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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.

Contents 1 History 2 Productions 3 Books 4 See also 5 External links

The group 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.

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 this time, the group began also produced a number of feminist-based plays, notably 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 l987, the troupe's style of guerrilla, Brechtian theater earned them a special Tony Award for Excellence in Regional Theater.

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.

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.

Later veterans include Peter Coyote, Luis Valdez, Barry Shabaka Henley, Bruce Barthol, and Bill Graham.

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

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

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)

• Living Theater
• Bread & Puppet
• Teatro Campesino

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