Tara Cariaso's portfolio

Work samples

Workshops in Reimagining Commedia, a new anti-oppressive performance pedagogy
Dr Vera Sadalim in "The Boundary" with Submersive Productions
Masks Channel Energy! Performance Workshops at Baltimore Center Stage

Masks Channel Energy! Performance workshops at Baltimore Center Stage, September 9,10, 16, 17, 23, 24 at Baltimore Center Stage, generously funded by the Maryland State Arts Council Creativity Grant!
Director/ Designer/ Development for CRISIS MODE: Living Pilipino in America

About Tara

Baltimore City

I am a queer, Baltimore-born Filipina-American theatre artist who is passionate for physical theatre, mask performance, and the cultivation of anti-oppression practices. My mission as a theatre artist is to create transformational, imaginative theatre that creates a vision for the world we want to live in by centering justice and joy.

My movement education and mask performance work is influenced by the work of Jacques Lecoq, clown performance, and deeply influenced by the work… more

View Tara's Resume

Reimagining Commedia: An anti-oppressive, physical theatre and masked theatre performance pedagogy

What is Reimagining Commedia?

It’s a growing movement of actor/creators, largely from the ensemble theatre training lineages, that have realized harm created by theatre making practices that stem from a very old source. The theatre form known as Commedia Dell’Arte was the first professional actor’s theatre outside of the church, and its many theatrical building blocks still form the spine of western comedy as we know it today. As a relic of western history, however, Commedia’s tried and true comic elements, (including stock characters, masks, storylines and tropes,) cause harm to students whose intersecting identities are outside of what dominant culture would like to enforce. We want dynamic, physical comedy without racism, ageism, misogyny, gender biases, body or ability biases! So acting colleagues across the field are independently and collectively beginning to reimagine what the form Commedia Dell’Arte could be through a lens of joy, justice and liberation. This is us reinventing, reengaging, and reasserting our joy through dynamic physical theatre.

Tara is interviewed on THED Talks podcast

Tara talks about why she pursued mask performance and education professionally, some of her experience with harm and bias in the theatre classroom, and her work in Reimagining Commedia.
Symposium for Anti-opressive Practices in Physical Theatre, Philadelphia, PA

Dear Reader,

In order for me, Tara Cariaso, to work towards a more just, less oppressive workplace and classroom, I have to do some healing for myself on the topic of Commedia.
When we cannot be in direct communication with the person/s that we harmed, (and even when we can be in communication with them,) healing ourselves and resolving disconnect improves our quality of life. Generally the disconnect lies between the intentions we had, and the actual impact of our actions. Healing disconnect is an important act of self-respect, and self-trust.

In my family life, with my partner Aaron and 2 children, Nadya and Kieran, we use a four step apology when harm has been done. Articulated by the brilliant restorative justice thinker, Mia Mingus, the four parts of an apology make us aware of our resistance, and our possible embarrassment or shame. It makes us confront the parts of a story that we often have not considered for ourselves before. (Find her article here: https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2019/12/18/how-to-give-a-good-apology-part-1-the-four-parts-of-accountability/ )

In my experience, articulating these four truths help to pave a path towards a less shameful, more ensemble-focused experience of conflict or harm; one where we acknowledge the value of every person’s experience, and move forward into better collaboration together.

Mingus’ four part apology looks like this:
Self Reflection on Harms done/ Apologizing/ Repair/ Behavior Change

My Self-Reflection on the Harms I have committed by practicing and teaching Commedia as it currently exists in the field:
I have seen my students cry from seeing their ancestors slandered in front of them through the play of Commedia and the mask representations that accompany Commedia.
I have seen audience members leave productions, hurt and offended by the use of black faced masks in subservient positions. I have felt overwhelmed by the force of the dominant culture and admonished to support and justify misogynist tropes as being ,“…just a joke,” or “…just the way it was back then.” Such sexist tropes have played out, again and again onstage, and are still used casually for entertainment, with no more intention than “…just going for a laugh,” … but for too long, I didn’t stop them.
I did not ask what I should have asked, of my own inductors, “But why is that funny? And why is it funny to some but not to other people?” Questions like these always went unanswered by my teachers, and so I also did wrong when I accepted my teacher’s limitations as my own.
I became complacent and taught only what I was taught, even if it felt a little off every time in my own body, because it was easier to “take it from those experts” than it was to only actually teach what felt true. I didn’t know why it felt untrue in my body, but it did, and I should have listened.
I didn’t mean to cause harm. But I know I did. And unpacking the complex reality about how and why I did it anyway always feels overwhelming.

My Apology:
I am complicit in a culture that ignores harm. I am sorry I have both created and ignored harm. By teaching Commedia without reexamining it and it’s harms to people of marginalized identities, I have done my colleagues, my students and my field wrong. I have been a student, practitioner and educator of Commedia Dell’Arte for more than 2 decades of my professional life: that’s a lot of harm and a lot of complacency on my part.

My Repair.-
I acknowledge that my participation in this kind of play, as an actor or director, without tested skills in accountability or ethical dramaturgy is concerning.
I will stop practicing Commedia in the traditional way, the way in which I was taught.
I am committed to ceasing harm to others through my theatre work.
I am committed to acknowledging the harm that has been done from these practices, and commit to creating viable options for students of comedy and physical theatre, options that will not create further harm to audience or performer.

My Behavioral Change:
Rather than lean away from it, I will embrace my love of passionate, high stakes play on the stage.
Rather than blame the past I will make offers and begin discussion. We will fill the stage with brave new characters of our own devising.
I will no longer try to breathe, and think, and process, and create at the speed of Capitalism. I will only move at the speed of TRUST, (thank you Adrienne Maree Brown for that one.)
I will share my love for the form AND my disappointment , and my hope, and my suspicions.
I will be a cauldron for liberation-focused theatre practices, so that together we will make a soup that meets our collective and individual needs.
I will hold both our needs for laughter AND our needs for equity.
I know this work is not only for me, but rather, it is for several generations of theatre makers who were hurt by white supremacy culture. It is for the actors to come, and so I will not try to reinvent the form in my own image, but rather, this work will be created in OUR image, by and for those who were hurt, in this place, radically ‘seeking the root’ of comedy, for actors of today.
Lecture on the harms of Commedia dell'arte at TSU's Invisible Architectures Conference in 2023

Tara gives an academic presentation at the Invisible Architectures Conference in 2023 on the topic of the harms of modern players practicing historic Commedia dell'arte in classrooms and in rehearsal rooms.
Zannia 2, the reimagined mask design for Zanni #2 of Traditional Commedia dell'arte
Zannia 2 sketch for new masks commissioned by Faction of Fools for Reimagining Commedia
First workshops of developing new pedagogy during Covid
Why does traditional Commedia dell'arte do harm to folks with marginalized identities?
Pedagogy and Design, hand in hand

I am a visual and performing artist who primarily works in theater education, and, over the last 3 years, I have been designing new masks, and new pedagogy, for an old form called Commedia dell'Arte. In 2021, my company Waxing Moon Masks and our partner company, Faction of Fools Theatre Company of DC, created the first 6 mask designs for Commedia-inspired play, called, “The New Mask Family.” This mask set has been used for one production, is in process for a second production, and is used regularly in training spaces. The pedagogy created alongside the new masks is known as “Reimagining Commedia,” and it is already in use in the United States. Traditionally, Commedia masks center historical features present in the masks hundreds of years ago, even when crafted by today’s artisans. We’ve broken from that tradition, and in my work as an educator, mask-maker and lecturer I share why and how we use archetypes and emotions in our masks as we re-configure Commedia dell’arte for contemporary artists.

My work in the Reimagining Commedia movement includes:

1. Restorative Justice workshops for educators who have and want to continue to use the form, Commedia dell'arte

2. A reimagined set of theatrical Masks that are available through my company, Waxing Moon Masks, (www.waxingmoonmasks.com)

3. A pedagogy for performing theatrical masks, the spirit and tradition reimagined for modern comic actors.

4. An ongoing collaboration with DC's premiere Commedia-style theatre company, Faction of Fools, where we continue to refine our practices for greater justice and joy in our creative theatrical work.

5. A series of lectures and articles that articulate the tools and story of Reimagining Commedia, including documentation of my own journey decolonizing the traditional form as a mask-maker, actor and educator.
Reimagining Commedia: A Decolonizing Movement in Traditional Physical Theatre Practice

Reimagined masks by Waxing Moon Masks
Photo by Cat Rice Photography

Masks Channel Energy! Mask Performance Workshop Series at Baltimore Center Stage

In September of 2023, Tara Cariaso and Parker Matthews joined forces to provide the Baltimore area professional theatre training in the territory of theatrical mask performance.

The workshops welcomed students age 16+ to explore specific mask territories in each class, developing devising skills and learning new, anti-oppression techniques in character creation processes. The workshops included:

Larval Masks and Body Masks * Emotion Masks * Solo Clown * Ensemble Clown * Reimagining Commedia Day 1 * Reimagining Commedia Day 2 *

Reimagining Commedia workshop Day 1
Reimagining Commedia workshop, Day 1
Ensemble Clown Workshop: Masks Channel Energy! workshop series
Solo Clown Workshop
Emotion Masks Workshop
Larval Mask Workshops

Director/ Development/ Designer for CRISIS MODE: Living Pilipino in America

Crisis Mode: Living Pilipino in America Virtual and in-person at Strand Theater Virtual: March 30 - April 16; In-person: March 17 - April 2 In this one-person piece, Cori Dioquino explores the complexities of her own identity as she navigates through the three major identity crises of her life. “Crisis Mode'' weaves Dioquino’s personal history with that of her motherland - The Philippines - and its complicated relationship to the United States through dance, movement, music and art. With each crisis, she shares her experiences growing up an immigrant in the “Land of the Free”, coping with hidden mental health issues, and her gradual transition from “Proud Pinoy” to “Generic Asian.”

Designing the set for Crisis Mode
Filipina Excellence: Written/Directed/Designed/Choreographed/Developed by Filipinas
Telling truths about being Filipina in the US
Crisis Mode: Living Pilipino in America

Representation in Theatrical Masks for "Love Like Tuesday"

In early Spring of 2023, I completed a commission of 21 masks that changed how I thought about mask design.

Love Like Tuesday was the first time I was able to put all my energy and collaboration into using the new pedagogy, Reimagining Commedia, into practice with mask design for an original production where the actors were shaping the characters, and the characters were each receiving masks that were designed collaboratively with and explicitly for those actors. In doing so, I encountered numerous realities regarding the state of theatrical mask in theatre practice. Here are some things I learned.

1. INCREASED DESIGNER/ACTOR COLLABORATION REQUIRES ADDITIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT: Under the premise that theatrical masks can be made and characters can be built by actors using the same archetypal vocabulary amongst the whole team, I set out to have conversations with a cast of 8 actors playing 21 different masked characters. This is a LOT of collaboration, and required organizing support from a highly skilled stage manager. My deepest appreciation to Sarah Kamins who rose to the task of coordinating multiple communications between myself and the actors for *each* mask design over the course of several months.

2. COLLABORATION WITH ACTORS AND DESIGNERS CHANGES THE EMPHASIS OF THE DESIGN TO SERVE THE ACTOR INSTEAD OF THE SCENIC DESIGN OR THE DIRECTOR.

3. TWENTY ONE CUSTOM MASKS IS A LARGE NUMBER OF MASKS FOR ONE SHOW.

4. MASKS THAT REFLECT THAT ACTOR'S FACIAL HERITAGE AND RACE, AS WELL AS THE CHARACTER, ARE SUPERIOR TO THOSE THAT ERASE THE ACTOR'S RACE WHEN PLAYING A DEVISED CHARACTER.

The days are chilly but our hearts are warm

Here are actors Jordan and Jasmine in the masks of their elderly characters, Barry and Juno, at the assisted living center. The masks they wear are one of three each of these actors used throughout this show.
Young Lovers in High School romance

Actors Jordan and Jasmine play a high school couple discussing their plans for the big dance. The masks they wear are one of three each actor used throughout this show.
Actors unmask

Actors unmask
Max, Perry and Barry: the masks worn and co-created by actor Jordan

Max, Perry and Barry: the masks worn and co-created by actor Jordan
21 custom masks for "Love Like Tuesday"

Here you can see the scope of individual, custom masks for the show, Love Like Tuesday. 21 unique masks, each the product of collaboration between designer and actor using the archetypes as a common vocabulary.

In this image you can see masks that were built on the faces of actors of different heritages, different racial backgrounds. The triumph for me of this project was that all of these masks successfully bridged the actor and the character *without* sacrificing representation of that actor's heritage onstage. For me, this was a huge win. Throughout this process I heard from actor's of color that they had never worn a mask that was made for *them*, to reflect *them*.

Yes, acting is taking on another character, but racial and inherited identity is one that we cannot leave behind when we walk on the stage. For the betterment of EVERYONE, we need to bring our heritage and our stories *with* us on stage.
Jordan's character, Barry, Sculpture

The in-process sculpture of Barry. After this sculpture was completed, I used paper mache to cover it, and this will become the mask of Barry.
Love Like Tuesday

Join Faction of Fools Theatre Company's world premiere production of Love Like Tuesday written by playwright Doug Robinson in collaboration with the devising ensemble of Faction of Fools. Told through the lens of Faction's signature style of Commedia dell'Arte, a style of theatre originating in Renaissance Italy that utilizes masks and high energy physicality, Love Like Tuesday hearkens to the nostalgia and structure of classic Rom Com films…but with a twist.

Doreen Dawkins triumphs as the best lunch lady to ever grace the kitchens of Pangolin High, despite being equipped with an oven that won't go above 175 degrees. Between that and caring for her ailing mother, Doreen has a full plate with no extra room for dessert…and certainly no space for love. And how could she with high school students ever reliant on her support, Principal Foggybottom's battle with the budget, or Janitor Silver sneaking into her kitchen to prepare his famous boot stew? Doreen is surrounded with the whirlwind of life, but time stands still when an old high school flame, Cameron Noodle, fills a long-term sub position at Pangolin High. In a society where hearts-falling-out-of-your-eyes is reserved for "young love", can a middle aged lunch lady still experience love like fireworks?

Written by: Doug Robinson in collaboration with the devising ensemble of Faction of Fools

Directed by: Francesca Chilcote
Stage Manager: Sarah Kamins
Production Manager: Samantha Owen
Commedia dell’Arte Coach: Kathryn Zoerb

Starring: Mary Myers as Doreen Dawkins, Danny Cackley, Jordan Essex, Bri Houtman, Matthew Pauli, Jasmine Proctor, Andrew Quilpa, and Kathryn Zoerb.

Scenic Design: Johnny Weissgerber, Lighting Design: William K. D’Eugenio, Costume Design: Lynly A. Saunders, Sound Design: Matthew Nielson, Mask Design: Waxing Moon Masks, Props Design: Nick Martin, Intimacy Consultant: Chelsea Pace, Production Photography: DJ Corey Photography

Production Sponsors: DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Capitol Hill Community Foundation
Sketch of Jordan's character, Barry

Here you see the sketch of Barry, the elderly man living with his wife Juno at the assisted living center. You can see the archetypes that Jordan chose for this character in the margins, the elements that I was working to emphasize. From here in my process, I use this sketch to begin the sculpture of this character on top of the plaster positive of the actor's own face.
Three masks for Jordan

The masks for Jordan's three characters were all sculpted upon a plaster positive of his own face, using archetypal qualities that were decided upon by Jordan and his director, Francesca. After the initial decision on archetypes that he saw in the character, Jordan communicated with me throughout the development process for the mask, giving me feedback on the sketch, the sculpture, and ultimately, the colors on the paper mache mask.

Emotional Gesture: a comparison between how bodies express emotion in Liberia and US

In 2016, I traveled to Liberia, West Africa to work with the arts students of nonprofit, B4 Youth Theatre who were using masks to create stories that told their own stories.

Elated to finally meet the students who have been working with me remotely over space and time, I trained with young people and learned about how differently Liberian people and US folks articulate their emotional experiences through the body.

Student Instructors choose masks for an exploration

The training for actors in Emotion Masks is a way to engage actors physically creating recognizable human emotions, one at a time, using their bodies to tell the stories. Masks are half masks, allowing for speech and in character improvisation. In this way, the emotion of the mask focuses the actor's mind towards telling stories through that voice, simplifying the task from a complex representation of themselves before their peers, to a game of finding and staying in the character's mind set.

In this image, we are getting started with an initial training using the masks. You'll see that the majority of these Student Instructors are young women. In Liberia, young women in the 15-20 year age range are commonly challenged by their community to accomplish family and domestic tasks in lieu of attending school. In this case, these young women who live at an orphanage in Mt Barclay have been part of the B4 Youth Theatre arts education training for 2 to 3 years already, and have articulated that they want to be here. In many cases, their dedication to the training is challenged by the adults around them who expect them to prepare food or care for smaller children rather than train, as this is the cultural norm in Liberia for women, whereas the men are more encouraged to get education. These young women have to learn to steel themselves in a direction of self interest to take up even a tuition-free education, let alone find funds for a costly high school/university education experience.

I am grateful I was there to learn from their strength and perseverance.
Using Energy

In Gbarnga, here we are stretching wide to begin our physical theatre work for the day. This group is a mixture of inexperienced students and the Student Instructors. We found that the most inexperienced students learned a great deal this day in the response writing, possibly as a result of having a close experience training alongside the Student Instructors. This class lasted 3 hours, a long chunk of time, but the most reasonable time frame given our environmental circumstances.

We were fortunate on this day that we were not at the mercy of the torrential rains that happen at Liberia during this time of year. On other days, in order to train several classes in theatre, music, sewing, and dance, we have to break up the large group of maybe 30 students into smaller groups that work in different buildings. This building is one used very often, a school house, and is supplied with chairs and desks, however not all of the spaces we used were as welcoming. Some days, the rain came down so hard that we could not hear one another's voices below the tin roof panels and lost entire classes.

I did find at times that students lacked endurance for the constant movement work on our feet. The movement training of western theatre uses different muscles and movement than that which these kids use in daily life, so some struggle was there to encourage them to continue from time to time. That said, the weird things that I might ask them to do were part and parcel of the overall oddness which this training presented in contrast to their way of life.

I often wondered how fair it was to ask them to use so much energy, to deplete their energy, when they possibly had no way to refuel adequately at the end of the day. I wondered if my presence was an imposition of something western and inappropriate in their lives constantly. I wondered if the exchange of information would help any them in any useful ways. I wondered if I wasn't just doing all of this in their names but actually might be the only one receiving benefit. Now, 6 months later, I still wonder all of these things.
Liberia's only Stage

Here, on Providence Island where the first boats carrying African Americans from the North American continent brought former slaves, there is the nation's one and only stage. Built by one of the nation's rulers 25 or so years ago, the stage and the island itself, have been abandoned and unused for several years now.

At one time, there was a large celebration on this island for the incoming president. This stage hosted dancers and singers. Liberians making their culture amplified. But since the civil war, this has all stopped.

The last 8 years of Liberia's history have been ones of fundamental change, a rebuilding time. But with limited resources financially for infrastructure like roads, sanitation, clean water delivery systems, and without a functional tax collection system in place, even without debt to world power countries like the USA, Liberia is not likely to strengthen her commitment to Liberian cultural arts practices.

Some visual art education, such as drawing and painting, exists at the university level. But so far as we can tell, no other arts training but B4 Youth Theatre and one other 'arts camp' exist in Liberia.
Celebrating the completion of our training with a party!

This photo of a raucous group of gleeful students is what you and I both want to see when we think about Liberia. From a photo like this, we assume that the student's have enjoyed and benefitted from the educational experience provided by the tuition free arts education program offered by B4 Youth Theatre, the non-profit company with whom I have been working for 3 years now. Certainly I was happy in this image.

This group of children in Gbarnga are certainly the more fortunate of many kids in Liberia, as they have families in the village that care for them and feed them as best they can. But you cannot see that these kids possibly have not eaten today before our party. You cannot see that some of them had to leave children behind to come to be a part of the training and that this posed a series of problems for them. You cannot see that some of these children are also responsible for provding some measure of financial wealth to their familial well-being and that this too acts as a deterrent to students taking advantage of a free education opportunity.

At this celebration, at the end of our training time together, the students took streams of photos with their instructors and fellow classmates, we danced to music, and we talked about our lives. Lots and lots of posing for photos!

And in this time, it became abundantly clear to me that these children had hard won the experience of this arts training in ways that I never had to. The program required they come to each training, that they be on time to the training, and that they behave cooperatively and respectfully within the program. We did not provide any food daily, except this one time celebratory meal of rice and "soup"(Liberian stew) with fish. Our work was very physical, and exhausting in the 95 degree heat each day, and we worked for periods of time ranging between 1 hour to 3 hours. In short, we asked a lot of them.

These children are champions.

MASKS FOR GOOD: Liberian youth use Emotion Masks to tell their own stories

MASKS FOR GOOD merges social justice and mask, performed by young Liberian artists. Our company conceived, designed, and created the masks, then sent supplies and training materials as well to instructors in Liberia. The plays that the young people made have talked about Ebola and aim to fight the stigma left on Liberian communities in the wake of the devastating Ebola virus.

B4 Youth Theatre, Arts and Literacy Non-Profit functioning in Liberia, West Africa

B4 Youth Theatre is our partner organization in MASKS FOR GOOD. They have made a positive impact in Liberia already with their arts and literacy education programming, and currently have 4 training sites that are active year round in Liberia.

B4 Youth Theatre Makes a Difference: In 2010 Liberian public school was free up to grade 7. Later that year, the President of Liberia, Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf came to see B4 Youth Theatre's inaugural performance, "Problems to Solve", which dealt heavily with access to education. The next year, free and public school was extended through grade 9 as compulsory for all Liberian children.

In the Summer of 2014 and 15, B4 Youth integrated mask performance into the playwriting work of all four current training sites in Liberia in order to help the students tell the story of Ebola and Stigma in their lives and communities. They will do so again in their summer training in 2016, with Tara there to provide instructors with professional training.
Masks For Good postcard for our Indiegogo Campaign

Photographed by Baltimore's KINTZ PHOTOGRAPHY, this is one of 3 postcards we created to raise funds to make 39 masks, pay the videographer for the 10 video series and provide disinfectant wipes for mask play in Ghana and Liberia.

The project was successfully funded, raising 500 dollars over our initial goal of 2000.00 dollars on Indiegogo. Donors, whom we called our "masktivists", received these postcards with out thanks.

Featured in this image is Aaliyah Mullenix in the JOY mask that was created in our first customize set for Liberia, back in 2014.
Sample of Video from Training Video Series

Here you see a sample portion of a video we filmed with videographer David Toia, featuring actor Connor Hogan in the Sorrow mask.

Video made by David Toia, the videographer and editor responsible for creating Masks For Good's Training Video Series. This video is part of one of 10 separate training videos designed to introduce young instructors to mask performance using the Emotion Masks. This series of training videos were viewed in Liberia by 6 youth instructors who then used masks with their students in 4 training sites across the country.

The video series covers: an Intro, Warm up, Why Mask?, How to address the Awkwardness of wearing something on your face to perform, a step by step process for engaging the whole body in creating "Emotional" shapes, improvisations for play writing purposes, work on status, the Importance of Eye Contact, and much more.

Editor David Toia works for Johns Hopkins creating educational videos and is uniquely qualified to create the best video series possible for MASKS FOR GOOD's video watching audience.

The 10 video series, complete, is available on Youtube only to select individuals at this time.
Shame Mask on young boy in Ghana

This mask in particular was an addition to the mask set we made for B4 Youth in 2015, because the theme of "shame" continues to be a significant experience for Liberian children and the arts programming felt it was integral to address it. Liberians and West Africans at large are universally affected by the stigma placed on those who survived Ebola in their communities. Even now, after the Ebola outbreak has ended in Liberia and the country has not had any new cases of the horrible illness, discrimination against West Africans continues due to the fear of Ebola created worldwide. In country, Magda Kakita wrote this about stigma in the wake of Ebola:
"Even though the Ebola outbreak has been contained in parts of Africa like Liberia and Ghana, some survivors of the Ebola epidemic face exclusion and discrimination in their local communities. According to an article on unfpa.org many survivors return home to find their possessions destroyed. Fear and mis-education in local communities make it difficult for Ebola survivors to find work."
Stigma exists within Liberia and across the world as a result of the devastation left by the illness.
FIGHT THE STIGMA, article in Liberian FRONT PAGE newspaper about our project

"Even though the Ebola outbreak has been contained in parts of Africa like Liberia and Ghana, some survivors of the Ebola epidemic are now dealing with exclusion and discrimination in their local communities. According to an article on unfpa.org, many survivors return home to find their possessions destroyed. Fear and miseducation in local communities make it difficult for Ebola survivors to find work...

...Since the Liberian Civil War, an educational disparity was created between the younger and older generations. According to the 2014 demographics profile posted on indexmudi.com, over 60% of Liberia's population are aged 24 and under. The plays {with B4 Youth Theatre} help the B4 executive committee make adjustments to the outreach curriculum. The goal of this work is to help bridge the gap between younger and older generations in Liberia."
Old Age Mask with helpers, Ghana, West Africa

Here you see a young man of maybe 11 wearing one of the old age masks made for the children of Liberia, brought to Ghana by Jasmine Blanks. Masks by Waxing Moon Masks. Jasmine brought 39 masks, disinfectant wipes, a 10 video series, and instructor training manuals with her in order to train students of her program, B4 Youth Theatre, in mask performance. Before getting to Liberia in the summer of 2015, she stopped here in Ghana to give this workshop to students as a part of Orphan Aid and to try out the masks. She said the students were very excited to play!

In 2016, Tara will travel to Liberia to work with youth instructors in 2 B4 Youth Training sites and offer a workshop at the local upper high school/college in Kakata.