Spooky Rhino Masks

Designer Erica Hoelscher teamed recently with the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium of Philadelphia to make costumes and scenery for a production of Eugene Ionesco’s play Rhinoceros.

In Rhinoceros, residents of a small French town turn into rhinos over the course of three acts. After believing the metamorphosis is a disease, they realize people are choosing to change. As more make the switch, others want to follow the crowd. By the end of the play, only the central character, Bérenger, remains human.

Hoelscher, professor of theatre, costumed 15 characters with rhino masks. “I wanted there to be a physical, tangible way the actor turns into a rhinoceros. Over the course of the play, rhinoceros heads start appearing around Bérenger. They become increasingly elaborate until they are incredibly ornate. I wanted something real that would make a connection for the audience [to] the rhinoceroses.”

Working with Lisa Glover ’13 '14G, Hoelscher used computer-aided design and a laser cutter to make origami-like masks from high-quality cardboard. Glover founded a company that sells kits for assembling 3-D dinosaurs.

“Erica Hoelscher’s many rhino masks,” wrote a Philadelphia Inquirer reviewer, “are delightfully spooky…and her costumes colorful and witty.”