Masks

One of three " Place to Stand" masks tried on for the first time by one of the actors.


The completed masks painted but awaiting the addition of facial hair and wig.


Pam with clay sculpts on life masks and one papier mache mask almost done.


Color study for " A Place to Stand" masks designed by Pam for dream sequence.


About a year ago my wife was in a play at St. Philip's College titled " A Place to Stand" for which she designed three masks that we made for a dream sequence in the play. Pammy loves masks and performances that make use of that theatrical art form. She took a very good workshop on mask one summer up in Blue Lake, California at the Dell Arte School of Physical Theater. It's a really unique and beautiful place to study. It's located in a former logging community in northern California about six hours north of San Francisco that now seems to be a major hub of theatrical activity in this country.

When she came back from Dell Arte that summer she couldn't wait to tell me all about her summer there. She showed me the mask she made and told me a lot about the fine art of mask performance. I learned a lot from her and every chance to make a mask or work in a show that utilizes mask comes along we take on eagerly.

Milagro de Monterrey

Above: Interior art for the picture book "Milagro de Monterrey"published by Raining Popcorn Media. Copyright Raining Popcorn Media 2008.

Life is full of surprises and sometimes they can be of the nice variety. Such was the case when I got the offer to illustrate my first children's book for Raining Popcorn Media titled "Milagro de Monterrey". It tells the true story of these boys from Monterrey, Mexico, who in 1957, were the first foreign team to win the Little League World Series and pitching a perfect game in the last game of the championship. That's a record that to this very day has not been matched. The children on the team came from the poorest of families in the factory town where they lived. It's a great David and Goliath story.

My art director got the job to produce the book as result of knowing somebody who knew somebody. Isn't that always the case. This was about two years ago. I forgot to mention that there's also a movie version of the story that was released earlier this month written by William Winouker, who also wrote the children's book. Producing the art work for the book began in earnest late spring of 2008 and completed in August of that year with dozens of sketches being accepted or rejected that would later become the finished paintings .

The movie itself was completed three years ago but not released until this year because the original financial backers to the film ... well... backed out and the producers spent the next three years searching for a new studio to finance the release of the film. The movie had a sneak preview in San Antonio this month. I'll post some photos of that later. All in all it was a great experience playing a small part keeping the story of the kids going for a new generation to enjoy and perhaps be inspired to accomplish what sometimes seems impossible.

Marionette Theater

A view from stage left at the Le Theatre de Marionette in Dallas, Texas.

In Dallas, Texas there is a large community of puppeteers. Don't ask me why but they love the area. Maybe there's something in the water. I donno! The types and styles of puppeteering are as diverse as the population. Well, I love puppets and toyed with them a bit learning what I could on my own from books and I'd always wanted to dive in feet first into the art form. In 1995, I got my chance.

After we left the Ringling Brothers Circus ,Pammy,( She always has great ideas!) suggested we settle down in Dallas because there were a lot of job opportunities for actors, clowns, puppeteers, etc. It wasn't too long after we moved there that we crossed paths with some puppeteers, who were members of the Dallas Puppet Guild and we soon became members too. Through them we were introduced to the fun loving puppeteer community of the Big D. They were friendly folks with a great deal of talent and love for their art and were very generous sharing their knowledge and experience with us new-comers. Learning how to be a puppeteer, a really good one, takes dedication, so suffice to say I didn't immediately go out and do puppet shows for the general public.

We had bills and rent to tend to so we started looking for acting jobs and lining up clown work in the birthday party market. I didn't really get to do too much art work in Dallas because there was so much work in theater and clowning but I digress. As I was saying we did acting and clowning to pay the bills and were enjoying the work too. We were doing a play at Theater Three, in the Quadrangle,( which is not too far from downtown) and the play was June Moon, a musical comedy. That's how we met an actor who was a regular there named Thurman Moss.

Thurman had been around a while and seemed to know a lot of people. Don't get me wrong because he wasn't a name dropper. We just asked him a lot of questions he was willing to answer, which was nice of him to do and as we got to know him we started talking about mutual interests and that brought up the subject of ... you guessed it- puppets. Thurman told us about a puppet theater in the North Park Mall of all places...in a mall! Crazy. He said the man who ran it was named John Hardman and suggested we introduce ourselves to him because he trained puppeteers for his marionette shows.

We went out there but he wasn't hiring at that time but said if we really wanted to learn we could come by as often as we wanted to practice with his marionettes. The next few weeks were spent learning the basics of making a puppet walk. You're not worth your weight in puppet strings if you can't make them walk. I did not know that. It's much harder than it sounds because you are standing on a platform( called a bridge) six feet off the ground and it's hard to tell if the marionette feet are touching the floor. There's nothing worse than having a levitating puppet except dropping the controllers that operate the puppet to the floor and untangling the strings for the next half hour.

Once we mastered the basics of walking Mr. Hardman hired us about a month later. At first he gave us the roles that only required simple movement and for the next two years we worked the shows, gradually developing our puppeteering abilities. We spent a good deal of our time working there which was fine by us.

Doc Ed Show

In late 2007 my wife and I were hired to write an educational show for the Edwards Aquifer Authority featuring their character Doc Ed, who is an aquifer explorer. I was lucky enough to also be hired to play the part of good ol' Doc and I'm still at it . This show is written for a first to fourth grade level and introduces the kids to the Edwards Aquifer.

Now as any performer knows it's hard to get a steady gig and even harder to make a living from it. It can sometimes be a roller coaster ride for any crazy soul who decides to work in the performing arts. Pam and I have different things we can do when one side of the arts slows down or runs dry. I've got a Fine Arts degree and have applied it to a variety of work including illustration.

In early 2007 I was doing some art work for Raining Popcorn Media ( A family- owned and San Antonio- based educational media company) illustrating an activity book for the Edwards Aquifer Authority featuring Doc Ed. I never knew they were thinking about a live version of Doc but my art director did and he knew about my background as a performer. One thing leads to another and ba-da-bing! We've got a steady gig and don't have to juggle bills so much.

Now here's the thing: Would I have heard about this really good acting job if I hadn't been in the loop? Probably not. I'm not even sure how they would have advertised for the position but having that "in" put me on the fast track to an audition. It really helped that my art director put in a good word for me too so thank you Mr. Avila! Plus I knew a good opportunity when I saw it and I've worked in front of kids before so that wasn't a problem.
Every day that I don't have to clock in to at a "real job" is a blessing for me because outside of my illustration work, which can be just as much of a wild ride as performing, I don't have much to offer to the time clock job market. I wont be burning anyone's burgers and fries, at least for the time being. But I also know you can never say never.

Salado Silver Spur Theater

Pammy and I clowning it up at the Salado Silver Spur Theater.

In the summer of 2009, my wife Pam and I performed in the Salado Silver Spur's variety show titled " If You Build It They Will Laugh". The Silver Spur is a Vaudeville-style theater in Salado, Texas, which is just north of Austin. It's owned by our good friend and former Ringling Brothers clown Grainger Esch. Every month they put on a new variety show with a different theme. This involved bumbling contractors and a frazzled stage manager ( played wonderfully by Pam) trying to keep the show going through all the chaos that ensued. We always have fun in the shows and watching them as well.

We begin !

" General Castrillon Takes Prisoners". Acrylic on masonite. 2'x3' 2003.

This is a chronicle of our work and lives as performers and visual artists and the different routes we've taken in the long and winding road of the working artist. We'll be posting current as well as past work to show the variety of ways we've found to pay the bills for over twenty years.