How to Use the Mask

A Mask is nothing if it's heart is not understood by it's actor. As a small aid to Commedians everywhere parts of the Masks are described in a simpe format that may help you to capture their elusive essence. The idea is to present each mask as a pair of Passion and Foible. The Passion is the character's ultimate goal, the Foible is something in the disposition of the character that prevents her from achieving her Passion. This pair of traits (and their compliment traits) is very useful in improvisatory play as they give you a fundamental point to return to when you feel as if you're losing focus.

The fact that the Masks have to overcome something in themselves makes all the characters somewhat tragic, hopefully adding some depth to their hilarities. Several other useful traits are given for the Masks. Use them as you see fit. Their meanings are explained below:

Role
A vey short character-concept summary.

Occupation
What the character does for a living, tells us a lot about her everyday life.

Theme:
A basic theme for the character and her struggle.

Passion:
What the character aspires to.

Origin of Passion
An event or series of events that defined the characters passion.

Foible
The trait that prevents the character from fulfilling her passion.

Origin of Foible
An event or series of events that defined the characters foible.

Virtue
The most important good thing about the character.

Primary Needs
Smaller goals the character needs to reach in ordet to achieve her passion or indulge in her foible.

Primary Activities
Stuff the character does. Ispiration for on and offsceen action that sits well with the character. When lost, start doing one of these things to find your way back to the character.