All the World's a Stage

Tonight at the Loeb Mainstage, two mimes will escape the abstractions of their art--plain costumes and stark white faces--to combine international and dramatic traditions in Mudhead Masks. Exploring the concept of the clown, the skits will draw from the traditions of classical mime, commedia dell'arte, and masked theater. Masks, carved by village craftsmen in Bali, are astonishing, capturing the essense of frog or the vitality of laughter. The Mudheads, Pueblo Indian clowns in the American southwest, contribute a name and a philosophy, that clowning can be both a communal and a moral experience. The performers, both graduates from the School of Education, have both performed internationally, and their collaborative effort, The Mudhead Masks, represented the United States at UNESCO's International Theater Festival in 1977. See some clowning around at the Loeb and also look for The Mudhead Masks at the Cambridge River Festival, the Peabody Museum, Sanders Theater, and the summer school.

Weather permitting, the Black Star Theater group will present a revised version of Aristophanes' The Clouds this weekend on the steps of Widener. The play originally satirized the moral corruption in Athens that resulted from the rise of the Sophists as the dominant philosophers of their day. Black Star, a group dedicated to achieving social change through drama, has updated the play and given it a more familiar setting. The Clouds now exposes the sophistry of the Harvard Administration, as exemplified by President Bok's open letters. Should anyone miss the point, the name of the hero has been changed from Sokrates to Bokrates.