Long before my transformation into a graphic designer, I studied theatre. Even now, I often approach the page and screen as a stage, and manipulate typography like actors. Jonathan Hoefler, designer of typefaces like Gotham and Knockout, once said that typography was the clothes that words wear. What a spectacular but simple way of looking at type.

In my current role as assistant director on the Wondrous Tales of Old Japan, trying to capture the flavor of traditional Japanese Kabuki theatre, I am making some projections, masks, puppets, and props. It’s a lot of fun…I forget how satisfying it is to make living objects. Here are my first efforts. The woman is Yuki-Onna, a witch-spirit of snow, masquerading as a human to marry a mortal. This human mask is based on kumadori, the distinctive Kabuki makeup, in this case suggesting the onnagata, or woman role. The actor will hold the mask away from her face, so her demon makeup is still visible and the audience is never allowed to forget she’s pretending to be human. The reverse side is hollow, painted silver. The second mask is used by Yuki-Onna to symbolically kill a character. She will pull this death mask, trailing fabric, over the man’s body, finally placing the mask on his face. Many thanks go to my Kabuki sensei, Shozo Sato.