The Magic of The Mask
BY MARLI GUZZETTA
There is more to a mask than suspension of disbelief - there's magic, according to Eric Bornstein, founder and artistic director of Behind the Mask, a theater company that creates ornate productions of storytelling, mask, song, dance and puppetry.

Eric Bornstein, the man 'Behind the Mask,' in his studio surrounded by his creations.

The company is bringing the magic of Japanese folk tail "Cat Mountain" to the Atheneum this week for Family Night, courtesy of Drs. Deborah and David Volpi. (This program is presented under the aegis of Young Audiences of Massachusetts, the largest single provider of arts outreach programs in Massachusetts schools.)

The one-man show is in the style of Japanese Noh theater - a dramatic style originating in the 14th century, with basic sets and elaborate costumes and masks. In "Cat Mountain," Bornstein utilizes hand and shadow puppetry, dance, masks and other Japanese theatre-styles to tell the story of Sho - an orphaned servant girl with one friend in the world, her cat, whom her mistress kicks onto the street when she discovers him. Bornstein will inhabit the role of the "sacred visitor," a wise and elderly guide typically represented with the traditional Okina mask. Sho learns from Bornstein's character that her friend can be found on Cat Mountain; on her trip to find him, she hears repeatedly that no human being has ever returned from the trip.

DESIGNER DOORWAYS Don't Get High, Just Walk By" is just one message offered by students at the Cyrus Peirce Middle School, where last week they learned about drug and alcohol abuse. The week-long program is part of Red Ribbon Week, sponsored locally and nationally by the Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention. This digital collage shows four different classroom doors at CPS decorated by students and teachers, encouraging youths to make healthy lifestyle choices.

Behind the Mask's "Cat Mountain" was originally designed to be an ensemble stage show. In order to execute the performance solo, Bornstein wears the Okina mask, while masks for the other characters rest on stands on a table before him. He gestures to other masks throughout the story, while also changing voices and body language to represent other characters.

"I find that the mask gives me a window into each culture, and a way to experience the story that's different than how we usually receive it," Bornstein said. "Even if someone is just telling the story, they become the narrator in the Homeric sense, not someone who is part of the story. By masking the narrator, the narrator becomes something 'other.'"

Bornstein has been making masks since 1981; he earned his MLA in Art History from Harvard University and studied mask making with masters Agung Suardana in Bali and Donato Sartori in Italy.

Apparently, work is good in Boston if you're a talented and well-studied mask maker. Bornstein has performed at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts for the Boston Lyric Opera fundraiser, crafted a mask for the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum's Gardener masquerade mannequin, exhibited at the Fuller Craft Museum on the South Shore and, for the last 16 years, regularly appeared on the covers of the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald for his work with First Night Boston. Bornstein has also been given residencies in a variety of schools to teach kids "the magic of the mask."

"In the mind of children, there is almost no gap between the mask and the character it represents," Bornstein said. "I have a 3 year old now, and even though he knows that I make masks, he's still terrified when I put the mask on, because it's real to him. When I put the mask on, Dada is gone. There's no separation." The "magic" to which Bornstein is referring

extends to adulthood, he said. And the proof of this exists in the way bystanders interact with Behind the Mask's masked characters at events like King Richard's Faire in Carver, Mass., where Behind the Mask appears regularly. "Every once in a while, there will be someone with a sword trying to kill a demon. Or someone will come onto a mermaid in inappropriate ways. It's very interesting how it works on people."

But exactly what about the mask is working on people?

"Utter delight. There's something a little bit scary, a little big provocative and a little bit satisfying," Bornstein said. "Every child wants to believe in something magical, and every adult, who was once a child, wants to be reminded of that magic feeling."

I FAMILY NIGHT AT THE ATHENEUM:

BEHIND THE MASK'S

"CAT MOUNTAIN"
When: Friday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m.
Where: Nantucket Atheneum
  (Great Hall), 1 India Street
Cost: Free, but tickets are required.
For more information or to
  reserve tickets, call
For more about Behind the Mask, go to
www.behindthemask.org.