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The funny thing about the final semester for this program is that your cohort, which used to have a core group of classes every semester, scatters to the four winds as we pursue projects in our electives-only schedule. The big remaining pieces of the semester, about which I haven’t written in favor of extensive Fulfilled Fantasies coverage, are The Third Mask, a festival of new performance (May 2-4), being organized by the Master of Arts Management students in tandem with the European Devised Performance Practice (EDPP) graduate students and the now-behind-us SXSW festival, which I attended as part of my Executive Producing for Film and Television and Artist Management classes. So let’s dive a little deeper on both topics.

The Third Mask

Fellow Marginalia writer and Graduate Ambassador Brittany Price Anderson wrote about the Third Mask in a previous post. Her point of view comes from the show creation and development point of view. I’m here in the marketing capacity to give you the more official details regarding the show as follows:

The title for The Third Mask comes from a quote the EDPP students encountered during their time in Berlin last year. 
“There are three masks:
the one we think we are,
the one we really are,
and the one we have in common.”
Jacques Lecoq

Columbia College Chicago presents The Third Mask: A Festival of New Devised Performance, held May 2-4, 2019 at the venues C33 Gallery, Sheldon Patinkin Theater, and the Theater Studio. The Third Mask Festival is a platform for new performative works exploring the concepts of the poetic body, movement-based theatre, the personal as performative, and ensemble creation. In its inaugural year, The Third Mask Festival will showcase 10 new performances that explore the ways we hide our deepest selves. These pieces are the thesis projects of the MFA European Devised Performance Practice Candidates in collaboration with MA Arts Management students at Columbia College Chicago.

The Third Mask Festival kicks off Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m. in the C33 Gallery, with an opening night celebration following the evening’s performances in the Sheldon Patinkin Theater lobby at 9:30 p.m. Friday’s (May 3) performances will run 7–9 p.m. and Saturday’s (May 4) will be held from 4–8 p.m., all in the Sheldon Patinkin Theater space.

In the spirit of educational growth, The Third Mask Festival will also include several workshops and panels during the day on Friday and Saturday, meant to serve as a safe space to learn and discuss relevant themes presented throughout the festival. Friday, May 3, EDPP students will lead Acro Storytelling, an interactive workshop on using acrobatics, contact improvisation, and chorus work in storytelling, 12–3 p.m. in the Theater Studio space. Following this, at 4 p.m. in the C33 Gallery EDPP students will speak on the devising process and how they pull from their own experiences in the “Personal as Performative” Panel.

Saturday, May 4, kicks-off with EDPP students exploring The Poetic Body in an interactive workshop from 10 a.m.–1 p.m., in which participants will explore how music and materials guide creative, physical work. Professionals from the community will be sharing their experiences Saturday, May 4 at 2 p.m. at the C33 Gallery in the Diversity and Devising Panel.

Performances, workshops, and panels are free to the public. However, space is limited. Reserve your seat here.

RSVPs are required for the two workshops: ACRO Storytelling and The Poetic Body.

Donations are welcome at: https://giving-colum.nationbuilder.com/givenow?value=1, listed under Other: Business and Entrepreneurship Gift Fund.

The Third Mask is created in conjunction between the Business and Entrepreneurship Department and the Theatre Department.

For more information and the full festival schedule, please visit The Third Mask social media accounts or contact thirdmaskfestival@colum.edu.
Facebook @TheThirdMask
Instagram @thethirdmaskfestival

Venue Locations (Chicago):

SXSW

As a first-time attendee of SXSW, I cannot possibly do the experience justice. I went for a whopping seven days, which is enough to make your ears bleed from the sheer amount of cultural intake. I have too many favorites to name about the experience, but the part that I always return to is that I spent a good deal of time culture-raging with fellow program member Crispin Torres and we became fast festival buddies. I was grateful for this development. (Crispin, if you actually read this blog…text me and let me know you saw this. Otherwise I’ll know you DON’T READ IT nor do you google yourself regularly).

Since it was such a whopping information intake, I’ll give you a brief photo essay of some of the things I saw and experienced.

The platinum badge came in handy for real.

Program members Megan, Ran, and myself with the producer and director of Becoming Leslie, a documentary that premiered at SXSW.

A photo from the Snapchat house on Rainey St.

A shot from a talk on branding.

A poster for the drag show I made my cohort attend on Tuesday night.

Alabaster, the band we manage through Artist Management, playing on Sixth St at night.

Veronica, Andrei, and I on the street looking like our true selves.

The official SXSW portrait.