Episode 93: San Francisco Mime Troupe-“Back to the Way Things Were”

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Listen to our initial interview with the San Francisco Mime Troupe

San Francisco Mime Troupe - “Back to the Way Things Were” Written by Michael Gene Sullivan with Marie Cartier. Cast: Andre Amarotico, Lizzie Calogero, Norman Gee, Alicia M.P. Nelson, and Keiko Shimosato Carreiro. Directed by Velina Brown. Music & Lyrics by Daniel Savio. Musical Direction by Daniel Savio. And band members William Durkee, Daniel Savio, and Jason Young.

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“Zoe is grappling with how to be an adult or starting to be an adult in a world in which she feels, there's not really a space for her to imagine a future”- Alicia MP Nelson as Zoe

In this episode, we are following back up with The San Francisco Mime Troupe who we interviewed two years ago in episode four. Back in June of 2020 with the beginning of the pandemic, Michael Gene Sullivan shared with us that the San Francisco Mime Troupe was canceling its annual summer live show performances in public parks and their work to create and launch a series of radio plays which air on KSFP 102.5FM.

Michael also participated in our virtual live group discussion with 6 performing arts organizations about the production of live shows. This was in episode eighty-three in September of 2021 when the Covid -19 Delta variant was waning, and the hope was bringing back live performances. We all know what happened with the wave of omicron that hit our performing arts organizations.

Join us now as we check back in with Michael and Alicia to tell us about the new Musical show Back to The Way Things Were and bringing back live performances at our public parks.

Michael Gene Sullivan

Michael Gene Sullivan (he/him) (Head Writer, SFMT Collective) has performed with all four of the Bay Area’s Tony award-winning theaters: American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Theatreworks, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe (where he is also a Collective Member, director, and as Resident Playwright has written or co-written over 25 plays). He has also worked with SF Playhouse, California Shakespeare Theater, Denver Center Theatre Company, Marin Theatre Co., Aurora Theatre Co., Magic Theatre, TheatreFirst, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, African American Shakespeare Co., and the SF Shakespeare Festival. Michael is the author of the internationally produced stage adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, of the critically-acclaimed The Great Khan, and in 2022 Michael was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship as a Dramatist. Find out more about Michael www.michaelgenesullivan.com

Alicia MP Nelson

Alicia M. P. Nelson she/her (Actor) is an award-winning San Francisco/Bay Area based actor, clown, and arts educator. She is a member of the Red Ladder Theatre Company where she works to bring arts to at-risk populations, and is a graduate of Boston University where she acquired a BFA in Acting. Nelson has trained in both classical theatre and Commedia dell’Arte in Greece and Italy. As an actor she has worked across the country in varying theatres including WAMTheatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and more. She has worked as a teaching artist in various companies in the Bay Area, and she specializes in working with students in preschool and kindergarten. Nelson is passionate about all things that spark the imagination. She is an avid believer in playing pretend, making a fool of yourself, diving in head-first, and increased diversity in theatre. She hopes to make theatre accessible to its youngest audiences and, in doing so, inspire creativity in the generations to come. Find out more about Alicia www.ampnelson.com

The San Francisco Mime Troupe

The history and mission of the San Francisco Mime Troupe is to create and produce theater that presents a working-class analysis of the events that shape our society, that exposes social and economic injustice, that demands revolutionary change on behalf of working people, and to present this analysis before the broadest possible audience with artistry and humor.

Founded in 1959 by R.G. Davis, as an experimental project of the Actors’ workshop, the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s early works were…silent, (but not pantomime) avant-garde pieces that today would be called performance art. By the early sixties, the SF Mime Troupe began performing spoken plays with character archetypes drawn directly from the Commedia dell’Arte. Continuing in the broad styles of popular theater, the SFMT’s productions became overtly political.

In 1965, the city's Recreation and Park Commission revoked the troupe’s performance permit, on grounds of "obscenity". Refusing to allow his company to be censored, on August 7, 1965, R.G. Davis attempted to perform Il Candelaio in Lafayette Park, loudly announcing to his audience: “Today for your appreciation, we perform an arrest,” as Davis was swept up by the police for performing without a permit. The ensuing court case, argued by Marvin Stender, established the right of artists to perform uncensored in the city's parks. The SFMT has opened a new show in the parks every summer since. In 1965, future rock impresario Bill Graham, then the company's business manager, organized his first rock dance/light show at the Fillmore Auditorium as a bail benefit for the SFMT.

The collective of the San Francisco Mime Troupe exists not only to create this activist art but also to embody our ideals of combating the fragmentation of the working class: we are a democratically run, multi-ethnic, multi-generational, multi-cultural, gender-balanced theater of social justice that by its very existence sustains a vision of community governance of, by, and for the people. Find out more about the San Francisco Mime Troupe and their radio show series.

Back to the Way Things Were Show Information - Read more about the cast and production crew of the Back to the Way Things Were production. Here’s the Schedule of Free Park & Indoor Shows with some RSVP Venues. Come 30 mins ahead of the shows to enjoy live music. See the SFMT Summer Tour Schedule.

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