As TJC approaches its 100th anniversary, its oldest organization, Las Mascaras, is following suit. Las Mas is a speech and drama club that supports the school’s dramatic activities through participation in events such as plays, concerts, competitions, critiques, and more throughout the academic year. According to Las Mas adviser Denise Weatherly-Green (or W.G.), and previous adviser Jacob Davis, Las Mas’ future goal is to preserve the organization for the next few generations.
“I think theatre has stood the test of time. Period. The end. Storytelling has been around since people were able to communicate and at our backbone is theatre arts,” W.G. said. “The idea of supporting performance and theatre being such a part of our social life, not just in this college, but social life in general, all around the world, since civilizations were formed. Las Mas’ legacy is helping preserve that and carrying theatre on forever. It’ll never go away, and Las Mas will be part of that.”
TJC, and by extension Las Mas, were both created in 1926. According to their website, Las Mascaras originally got its name from the former Vice President Edwin Potter, who was a founding member of the organization.
Since then, the club has grown exponentially, but current Secretary Soda Walker says the number of students joining has been dwindling recently.
“We always love getting more people, and our numbers have been down since last year. I think with people learning more about it, and learning that this is a thing that they can do, I think that’ll help get people more engaged,” Walker said.
Despite this, the organization still works to support TJC’s theatre department and the community. Davis talked about what Las Mas aims to do on campus.
“It’s the support group, especially for students that in that first semester that are lost as anybody that’s coming into a new place. Las Mas is a great place to feel like everything’s going to be OK as I get into my college career,” Davis said.
Las Mas is an organization that has been present throughout TJC’s history, and it has shaped the way its members have seen movies and theatre in general. Las Mas has been giving theatre gurus a place to make new friends for generations.
“I think we give people like us a community to go to. If you are creative and you just want to get that out of you, you can show up,” Walker said. “I think that there’s a type of like helpfulness in that you can show up and make friends that are like you, but you don’t particularly have to want to be on stage or want to perform or want to do tech. You can just show up because you enjoy theatre. I think there’s also a family feel to this. I think that we have so many resources for people.”
