Student Blog: An Audience of Eyes

With the amount of free tickets offered at Tisch, my friends and I make sure to take advantage of every opportunity. One brisk, October night, with empty bellies and sore limbs from a full day of acting classes, my best friend Camille and I hurried to the Fault Line Theater to see Paradise Factory's limited run of "Hindsight." The setup was intriguing - the show's main actress was the playwright herself, our seats were front and center, and best of all, we were given small black boxes at the door to be opened during the performance. We couldn't help wondering what was in the boxes. However, through careful examination (aka, shaking them), we inferred that there had to be some kind of snack inside... fruit roll-ups perhaps... or maybe we were just hungry.

As the curtain went up, we watched contently as the story unfolded. However, there seemed to be some commotion coming from my left. A frail older woman with milky eyes and a pale blue blouse sat next to me, grinning. I could see her smile. She was not wearing a mask.

Ushers from both sides of the audience began gesturing to the woman to put her mask on, surrounding her, distracting the performers, and taking away from the theatrical experience. The woman continued to smile, playing Peek-A-Boo with her mask - taunting them.

Suddenly, the house lights came on, blinding the audience. The performers exited gracefully and the production team stormed on stage. This was war.

After twenty excruciating minutes of back and forth between the lady and the stage manager, the audience was dismissed and promised a full refund. And to make matters worse, when we opened the boxes on our walk home, they weren't fruit roll-ups after all.

Although the performance was canceled, our conversations blossomed on the walk home. The experience was a show in itself, bleeding into our imaginations and forcing us to think. We began discussing the impact that masks have on an audience in the first place. Does a mask mandate in the theater change the way audiences view a performance? Is it different for the performers too? It must be weird to perform for a masked audience; an audience of eyes.

The masks, in some way, strip the viewers of their identities, solidifying their role as spectators rather than audience members. From behind the mask, we forget that the performers can see us just as much as we can see them. Face coverings give us false anonymity, cloaking our reactions and forcing us to view the piece with a more critical lens.

"There is a big difference between a spectator and an audience member" Camille pointed out, "A spectator steps back and watches what they are seeing, critically, as if they were examining a tennis match or a soccer game. A spectator is undoubtedly separate from the show."

On the other hand, an audience member is more involved. They are a role in the production, a partner, and their reactions act as an asset to the performers. "Performers can't see our faces, and therefore we assume they have less intel as to what we are thinking" she continued, "Wearing a mask feels like taking a step back to spectate and appreciate the work from a distance, as opposed to rallying in the seats with our friends. We feel like we're watching a movie". Interestingly enough, wearing a mask can provide a slightly different perspective to the performance.

The conversation left me wondering about masks pre-covid. I stumbled across "Sleep No More", an immersive theatre production based on Shakespeare's Macbeth. Before the performance begins, each audience member is given a sleek, bird-like mask to wear throughout the duration of the show. This is to help separate performers from audience members, as well as strip the viewers of their identities to devote all attention to the piece. It is said that if even one audience member removes their mask, the entire experience will be disrupted. Now that's a narrative I recognize!

So although it's tempting to pull down your mask in the theater, keep in mind that it actually has non-covid related benefits! Not only will you be keeping yourself and others safe, but you'll be contributing to the production's focus overall, in addition to altering your own experience.

Stay safe, mask up, and enjoy the show!