Acting with masks is one of the most ancient stage techniques still in use today. Masking Unmasked is a basic guide to using this ancient art to develop character and movement in four sections that correspond to mask size: Full-Face Masks, Clowning, Bag Masks, and Half-Face Masks. Each section addresses fundamental acting principles and shows how the ancient technique can be applied to the contemporary stage. It is the perfect book to use as background to traditional, non-masked acting principles. For instance, mask acting provides a great way of strengthening core acting skills. Actors in masks experience the primary goal of acting because they are required to tap into profound physical, vocal, emotional, and psychological transformations in the course of creating a character. In addition, masking promotes honest, believable, and detailed work. Illustrated profusely throughout, the hands-on exercises developed by Simon teach actors to shift cleanly between beats, execute moment-to-moment specificity, unleash creative impulses, take risks and expand character range, power and vulnerability. Masking Unmasked is a book of ancient acting techniques that are indispensable for the actor of today.

Masks have been a ubiquitous and oft-politicized aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Years of painstakingly organized pre-pandemic planning documents led public health experts to initially discourage the use of masks, or even insinuate that they could lead to increased rates of spread. Yet seemingly in a matter of days in spring 2020, leading infectious disease scientists and organizations reversed their previous positions and recommended masking as the key tool to slow the spread of COVID and dramatically reduce infections. Unmasked tells the story of how effective or ineffective masks and mask mandate policies were in impacting the trajectory of the pandemic throughout the world. Author Ian Miller covers the earliest days of the pandemic, from experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci contradicting their previous statements and recommending masks as the most important policy intervention against the spread of COVID, to the months afterward as many locations around the globe mandated masks in nearly all public settings. With easy-to-understand charts and visual aids, along with detailed, clear explanations of the dramatic shift in policy and expectations, Unmasked makes the data-driven case that masks might not have achieved the goals that Fauci and other public health experts created.

Unmasked is the story of what happened in Okoboji, a small Iowan tourist town, when a collective turn from the coronavirus to the economy occurred in the COVID summer of 2020. State political failures, local negotiations among political and public health leaders, and community (dis)belief about the virus resulted in Okoboji being declared a hotspot just before the Independence Day weekend, when an influx of half a million people visit the town. The story is both personal and political. Author Emily Mendenhall, an anthropologist at Georgetown University, grew up in Okoboji, and her family still lives there. As the events unfolded, Mendenhall was in Okoboji, where she spoke formally with over 100 people and observed a community that rejected public health guidance, revealing deep-seated mistrust in outsiders and strong commitments to local thinking. Unmasked is a fascinating and heartbreaking account of where people put their trust, and how isolationist popular beliefs can be in America's small communities. This book is the recipient of the 2022 Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize from Vanderbilt University Press for the best book in the area of art or medicine.

"A deep dive into the spectrum of Autistic experience and the phenomenon of masked Autism, giving individuals the tools to safely uncover their true selves while broadening society's narrow understanding of neurodiversity"--Publisher's description.

Adrian Strathmore is a reclusive genius by day. However, by night, he is a masked avenger named Prometheus, rescuing unfortunate children from lives of prostitution. Horribly burned as a child, he loves the anonymity of his mask. Vanessa Bourke, the famous actress, is fascinated by both Adrian Strathmore, who throws flowers at her feet but remains in the shadows, and Prometheus, the masked man who shows up in her flat in the middle of the night with a small boy he's saved. When she discovers they are one and the same, she begs him to unmask himself, to no avail. He is willing to lose her forever rather than trust her to love him despite his scars. Frustrated, she blackmails Adrian into marrying her, ruining his trust. Will he ever believe she's come to love the man behind the mask?