naturalism or realism and offer a different lens with which to examine a subject; in this case, the lens is Christina's own experience and perspective on the world.

What are these masks made of, and how did you produce them?
All of the masks for Jardín de Sueños are originals for this show, first sculpted in clay, then cast in paper maché, and finished via a process of edging, sanding, painting and fitting to each of the actors.

You also have a lot of experience performing in masks. Tell us about the show you toured last summer and the masks that you used in that show.
Yes!  Mask making and performance is the focus of WONDERHEADS, the company I co-founded with my husband Andrew Phoenix [who happens to be Miracle’s Technical Director].  This last summer we toured our show Grim and Fischer, the story of a feisty granny battling with Death himself, across the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit.  The masks in that show are large, full-face masks — very different from the smaller, half-mask style you'll see in Jardín de Sueños.

And what are you working on next?
We WONDERHEADS are currently developing a new show called Loon, also performed in full-face mask.  It's the story of a lonely man who falls in love with the moon and steals it from the sky.  We'll be taking Loon on a three-month tour this coming summer, and we hope to present it here in Portland before we hit the road.

Where can people find out more information about your work?
You can see more of my work and find masks for sale at www.wonderheadsmasks.com, and you can also find out more about the work of WONDERHEADS at www.wonderheads.com.

Tickets are now onsale for Jardín de Sueños by calling 503-236-7253 or visiting www.milagro.org.