Mask a movie clip? Not typical

Creating a training demo of an application build in Flash. I have a movieClip, say data_mc, with drop downs, text fields etc. I want another movieClip, say mask_mc, to lay on top so I can shade data_mc with say a 50% alpha white but have a square that is transparent. I know this is not difficult but I wanted to make it dynamic enough so I can add keyframs and move the square easy enough.

any idea?