The two masks are the symbols for THEATRE. They are the comedy and tragedy masks that were worn in ancient Greece during the golden age, around 500 - 300 BC. The golden age was the first time that plays were written and performed. Plays were written in honor of the god Dionysus, and were either Comedies or Tragedies. All the actors were male, and they all played multiple roles, so a mask was used to show the change in character or mood. Therefore the two masks are now used as the symbol for theater, in memory of its origins in ancient Greece. Tragedies were traditionally very musical, but Comedies were very different. When in a comedy, characters were often dressed very scantily or not at all. Later in the 4th century BC comedy characters wore more respectable clothing. When we started doing research for this project, we were surprised by how early these masks existed and where they existed. We chose the masks because one of us really likes Shakespeare and always saw these masks whenever she saw one of his plays and so she wanted to do the comedy mask. Her friend who was also in art decided to join her and make the tragedy mask to go along with it. We think that the masks turned out very well and are very proud of them.

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