Mask Confusion & Great Great Grandma Reitzal Costumes

Mask Confusion presented the unique challenge of containing two commedia dell’arte characters smack dab in the middle of a kyōgen piece! The major consideration that was brought up in early design meetings was the question of balance: how do we see the iconic characters being presented without being jarring or out of balance visually? Eventually, we landed on the idea of creating contemporary iterations of these iconic characters by finding contemporary counterparts to silhouettes and color palettes. This train of thought led us to kataginu being translated to a blazer-cape for our Mistress, and a wide hooded jacket with the iconically Hawaiian spam musubi mon for our Tarō. Our commedia dell’arte characters kept their quintessential masks (designed by Catherine Ann Restivo) and color palettes, leading to a bright red and black skinny jean-clad Pantalone, and a harlequin print aloha shirt for Arlecchino. 

Similarly, Great Great Grandma Reitzel focused and emphasized the role of the storyteller. By clothing our performer in all black, our focus is drawn to their hands, face, and scarf. This scarf was utilized as a morphable object, shifting from a sailor’s tie to a shawl, to a nun’s habit, all with the flick of a wrist!

– Maile Speetjens

  • A costume rendering of an actor wearing a plaid shirt, a blue and purple vest with black crests, and green flower patterned pants
    Costume rendering for Eliana by Maile Speetjens.
  • A costume rendering of a woman in a horizontally patterned long sleeved shirt with grey pants and a grey cape jacket draped over her shoulders.
    Costume rendering for the Mistress by Maile Speetjens.
  • A costume rendering of an actor throwing a shaka and dragging a suitcase wearing a multi-coloured, diamond pattern shirt and a lei over khaki shorts wearing an arlecchino commedia dell'arte mask
    Costume rendering for Arlecchino by Maile Speetjens.
  • A costume rendering of an actor wearing a red collared shirt, red pants, a long black jacket, a lei, and a pantalone mask.
    Costume rendering for the Pantalone by Maile Speetjens.
  • A Zoom screenshot of an actor standing in front of a gold background wearing a yellow and purple plaid shirt and blue and purple vest.
    Chrisslene Jimmerson as Eliana in a costume fitting for Mask Confusion.
  • Screenshot of an actor posing in front of a green screen in a red collared shirt, black jacket, lei, black fedora and a pantalone commedia dell'arte mask.
    Jake Wolf as Pantalone in a costume fitting for Mask Confusion.
  • A woman in a orange and white striped shirt, a grey cape jacket and matching grey pants clasps her hands horizontally in front of her torso with a black sleeping mask over her eyes.
    Christine Chang demonstrates a sleeping mask during her virtual costume fitting as the Mistress in Mask Confusion.
  • An actor stands in front of a gold virtual background wearing a beige hat, lei, and diamond patterned shirt.
    Catherine Ann Restivo as Arlecchino in Mask Confusion in front of the airport background designed by Laura Nigon-Holmgren.
  • The front side of a purple vest with a blue zip open hood and blue strips on either side of the zipper running down the middle. The blue strips have a white and black spam musubi crest on them.
    Front view of the custom vest for Eliana inspired by the kataginu of the servant characters of kyōgen.
  • The backside of a purple vest with black line art of spam musubi and a zip open blue hood.
    The spam musubi crest on Eliana’s vest pays homage to Hawai’i, where Mask Confusion is set.
  • A half mask with exaggerated wrinkles above the eyes, circles on the cheeks and a bump in the forehead.
    Arlecchino mask in progress. The masks for Mask Confusion were designed and created by Catherine Ann Restivo.
  • A screenshot of an actor sitting in front of a gold background with an illustration of a pecan tree wearing a black shirt with a translucent scarf draped over her shoulders.
    Selena Doran during a costume fitting for Great Great Grandma Reitzal.
  • A Zoom screenshot of an actor in a black shirt with a grumpy face and a scarf tied around her head in front of a gold background with a pecan tree.
    Selena Doran demonstrates Great Great Grandma Reitzal during her costume fitting.