Photo of Benda as "Pestilence." Elizabeth Popeil holding "Pestilence" mask. "Old Wag" being hung in exhibit. Thatcher Taylor and Nadine Charleson at USITT exhibit. when Thatcher opened up his cardboard box and pulled out the mask called "Pestilence" she was thunderstruck. "Who is your grandfather?" she asked and that is when she began to learn all she could about W.T. benda. I became obsessed with Benda and began researching his career. Thatcher invited me to his house to see some more masks. Nearly every wall had some Benda masks or artwork hanging on it, even the bathroom wall had the mask called 'Silly Doll' which seemed so appropriate. I was in awe and then when Thatcher lifted a mask off the wall and placed one of his great grandfather's exquisite creations in my hands I knew we had to do something. I told the family that Benda's masks needed to be seen and shared and so I came up with the idea to exhibit his masks at USITT (Popeil 2010). The following year Popeil and Thatcher attended the 2009 USITT conference in Cincinnati and pitched the idea of an exhibit and a panel session on benda. Popeil would be able to discuss benda's mask making techniques that she had been studying while Thatcher could provide a very personal family portrait of his great grandfather. When Nadine Charleston heard benda's name she immediately spoke to them about her research into benda's commercial illustration career and so the panel was formed. Charleson next provided the audience with a background on benda's career as an illustrator and contextualized his contribution of the "benda Girl" as an exotic foreigner amid all the innocent homespun American girls depicted by his contemporaries. Nadine first became aware of benda when she was hired to paint murals for the Herald Square Hotel which was F A L L 2010 theatre design & technology 43