The San Francisco Mime Troupe is a theatre of political satire

Political satire

Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...

 which performs free shows in various parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and around California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The Troupe does not, however, perform silent mime

Mime artist

A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving miming, or the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech. In earlier times, in English, such a performer was referred to as a mummer...

, but each year creates an original musical comedy that combines aspects of Commedia dell'Arte

Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The closest translation of the name is "comedy of craft"; it is shortened...

, melodrama

Melodrama

The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...

, and broad farce

Farce

In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...

 with topical political themes. The group was awarded the Regional Theatre Award at the 41st Tony Awards

41st Tony Awards

The 41st Annual Tony Awards was held on June 7, 1987 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre and broadcast by CBS television. Angela Lansbury was the host for the third time...

.

Origins

The group was founded in 1959 by R. G. Davis as a medium of expression of his divergent theatrical concepts. The group debuted with Mime and Word (1959) and The 11th Hour Mime Show (1960). However, by 1961, the group transitioned to the Commedia dell'Arte format to more thoroughly comment on perceived political repression in the United States of America, the growing American Civil Rights Movement and military and covert intervention abroad. In the mid-1960s the group started to rely less on the direct Commedia dell'Arte format and transitioned into a more rambunctious, satirical style. It also began integrating elements of Jazz into its musical composition, eventually leading to the inclusion of a jazz band within the troupe. The group gained significant notoriety for its free performances in Golden Gate Park and numerous altercations with law enforcement.

By the early 1970s, the Troupe had earned a reputation for opposing capitalism, sexism, and war.

Post-Davis history

In the early 70s Mr. Davis left the Troupe when it re-formed as a Collective

Collective

A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project to achieve a common objective...

, the members of which operate as the Artistic Director

Artistic director

An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...

, at which time the Troupe produced one of its most successful shows, The Independent Female (1970). In the 1980s, the group's productions retaliated against the Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 administration with a number of productions:

• In Factwino meets The Moral Majority (1981), Factwino, an alcoholic superhero that became a recurring protagonist, bestowed wisdom upon prominent icons, such as Jerry Falwell
  Jerry Falwell
  Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
  
  .
• Steel Town (1984) characterized the plight of steel workers and the decline of steel manufacture in the U.S. For this production, the troupe toured the Midwest, primarily in factory cities.
• In 1987, the troupe's Brechtian style of guerrilla theatre
  Guerrilla theatre
  Guerrilla theatre, or Guerrilla Performance, is a term coined in 1965 within the San Francisco Mime Troupe to describe its performances, that in spirit of the Che Guevara writings from which the term guerrilla is taken, were committed to "revolutionary sociopolitical change." The group...
  
   earned them a special Tony Award for Excellence in Regional Theater
  Regional Theatre Tony Award
  The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special non-competitive Tony Award given annually to a regional theatre company in the United States. Initially presented in 1948 to Robert Porterfield of the Virginia Barter Theatre for their Contribution To Development Of Regional Theatre, the Regional Theatre...
  
  .

Some of the Troupe's more recent popular shows include , Seeing Double, about a two-state solution in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Ripped VanWinkle which explores the gap between the optimism of 1968 and the 1988 reality.Offshore, about the real cost of Globalization, Eating It, about genetic engineering and profit driven science, 1600 Transylvania Avenue, about corporate government feeding on public wealth, GodFellas, a farce exposing the dangers of Fundamentalism to Democracy, and Making a Killing, about war propaganda, and the plight of Iraqis contaminated by depleted uranium. Red State, the Troupe's 2008 fable about a small Midwest town that, after years of being ignored, demands accountability for their tax dollars, was nominated for a San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critic's Award for Best New Script, as was their 2009 production, Too Big To Fail, which detailed how credit and the philosophy of profit at all costs trap mesmerized citizens in a cycle of debt, while endlessly enriching the Capitalists who cast the spell. Most recently the Troupe produced Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker, which juxtaposes the stories of workers taking over two factories - one in Argentina and one in the U.S. - and poses the question: why are American Workers fighting for a seat at the table? Why not fight for... the whole table?
As well as the park-based shows, the Mime Troupe also tours nationally and internationally, having performed throughout Europe, Asia, South and Central America, and has won several awards. The group also facilitates community workshops. They are a nonprofit making organization. The season traditionally starts on Fourth of July weekend and ends on Labor Day

Labor Day

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...

 weekend.

Early Mime Troupers include Saul Landau

Saul Landau

Saul Landau is journalist, filmmaker, and commentator. He is Professor Emeritus at California State University, Pomona. He is a senior Fellow at and Vice Chair of the Institute for Policy Studies.-Career:...

, Arthur Holden

Arthur Holden

Arthur Holden is a Canadian voice actor, born in Montreal, Quebec. He voices Baba-Miao in Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, Mr. Ratburn in Arthur, and Mr...

, Nina Serrano

Nina Serrano

Nina Serrano is an American poet, writer, storyteller, and independent media producer who lives in Oakland, California. She is the author of Heartsongs: The Collected Poems of Nina Serrano and Pass it on!: How to start your own senior storytelling program in the schools...

, Steve Reich

Steve Reich

Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...

, John Connell

John Connell

John Connell was a contemporary American artist. His works included sculpture, painting, drawing, and writing....

, Robert Nelson, William T. Wiley

William T. Wiley

William T. Wiley is a contemporary American artist. His practice spans a broad range of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, performance, and pinball. At least some of Wiley's work has been referred to as Funk art....

, Sandra Archer, Robert Hudson, Wally Hedrick

Wally Hedrick

Wally Bill Hedrick was a seminal American artist in the 1950s California counterculture, gallerist, and educator who came to prominence in the early 1960s...

, Judy North, Victoria Hochberg

Victoria Hochberg

Victoria Greene Hochberg is an American film, television director and writer.She directed episodes of Doogie Howser, M.D., The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, Dr...

 and John Broderick.

Later veterans include Arthur Holden

Arthur Holden

Arthur Holden is a Canadian voice actor, born in Montreal, Quebec. He voices Baba-Miao in Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, Mr. Ratburn in Arthur, and Mr...

, Sharon Lockwood, Peter Coyote

Peter Coyote

Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...

, Luis Valdez

Luis Valdez

Luis Valdez is an American playwright, writer and film director.He is regarded as the father of Chicano theater in the United States.-Education:...

, Barry Shabaka Henley

Barry Shabaka Henley

Barry Shabaka Henley is an American character actor. Henley is a fixture in many films, most often the films of director Michael Mann, having worked with the director four times....

, Bruce Barthol

Bruce Barthol

Bruce Barthol, , is an American bass player.Born at Alta Bates Hospital, Berkeley, California, he was the original bass player with Country Joe and the Fish through to November 1968...

, Joan Holden, Daniel Chumley, Jael Weisman, Jim Haynie, Emmett Grogan

Emmett Grogan

Emmett Grogan was a founder of the Diggers, a radical community-action group of Improv actors in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California...

 and Bill Graham

Bill Graham (promoter)

Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...

.

The current San Francisco Mime Troupe Collective comprises Velina Brown, Ellen Callas, Michael Carreiro, Ed Holmes, Lisa Hori-Garcia, Will McCandless, Pat Moran, Keiko Shimosato, Michael Gene Sullivan, and Victor Toman.

Productions

• 1959: Mime And Word
• 1960: 11th Hour Mime Show
• 1961: Act without Words
  Act Without Words I
  Act Without Words I is a short play by Samuel Beckett. It is a mime, Beckett's first . Like many of Beckett's works, the play was originally written in French , being translated into English by Beckett himself...
  
  
• 1961: Event I
• 1961: Purgatory and Krapp's Last Tape
  Krapp's Last Tape
  Krapp's Last Tape is a one-act play, written in English, by Samuel Beckett. Consisting of a cast of one man, it was originally written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue"...
  
  
• 1962: The Dowry
• 1963: Ubu King
  Ubu Roi
  Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...
  
  
• 1963: Event II
• 1963: Film: Plastic Haircut
• 1963: Ruzante's Maneuvers
• 1963: The Root
• 1964: Chorizos
• 1964: Event III
• 1964: Mimes and Movie
• 1965: Tartuffe
  Tartuffe
  Tartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is one of his most famous plays.-History:Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664...
  
  
• 1965: The Exception and the Rule
  The Exception and the Rule
  The Exception and the Rule is a short play by German playwright Bertolt Brecht and is one of several Lehrstücke he wrote around 1929/30...
  
  
• 1965: Candelaio
• 1965: Chronicles of Hell
• 1965: Civil Rights
• 1966: The Miser
  The Miser
  L'Avare is a 1668 five-act satirical comedy by French playwright Molière. Its title is usually translated as The Miser when the play is performed in English....
  
  
• 1966: Film: Mirage And Centerman
• 1966: Jack Off!
• 1966: Olive Pits
• 1966: Search & Seizure
• 1966: What's That Ahead?
• 1967: L'Amant Militaire
• 1967: The Condemned
• 1967: The Minstrel Show or Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel
• 1967: The Vaudeville Show
• 1968: Gutter Puppets (Meter Maid)
• 1968: Little Black Panther
• 1968: Ruzzante or the Veteran Gorilla Marching Band is Formed
• 1969: The Congress of Whitewashers or Turandot
  Turandot (Brecht)
  Turandot or the Whitewashers' Congress is an epic comedy by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It was written during the summer of 1953 in Buckow and substantially revised in light of a brief period of rehearsals in 1954, though it did not receive its first production until several...
  
  
• 1969: The Third Estate
• 1970: Ecoman
• 1970: Los Siete
• 1970: Seize the Time
• 1970: Telephone Man or Ripping off Ma Bell
• 1970: The Independent Female
• 1971: Clown Show
• 1971: The Dragon Lady's Revenge
• 1972: American Dreamer
• 1972: Frozen Wages
• 1972: High Rises
• 1972: The Dragon Lady's Revenge
• 1973: The Mother
  The Mother (play)
  The Mother is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It is based on Maxim Gorky’s 1906 novel of the same name.It was written in collaboration with Hanns Eisler, Slatan Dudow and Günter Weisenborn from 1930–31 in prose dialogue with unrhymed irregular free verse and ten initial...
  
  
• 1973: San Francisco Scandals of 1973
• 1974: The Great Air Robbery
• 1975: Frijoles or Beans To You
• 1975: Power Play
• 1976: False Promises
• 1976: Nos Enganaron
• 1977: Hotel Universe
• 1978: Elektrobucks
• 1979: We Can't Pay, We Won't Pay
• 1979: Squash
• 1979: T.V. Dinner
• 1980: Fact Person
• 1981: Americans or Last Tango in Huahuatenango
• 1981: Factwino Meets the Moral Majority
• 1981: Ghosts
• 1982: Factwino vs. Armagoddonman
• 1983: Secrets in the Sand
• 1983: The Uprising At Fuente Ovejuna
• 1984: Steeltown
• 1985: Crossing Borders
• 1985: Factwino: The Opera
• 1986: Hotel Universe
• 1986: Spain/36
• 1986: The Mozamgola Caper
• 1987: The Dragon Lady's Revenge
• 1988: Ripped Van Winkle
• 1989: Secrets in the Sand
• 1989: Seeing Double
• 1990: Rats
• 1990: Uncle Tom's Cabin
• 1991: Back to Normal
• 1991: I Ain't Yo Uncle
• 1992: Social Work
• 1993: Offshore
• 1994: Big Wind
• 1995: Coast City Confidential
• 1995: Escape to Cyberia
• 1996: Gotta Get A Life
• 1996: Soul Suckers from Outer Space
• 1997: 13 Days / Trece Dias
• 1997: Killing Time
• 1997: La Hembra Independencia / The Independent Female
• 1997: Revenger Rat Meets the Merchant of Death
• 1997: Teen City
• 1998: The Artist Must Take Sides
• 1999: City For Sale
• 1999: Damaged Care
• 1999: The First Forty Years
• 2000: Eating it
• 2001: 1600 Transylvania Avenue
• 2002: Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan"
• 2003:Veronique of the Mounties
• 2004: Showdown at Crawford Gulch
• 2005: Doing Good
• 2006: Godfellas
• 2007: Making a Killing
• 2008: Red State
• 2009: Too Big to Fail
• 2010: Posibilidad or Death of the Worker

See also

• Living Theater
• Bread & Puppet
• Teatro Campesino
  Teatro Campesino
  El Teatro Campesino , is a theatrical troupe founded in 1965 as the cultural arm of the United Farm Workers. The original actors were all farmworkers, and El Teatro Campesino enacted events inspired by the lives of their audience...
  
  
• Political theatre
  Political theatre
  In the history of theatre, there is long tradition of performances addressing issues of current events and central to society itself, encouraging consciousness and social change. The political satire performed by the comic poets at the theatres, had considerable influence on public opinion in the...
  
  
• Beach Blanket Babylon
  Beach Blanket Babylon
  Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon is America's longest-running musical revue. The show began its run in 1974, at Club Savoy Tivoli and has since moved to the larger Club Fugazi in the North Beach district of San Francisco...
  
  - another long-running San Francisco theatre satire group

External links

• The San Francisco Mime Troupe official website
• "Staging the Revolution: Guerrilla Theater as a Countercultural Practice, 1965-1968"