The San Francisco Mime Troupe is an award winning theatre of political satire, which performs free shows in various parks in the San Francisco Bay Area and around California. The Troupe does not, however, perform silent mime, but each year creates an original musical comedy that combines aspects of Commedia dell'Arte, melodrama, and broad farce with topical political themes. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2550x3300, 531 KB) logo for the San Francisco Mime troupe This is a logo of an organization, item, or event, and is protected by copyright and/or trademark. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (2550x3300, 531 KB) logo for the San Francisco Mime troupe This is a logo of an organization, item, or event, and is protected by copyright and/or trademark. ... 1867 edition of the satirical magazine Punch, a British satirical magazine, ground-breaking on popular literature satire. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ... A Mime artist on the Ponte SantAngelo A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art. ... Karel Dujardins set his closely-observed scene of a traveling troupes makeshift stage against idealized ruins in the Roman Campagna: dated 1657 (Louvre Museum) Commedia dellarte (Italian: play of professional artists also interpreted as comedy of humors), also known as Extemporal Comedy, was a popular form of improvisational... Poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ... Look up farce in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

History

The Troupe was founded in 1959 by R. G. Davis as medium to express 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 Civil Rights movement, and American military and covert intervention abroad. In the mid-1960's the group started to rely less on the direct Commedia dell'Arte format and transtioned 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 (in which it would collect donations after performances) and numerous altercations with law enforcement. Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ...

In the early 70's Mr. Davis left the Troupe when it re-formed as a Collective, the members of which operate as the Artistic Director, at which time the Troupe produced one of it's most successful shows, The Independent Female (1970). In the 1980's, the group's productions retaliated against the Reagan administration with a number of socialist-angled 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. Steel Town (1984) characterized the plight of steel workers and the need for union solidarity. For this production, the troupe toured the Midwest, primarily in factory cities. In 1987, the troupe's style of guerrilla, Brechtian theater earned them a special Tony Award for Excellence in Regional Theater. Collective can also refer to the collective pitch flight control in helicopters A collective is a group of people who share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project(s) to achieve a common objective. ... The artistic director of a theatre is responsible for choosing the material staged in a season, and the hiring of creative/production personnel (such as directors), as well as other theatre management tasks. ... Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. ...

Some of the Troupe's more recent popular shows include Seeing Double, about a two-state solution in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, 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, and GodFellas, a farce exposing the dangers of Fundamentalism to Democracy. The Troupe's 2007 show, Making a Killing, is about war propaganda, and the plight of Iraqis contaminated by depleated uranium.

And like all the shows - it's a Musical Comedy!

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, including the 1987 Regional Theatre Tony Award. 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 Weekend. The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special Tony Award given to a region theatre company in the United States. ... These fireworks over the Washington Monument are typical of Fourth of July celebrations In the United States, Independence Day, also called the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. ... Labour Day (or Labor Day) is an annual holiday that resulted from efforts of the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. ...

Early Mime Troupers include Saul Landau (author with R.G.Davis of "Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel: A Minstrel Show"), Steve Reich, Robert Nelson, William T. Wiley, Sandra Archer, Robert Hudson, Walley Hedrick, Judy North. Saul Landau is Director of Digital Media Programs and Hugh O. Bounty Chair of Applied Interdisciplinary Knowledge at Cal Poly Pomona. ... Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3, 1936) is an American composer. ...

Later veterans include Peter Coyote, Luis Valdez, Barry Shabaka Henley, Bruce Barthol, Joan Holden, and Bill Graham. Peter Coyote (born October 10, 1941) is an American actor and author, and has narrated many documentaries and audio books. ... Luis Valdez depicted on a 1981 silkscreen poster announcing a dance fundraiser. ... Barry Shabaka Henley Born September 15, 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Henley is an American character actor, and a fixture in many films, most often the films of director Michael Mann, having worked with the director four times with Ali, Collateral in a marvelous turn as a sensitive, ill-fated... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Cover of Bill Graham Presents Bill Graham (January 8, 1931–October 25, 1991) was a well-known rock concert promoter, who flourished from the 1960s until his death. ...

The current San Francisco Mime Troupe Collective: Velina Brown, Ellen Callas, Christian Cagigal, Michael Carreiro, Amos Glick, Ed Holmes, Lisa Hori-Garcia, Pat Moran, Keiko Shimosato, and Michael Gene Sullivan.

CLICK TO HEAR A MEDLEY OF SONGS FROM MIME TROUPE SHOWS.

Productions

2007 Making a Killing

2006 Godfellas

2005 Doing Good

2004 Showdown at Crawford Gulch

2003 Veronique of the Mounties

2002 Mr. Smith Goes to Obscuristan

2001 1600 Transylvania Avenue

2000 Eating it

1999 The First Forty Years

1999 City For Sale

1999 Damaged Care

1997 La Hembra Independencia / The Independent Female

1997 Killing Time

1997 Revenger Rat Meets the Merchant of Death

1997 13 Days / Trece Dias

1997 Teen City

1996 Soul Suckers from Outer Space

1996 Gotta Get A Life

1995 Escape to Cyberia

1995 Coast City Confidential

1994 Big Wind

1993 Offshore

1992 Social Work

1991 Back to Normal

1991 I Ain't Yo Uncle

1990 Rats

1990 Uncle Tom's Cabin

1989 Seeing Double

1989 Secrets in the Sand

1988 Ripped Van Winkle

1987 The Dragon Lady's Revenge

1986 The Mozamgola Caper

1986 Hotel Universe

1986 Spain/36

1985 Crossing Borders

1985 Factwino: The Opera

1984 Steeltown

1983 The Uprising At Fuente Ovejuna

1983 Secrets in the Sand

1982 Factwino vs. Armagoddonman

1981 Factwino Meets the Moral Majority

1981 Americans or Last Tango in Huahuatenango

1981 Ghosts

1980 Fact Person

1979 We Can't Pay, We Won't Pay

1979 Squash

1979 T.V. Dinner

1978 Elektrobucks

1977 Hotel Universe

1976 False Promises

1976 Nos Enganaron

1975 Power Play

1975 Frijoles or Beans To You

1974 The Great Air Robbery

1973 The Mother

1973 San Francisco Scandals of 1973

1972 American Dreamer

1972 The Dragon Lady's Revenge

1972 High Rises

1972 Frozen Wages

1971 Clown Show

1971 The Dragon Lady's Revenge

1970 Seize the Time

1970 The Independent Female

1970 Ecoman

1970 Telephone Man or Ripping off Ma Bell

1970 Los Siete

1969 The Congress of Whitewashers or Turandot

1969 The Third Estate

1968 Little Black Panther

1968 Ruzzante or the Veteran Gorilla Marching Band is Formed

1968 Gutter Puppets (Meter Maid)

1967 L'Amant Militaire

1967 The Minstrel Show or Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel

1967 The Condemned

1967 The Vaudeville Show

1966 The Miser

1966 What's That Ahead?

1966 Jack Off!

1966 Film: Mirage And Centerman

1966 Olive Pits

1966 Search & Seizure

1965 Chronicles of Hell

1965 Civil Rights

1965 Tartuffe

1965 The Exception and the Rule

1965 Candelaio

1964 Chorizos

1964 Mimes and Movie

1964 Event III

1963 Ruzante's Maneuvers

1963 Ubu King

1963 Film: Plastic Haircut

1963 Event II

1963 The Root

1962 The Dowry

1961 Event I

1961 Act without Words

1961 Purgatory and Krapp's Last Tape

1960 11th Hour Mime Show

1959 Mime And Word

Books

1. Mason, Susan Vaneta. (2005) The San Francisco Mime Troupe Reader University of Michigan Press.
2. Davis, R.G. (1959). Mime And Word
3. Davis, R.G. The San Francisco Mime Troupe: The First Ten Years
4. Orenstein, Claudia . Festive Revolutions: The Politics of Popular Theater and the San Francisco Mime Troupe (Jackson, Miss)

See also

• Living Theater
• Bread & Puppet
• Teatro Campesino

The Living Theater Founded in 1947 by Julien Beck and Judith Molina, the Living Theater is a theatrical troupe whose mission is a dedication to the transference of power in all societies from competitive control to cooperative and communal expression. ... Puppets found in the Bread & Puppet Museum in Glover, Vermont The Bread & Puppet Theater is a politically radical puppet theater, active since the 1960s, currently based in Glover, Vermont. ... Poster for Teatro Campesino performing at a strike benefit with Quicksilver Messenger Service July 1966 at the Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco. ...

External links

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