View source for San Francisco Mime Troupe

{{Short description|Political satire theater group}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}}
{{Infobox theatre group
| name = San Francisco Mime Troupe
| image = San Francisco Mime Troupe logo.png
| imagesize = 180px
| caption = 
| formed = 1959
| location = [[San Francisco]], [[California]], United States
| disbanded =
| notable = {{ubl|[[Peter Coyote]]|[[Saul Landau]]|[[Bill Graham (promoter)|Bill Graham]]}}
| homepage = {{URL|https://www.sfmt.org}}
| genre = {{ubl|Comedy|Political satire|Melodrama}}
}}

'''The San Francisco Mime Troupe''' is a theatre of [[political satire]] which performs free shows in various parks in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] and around [[California]], founded in 1959. Despite its name, the group does not perform silent [[mime artist|mime]], but each year creates an original musical comedy that combines aspects of ''[[commedia dell'arte]]'', [[melodrama]], and broad [[farce]] with topical political themes. In 1987, the group was awarded the [[Regional Theatre Award]] at the [[41st Tony Awards]].

==Origins==
The group was founded in 1959 by R. G. Davis as a medium of expression of his divergent theatrical concepts.{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=18}} The group debuted on October 29, 1959, with ''Games—3 Sets'', and two other plays.{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=18}} By 1961, the group transitioned to the commedia dell'arte format to more thoroughly comment on perceived political repression in the United States, the growing [[civil rights movement]] and military and covert intervention abroad.<ref name="independent"/>

In the mid-1960s the group started to rely less on the direct commedia dell'arte format and transitioned into having an objective of "teaching, directing towards change and to be an example of change".{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=70}} It also began integrating elements of jazz into its musical composition, eventually leading to the inclusion of a jazz band within the troupe. Their first outdoor performance was in May 1962 at [[Golden Gate Park]].{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=35}} The group also gained notoriety for its numerous altercations with law enforcement, which resulted in performing at benefits to raise money for legal fees.{{sfn|Davis|1975|pages=65–70}} In 1967, a benefit called "Appeal IV" featured the bands [[the Grateful Dead]], [[Jefferson Airplane]], [[Quicksilver Messenger Service]] and [[Moby Grape]].{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=80}}

[[File:San Francisco Mime Troupe documentary film ad, 1968.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Advertisement for a documentary film about the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Seattle, 1968]]
They also traveled to Canada and played at Simon Fraser University in 1966  with ''A Minstrel Show or Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel'' by Gary Davis and Saul Landau.{{sfn|Davis|1975|pages=73–77}}

The music for ''Minstrel Show'' was composed and performed by [[Steve Reich]], who worked with the troupe for at least two seasons. The troupe has always been known to employ the best composers and musicians in the area, who work intimately with the actors, writers, and whole theatrical operation.<ref name="Bernstein" /> By the early 1970s, the troupe had earned a reputation for opposing capitalism, sexism, and war.<ref name="Bernstein" />

==Post-Davis history==
In the early 1970s 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 its most successful shows, ''The Independent Female'' (1970). In the 1980s, the group's productions retaliated against the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]].

[[File:Tübingen-Festival-San Francisco Mime Troupe028.jpg|thumb|Performing at the Club-Voltaire-Festival in [[Tübingen]], [[Germany]], circa 1980s]]
As well as the park-based shows, the Mime Troupe also tours nationally and internationally, having performed throughout Europe, Asia, South and Central America.<ref name="wisconsin"/> The group also facilitates community workshops. They are a [[nonprofit organization]]. The season traditionally starts on [[Fourth of July]] weekend and ends on [[Labor Day]] weekend.<ref name="wisconsin"/>

Notable members include: [[Saul Landau]],<ref name="nyt"/> [[Nina Serrano]],<ref name="nyt"/> Steve Reich,<ref name="wapo"/> [[John Connell (artist)|John Connell]],<ref name="askart"/> [[William T. Wiley]],<ref name="weber"/> [[Wally Hedrick]],<ref name="solnit"/> [[Victoria Hochberg]],<ref name="feferman"/> [[John Broderick (producer)|John Broderick]],<ref name="exam"/> [[Peter Coyote]],<ref name="wisconsin"/> [[Luis Valdez]],<ref name="exam"/> [[Barry Shabaka Henley]],<ref name="sullivan"/> [[Bruce Barthol]],<ref name="gussow"/> [[Joan Mankin]],<ref name="exam"/> [[Emmett Grogan]],<ref name="koch"/> [[Bill Graham (promoter)|Bill Graham]],<ref name="wisconsin"/> and [[Bishop Joey|Ed Holmes]].<ref name="exam"/>

Posters for several of the 1970s productions were designed by [[Jane Norling]], and are accessible online.<ref name="sfmt" />

==Awards==
The Troupe has won three [[Obie Award|OBIEs]],<ref name="martin"/> and in 1987, the troupe's [[Brechtian]] style of [[guerrilla theatre]] earned them a special [[Regional Theatre Tony Award|Tony Award for Excellence in Regional Theater]].<ref name="arkatov"/> ''Red State,'' the troupe's 2008 fable about a small [[American Midwest|Midwest]] town that, after years of being ignored, demands accountability for their tax dollars, was nominated for a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle 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.<ref name="martin"/>

==Productions==
===1950s & 1960s===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
*1959: ''Games—3 Sets''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=18}}
* 1959: ''Mime And Word''
* 1960: ''11th Hour Mime Show''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=18}}
* 1961: ''[[Act Without Words I|Act without Words]]''
* 1961: ''Event I''
* 1961: ''Purgatory and [[Krapp's Last Tape]]''
* 1962: ''The Dowry''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=33}}
* 1963: ''[[Ubu Roi|Ubu King]]''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=27}}
* 1963: ''Event II''
* 1963: ''Film: Plastic Haircut''
* 1963: ''Ruzante's Maneuvers''
* 1963: ''The Root''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=65}}
* 1964: ''Chorizos''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=41}}
* 1964: ''Event III''
* 1964: ''Mimes and Movie''
* 1964: ''[[Tartuffe]]''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=36}}
* 1965: ''[[The Exception and the Rule]]''
* 1965: ''Candelaio''
* 1965: ''Chronicles of Hell''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=74}}
* * 1965: ''The Minstrel Show or Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=48}}
* 1965: ''Jim Crow in a Cracker Barrel'' 
* 1966: ''[[The Miser]]''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=67}}
* 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''{{sfn|Davis|1975|page=75}}
* 1967: ''The Vaudeville Show''
* 1968: ''Gutter Puppets (Meter Maid)''
* 1968: ''Little Black Panther''
* 1968: ''Ruzzante or the Veteran Gorilla Marching Band is Formed''
* 1969: ''[[Turandot (Brecht)|The Congress of Whitewashers or Turandot]]''
* 1969: ''The Third Estate''
{{div col end}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Source<ref name="showlist"/>
|-
|}

===1970s===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* 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''
* 1973: ''[[The Mother (Brecht play)|The Mother]]''
* 1973: ''San Francisco Scandals of 1973''
* 1974: ''The Great Air Robbery''
* 1975: ''Frijoles or Beans To You''
* 1975: ''Power Play''
* 1976: ''False Promises/Nos Engañaron''
* 1977: ''Hotel Universe''
* 1978: ''Elektrobucks''
* 1979: ''We Can't Pay, We Won't Pay''
* 1979: ''Squash''
* 1979: ''T.V. Dinner''
{{div col end}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Source<ref name="showlist"/>
|-
|}

===1980s===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* 1980: ''Fact Person''
* 1981: ''Americans or Last Tango in Huahuatenango''
* 1981: ''Factwino Meets the Moral Majority''
* 1981: ''Ghosts''
* 1982: ''Factwino vs. Armagoddonman''
* 1982: ''Hotel Universe''
* 1983: ''Secrets in the Sand''
* 1983: ''The Uprising At Fuente Ovejuna''
* 1984: ''Steeltown''
* 1985: ''Crossing Borders''
* 1985: ''Factwino: The Opera''
* 1986: ''Spain/36''
* 1986: ''The Mozamgola Caper''
* 1987: ''The Dragon Lady's Revenge''
* 1988: ''Ripped Van Winkle''
* 1989: ''Seeing Double''
{{div col end}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Source<ref name="showlist"/>
|-
|}

===1990s===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* 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''
* 1994: ''Escape to Cyberia''
* 1994: ''Revenger Rat Meets the Merchant of Death''
* 1995: ''Coast City Confidential''
* 1996: ''Gotta Get A Life''
* 1996: ''Soul Suckers from Outer Space''
* 1996: ''13 Days''
* 1997: ''Killing Time''
* 1997: ''Inside Out''
* 1997: ''The Independent Female''
* 1997: ''Teen City''
* 1998: ''The Artist Must Take Sides''
* 1998: ''Damaged Care''
* 1999: ''City For Sale''
* 1999: ''40th Retrospective''
{{div col end}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Source<ref name="showlist"/>
|-
|}

===2000s===
[[File:Godfellas San Francisco Mime Troupe 2006 b.jpg|thumb|300px|2006 performance of ''Godfellas'']]
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* 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''
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Source<ref name="showlist"/>
|-
|}
{{div col end}}

===2010s===
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* 2010: ''Posibilidad or Death of the Worker''<ref name="showlist"/>
* 2011: ''2012 - The Musical!''<ref name="showlist"/>
* 2012: ''For the Greater Good, or The Last Election''<ref name="showlist"/>
* 2013: ''Oil & Water''<ref name="showlist"/>
* 2014: ''Ripple Effect''<ref name="showlist"/>
* 2015: ''Freedomland''<ref name="showlist"/>
* 2016: ''Schooled''
* 2017: ''Walls''
* 2018: ''Seeing Red''
* 2019: ''Treasure Island''<ref name="paloa" />
{{div col end}}
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Source<ref name="showlist"/>
|-
|}

===2020s===
* 2020: ''Tales of the Resistance: Volume 1''{{refn|group=note|name=covid|Radio play due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]}}
* 2021: ''Tales of the Resistance: Volume 2''{{refn|group=note|name=covid|Radio play due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]}}
* 2022: ''Back to the Way Things Were''
* 2023: ''Breakdown''<ref name="sfmt3" />
* 2024: ''American Dreams''<ref name="sfmt2024" />

==Albums==
*1972: ''Fillmore – The Last Days''<ref name="fillmore"/>
*1983: ''The Album''<ref name="album"/>
*1984: ''Steel Town''<ref name="steel"/>

==See also==
{{portal|Comedy|San Francisco Bay Area|The arts|Theatre}}
*[[Living Theater]]
*[[Bread & Puppet]]
*[[Teatro Campesino]]
*[[Political drama]]
*[[St. Stupid's Day]]
*''[[Beach Blanket Babylon]]''

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="album">{{cite web |author1=San Francisco Mime Troupe |title=The Album |url=https://archive.org/details/lp_the-album_san-francisco-mime-troupe |publisher=Flying Fish |date=1983}}</ref>

<ref name="arkatov">{{cite news |last1=Arkatov |first1=Janice |title=Brave New World for San Francisco Mime Troupe |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=December 16, 1988 |page=14}}</ref>

<ref name="askart">{{cite web |title=John Connell - Biography |url=https://www.askart.com/artist/John_Connell/11275297/John_Connell.aspx |website=AskArt}}</ref>

<ref name="Bernstein">{{cite book |last1=Bernstein |first1=Lee |title=America is the Prison: Arts and Politics in Prison in the 1970s |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3yRlKxxDtkC |access-date=July 12, 2011 |year=2010 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina |isbn=9780807871171 |page=52|chapter=The Age of Jackson: George Jackson and the Radical Critique of Incarceration |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3yRlKxxDtkC&pg=PA51}}</ref>

<ref name="exam">{{cite news |author1=San Francisco Examiner |title=After 40 years, the San Francisco Mime Troupe is still alive and kicking |work=San Francisco Examiner |date=November 21, 1999 |page=M54}}</ref>

<ref name="feferman">{{cite web |last1=Feferman |first1=Linda |title=Visual History with Victoria Hochberg |url=https://www.dga.org/Craft/VisualHistory/Interviews/Victoria-Hochberg.aspx |website=Directors Guild of America |date=2023}}</ref>

<ref name="fillmore">{{cite web |author1=[[Bill Graham (promoter)|Bill Graham]]; [[Boz Scaggs]]; [[Cold Blood (band)|Cold Blood]]; [[Elvin Bishop]]; [[Grateful Dead]]; [[Hot Tuna]]; [[It's a Beautiful Day]]; [[John Walker (musician)|John Walker]]; [[Lamb (rock band)|Lamb]]; [[Malo (band)|Malo]]; [[New Riders of the Purple Sage]]; [[Quicksilver Messenger Service]]; [[Santana (band)|Santana]]; [[Stoneground]]; [[Taj Mahal (musician)|Taj Mahal]]; [[Sons of Champlin]]; [[Tower Of Power]] |title=Fillmore - The Last Days |url=https://archive.org/details/lp_fillmore-the-last-days_various-bill-graham-boz-scaggs-cold-blo |publisher=Fillmore Records |date=1972}}</ref>

<ref name="gussow">{{cite news |last1=Gussow |first1=Mel |title=Theater: San Francisco Mime Troupe |work=The New York Times |date=May 19, 1982 |page=C21}}</ref>

<ref name="koch">{{cite news |last1=Koch |first1=John |title=Memories of a Heroic Rogue |work=Boston Globe |date=August 26, 1990 |page=B25}}</ref>

<ref name="independent">{{cite news |title=San Francisco Mime Troupe at the Arena Theatre |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/independent-coast-observer-mime-troupe/138431499/ |work=Independent Coast Observer |date=July 11, 2003 |location=Gualala, California |page=9}}</ref>

<ref name="martin">{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Millicent |title=Mime troupe vocal about social activism |work=Palladium–Item |publisher=Gannett |date=October 23, 2001 |page=A3}}</ref>

<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Douglas |title=Saul Landau, 77, Maker of Films With Leftist Edge, Dies |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 12, 2013 |page=B19}}</ref>

<ref name="paloa">{{cite news |last1=Kane |first1=Karla |title=SF Mime Troupe takes on 'Treasure Island' |url=https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2019/07/30/sf-mime-troupe-takes-on-treasure-island |work=Palo Alto Weekly |date=July 30, 2019}}</ref>

<ref name="showlist">{{cite web |title=SFMT Complete Show List |url=http://www.sfmt.org/company/archives/SFMTcompleteshowlist.php |website=SFMT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161204205354/http://www.sfmt.org/company/archives/SFMTcompleteshowlist.php |archive-date=December 4, 2016 }}</ref>

<ref name="solnit">{{cite journal |last1=Solnit |first1=Rebecca |title=A real estate history of the avant-garde |journal=Design Book Review |date=Winter 2001 |issue=44–45 |page=6}}</ref>

<ref name="sfmt">{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfmt.org/company/archives/|title=Show Archive - San Francisco Mime Troupe - America's Theater of Political Comedy|website=SFMT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707214517/http://www.sfmt.org/company/archives/ |access-date=2017-03-25|archive-date=July 7, 2016 }}</ref>

<ref name="sfmt3">{{cite web | url=https://www.sfmt.org/show-archive/Breakdown | title=2023 Breakdown|website=SFMT}}</ref>

<ref name="sfmt2024">{{cite web | url=https://www.sfmt.org/show-archive/american-dreams | title=American Dreams|website=SFMT}}</ref>

<ref name="steel">{{cite web |author1=San Francisco Mime Troupe |title=Steel Town |url=https://archive.org/details/lp_steel-town_san-francisco-mime-troupe |publisher=Flying Fish |date=1984}}</ref>

<ref name="sullivan">{{cite news |last1=Sullivan |first1=Dan |title=Stage Review 'Elisabeth' A Slice of Fo With American Twist |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 19, 1987 |page=1}}</ref>

<ref name="wapo">{{cite news |last1=Page |first1=Tim |title=Phase the Music; Steve Reich's Explorations in a 10-CD Box |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=June 29, 1997 |pages=G1; G4}}</ref>

<ref name="weber">{{cite news |last1=Weber |first1=Bruce |title=Robert Nelson, an Experimental Filmmaker, Is Dead at 81 |work=The New York Times |date=January 22, 2012 |page=A24}}</ref>

<ref name="wisconsin">{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Rob |title=Spotlight: San Francisco Mime Troupe |work=Wisconsin State Journal |date=October 7, 1999 |page=10}}</ref>

}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book | last=Davis | first=R.G. | title=The San Francisco Mime Troupe: The First Ten Years | url=https://archive.org/details/sanfranciscomime00davi | url-access=registration | location=Palo Alto, CA | publisher=[[Ramparts Press]] | year=1975 | isbn=0-87867-059-9}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Michael William |title=Imagine Nation: The American Counterculture of the 1960s and '70s |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |chapter-url=http://www.diggers.org/guerrilla_theater.htm |chapter=Staging the Revolution: Guerrilla Theater as a Countercultural Practice, 1965-1968}}
*{{cite book | last=Mason | first=Susan Vaneta | title=The San Francisco Mime Troupe Reader|url=https://archive.org/details/sanfranciscomime0000unse/page/n1/mode/2up | location=Ann Arbor  | publisher=University of Michigan Press | year=2005 |url-access=registration| isbn=0-472-09842-X}}
*{{cite book | last=Orenstein | first=Claudia | title=Festive Revolutions: The Politics of Popular Theater and the San Francisco Mime Troupe | location=Jackson, MS | publisher=University Press of Mississippi | year=1998 | isbn=1-57806-079-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/festiverevolutio0000oren/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book |last1=Schechter |first1=Joel |title=Durov's Pig: Clowns, Politics, and the Theatre |date=1985 |publisher=Theatre Communications Group |isbn=978-0-930452-51-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/durovspigclownsp00sche/page/n5/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book |last1=Shank |first1=Theodore |title=Beyond the Boundaries: American Alternative Theatre |date=2002 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-11166-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/beyondboundaries0000shan/page/n7/mode/2up |url-access=registration}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.sfmt.org The San Francisco Mime Troupe official website]
*{{IBDB name}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100612091922/http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/dept/specol/collections/manuscripts/index.php?collection=287 San Francisco Mime Troupe Archives] at Special Collections, University Library, University of California,

{{TonyAward RegionalTheatre 1976–2000}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1959 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Performing groups established in 1959]]
[[Category:American satirists]]
[[Category:Culture of San Francisco]]
[[Category:Organizations based in San Francisco|Mime Troupe]]
[[Category:American political satire]]
[[Category:Theatre companies in San Francisco|Mime Troupe]]
[[Category:Regional theatre in the United States]]
[[Category:Tony Award winners]]
[[Category:Postmodern theatre]]