.?A@ 612.@
BF40C 4@D8CH Maggie Mason, Velina Brown and Brian M. Rivera get ready to take over in ‘Posibilidad.’
30E830;;4=BCD38> 2><
?^fTa c^ cWT ?T^_[T San Francisco Mime Troupe debuts a revolutionary new show By Caroline Osborn
<
ichael Gene Sullivan spent his childhood being loud. Everyone who knew him swore he was destined for the theater. But when he reached his teenage years, he became incredibly shy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had the feeling that if I started talking, I would never shut up,â&#x20AC;? he grins. Luckily for intellectual theater enthusiasts, Sullivan, head writer for the San Francisco Mime Troupe (SFMT), did start talking againâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and his prediction came true in the best way possible. This summerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s SFMT production, Posibilidad, is the troupeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 51st show. It tells the story of factory workers who accidentally take control of their company. Sullivan has devoted his latest in a long string of socially conscious productions to the plight of workers because he notices a discrepancy between American workers and their counterparts in such other countries as Argentina, a country that has a history of factory owners losing money and abandoning their companies. Once the owners are gone, the workers band together, purchase the company and run the thing themselves. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Americans always think workers fight for a place at the table,â&#x20AC;? Sullivan says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In other countries, workers fight for the whole table. What is it that keeps us from taking that extra step?â&#x20AC;? Growing up in an activist family from Detroit, Sullivan heard stories about his relativesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; frustrations
with their auto-industry jobs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was always this sense that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do it ourselves, we need a boss,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Sullivan remembers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We need a hierarchy because otherwise how can we get a promotion?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be surprised if the idea smacks of socialism. Sullivan hopes audiences will leave the production free of the notion that socialism is a dirty word. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We, the working class, create the wealth of a country,â&#x20AC;? Sullivan says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;[The wealthy] canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do it without us, but we need to show them that we can do it without them.â&#x20AC;? In keeping with their socialist politics, even the construction of SFMT defies hierarchical categorization. Sullivan, who calls the troupe an â&#x20AC;&#x153;artistic collective,â&#x20AC;? also works as an actor and director. One of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s principal actors doubles as a booker. Wilma Bonet, the director of Posibilidad, began as an actress and still does both. Bonet faced racial discrimination when a performing-arts high school rejected her application because of her Puerto Rican accent. How did that affect her approach to theater? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let anybody stop me,â&#x20AC;? she laughs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just look at it as people not understanding where Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m coming from. [But] everybody has a voice in the mime troupe.â&#x20AC;? Social consciousness roared onto Bonetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s radar when she worked with a film crew documenting the Young Lords, a New York gang turned political activism group, marching in a parade. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I saw the charge of the NYC police brigade, and I thought, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Oh my God, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to die,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They started beating everyone up just for opening their
flag. They didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t care about the people who were watching the parade. My whole vision of how the police treated people totally changed.â&#x20AC;? All of Bonetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s social rebellion is rooted in her reverence for artistic design. Years in art school instilled in her a passion for visual composition that transcends mediums (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rembrandt,â&#x20AC;? she admires, â&#x20AC;&#x153;would just use lightâ&#x20AC;?); she applies painting techniques to the way she arranges her stage. Murals inspire her because their figures reach, point and gesture, guiding the eye in a static version of theater. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I paint live pictures onstage,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very aware of color and timing. We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have lights [for outdoor productions], so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m aware of where the focus needs to be so that the actor can lead the focus to what will happen next.â&#x20AC;? The troupeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s penchant for relentlessly and artistically questioning the status quo draws North Bay audiences year after year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not silent mime,â&#x20AC;? Sullivan clarifies. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just like a Broadway musical, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s smaller and has a point.â&#x20AC;? Earlier, he says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would like for [audience members] to establish a democratic workersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; state in two or three days,â&#x20AC;? Sullivan says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably not going to happen.â&#x20AC;? Prove him wrong at the North Bay premiere of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Posibilidadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on Wednesday, July 14, at Mill Valley Community Center. 180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley. 6:30pm music; 7pm show. Free. 415.383.1370. For other show times, visit www.sfmt.org/schedule.
THE BOHEMIAN
07.07.10-07.13.10
21