MEANS

The theatrical equipment used in the performance of American Mime.

WHEN WE PRESENT
TO THE AUDIENCE
THE SUN
MADE OF CARDBOARD
THEY SHOULD KNOW IT IS MADE OF CARDBOARD
BUT, THEY MUST BELIEVE THAT IT IS HOT.

P.J.C.

LAWS

The first law determines what Means should be used, the second governs what they should look like, the third their usage by the performers, and the fourth their construction. These laws, when intelligently applied, i.e., disregarded when it's prudent to do so, will produce and maintain the correct dynamics* of this Medium*.

PRE-PERFORMANCE DYNAMICS*

To achieve the American Mime performance experience,, we must first produce a particular state of being in the audience by the careful use of the theatre and equipment. This state, while undefinable, is achieved by evoking from the audience the following responses which produce the necessary ground for the spiritual experience of American Mime performance*.

If the limitations of any theatre preclude the production of the pre-performance dynamics, there is no reason to perform.

THEATRE FORMS

General: Since the aesthetic laws of this Medium must be considered in relation to the particular limitations of the theatre plant, a word about different theatres and the theatrical forms that they reflect.
Representational*: The theatre of the proscenium arch is primarily the vehicle of the theatre form called Representational. This form relates to the audience indirectly, asking that the audience look at and believe that what is occurring onstage is complete unto itself.
Presentational*: Theatre-in-the-round is the vehicle of the form called Presentational. This form relates to the audience directly and is dependent on the audience's immediate responses for its sustenance and its power.
American Mime uses both of these forms and must be able to move from one to the other with ease. Because most of our performance experience has been in proscenium arch theatres, the following information is primarily geared to those theatres, but the application, with slight adaptation, is directly applicable to theatre-in-the-round, thrust stages, amphitheatres, etc.

THEATRES

The theatre experience begins with the thought of going to the theatre; hence, the image and the location of the plant is most important. Ideally, the theatre should be known as a Mime theatre housed in a plant created for, or adapted to, solely Mime performances, and if it can't be located in a garden off the Champs Elysee. let it at least be easily accessible and without violent discomfiture.

Inside Theatres: Most theatres are ugly, uncomfortable, ill-equipped buildings that work against the theatre experience. Putting aside theoretical speculations of an ideal plant, the following minimal requirements must be met to justify performance.

Outside Theatres: The preceding requirements apply equally to theatres and stages out of doors. Because all American Mime plays are created to evoke a spiritual response from the audience, which requires eliciting their full internal attention, particular care must be given to achieving our pre-performance dynamics. Most outside theatre simply performs at the audience amidst the distractions of nature, social activity, and sound.

AUDITORIUMS

General: Irrespective of the actual size or shape of the auditorium, the dynamics should seem intimate. This is produced by the shape of the auditorium in relation to the stage. We should have the entire audience as close to us as possible, and the last raw of seats should be no higher than a 450 angle from the stage floor. My personal preference is an auditorium wrapped around the stage in a shallow oval, and if necessary, one low balcony. The long narrow arrangement of seats of the standard auditorium is damaging to our performance product.
Number of seats: The number of seats is governed by the preceding paragraph. The size of the audience is limited only by their potential proximity to the stage. The American Mime Theatre has played successfully to 5000 and to 50. The performance products of the Medium can be easily altered in scale* by the director and cast to be viable for small or immense audiences. My personal preference, in light of most available theatres, is between 500 and 1000 seats.

STAGES

Dimensions: The ideal stage dimensions for American Mime performance, created by the correct hanging of the stage drapes and cyclorama, are as follows: 28' width, 121 height, and 25' usable depth. There should be 20' offstage, on either side of the opening, and crossover possibility behind the cyclorama. The stage should be level and at least 3' above the auditorium floor.
Surface: The stage floor should be made of wood. It should be smooth, springy, and of uniformly light color. It should be surfaced so that performers, in tights, can slide on it with their bodies and yet not be dangerously slippery underfoot.

STAGE MACHINERY

Fly space and rigging systems are useful to us. Elevators, traps, turntables, jackknife stages etc., are only useful in a permanent plant, where performance material has been created to utilize their capabilities.

STAGE DRAPERIES

Cyclorama: The basic drape of the Medium is the cyclorama. It should be off-white, unseamed, and hung and weighted so that it presents an absolutely smooth surface.
Scrim: An unseamed scrim should hang four feet downstage of the cyclorama. It should be masked at the stage floor by a strip painted to match the cyc.
Leg drops: There should be two leg drops on each side. They should be off-white velour matching the cyclorama in all but texture. They should be weighted to prevent movement or fixed to permanent backing pieces. They should be hung six feet upstage from the act curtain line and six feet downstage of the masking strip of the scrim.
Act curtain: The act curtain, either drop or draw, should be off-white to match the rest of the draperies, or it can be gold or red to achieve a contrast with the draperies and the color of the interior walls of the theatre, which should be neutral and without embellishment. Since the act curtain alone moves in performance, it is a tool of immense power. When used by an artist, it can evoke, without aid, the strongest responses from both the audience and the performers.

LIGHTING

General: Since American Mime is primarily a visual Medium and its presentation is critically dependent upon achieving our pre-performance dynamics, lighting is the most important technical Means used in performance. The stage should be considered a black void out of which all things can be presented through light. This light must always exceed basic illumination by adding the selected dynamics to the metrics*. These dynamics may harmonize with the dynamics of the metrics, work against them, or where judiciously employed be completely outside or tangential to them. The American Mime performance experience is so dependent on lighting that Mime plays should be created with the lighting as part of the metrics, to realize its optimum value.
Equipment: Lighting equipment should be of the most advanced design, absolutely complete and controlled by console. The physical control of cues must be in the hands of an artist or the value of the light design and equipment is lost.
Color: Color in our lighting is most important and is heavily used. Color in our set pieces, properties, and costume is used very sparingly and hence with great effect, but the lights bathe the stage in color. Remembering that American Mimes, wearing only black tights or suggested costume over these tights, work in front of an off-white cyclorama, it is easy to understand the demand of color in the lighting. Our usage of lighting has been so successful in practice that many audiences have commented excitedly on the colors of the set pieces, properties, and costumes when, in fact, no such color existed.
Areas: The physical areas of the theatre to be lit are the auditorium and the stage. Houselights cover all parts of the auditorium including the act curtain. Stage lights cover all stage areas and the cyclorama. Stages are divided into three, six nine, or twelve performing areas. The American Mime Theatre generally uses six. These areas should be lit by at least four units each, with two hot and two cold units from either side, and each unit should be individually controlled. All area lights must be focused to prevent spill on the cyc, legs, and other stage draperies. Footlights and specials, e.g. follow spots etc., are considered as area lights. Cyclorama lights include all units used on both cyc and scrim. These drapes are lit separately from tops, bottoms,, and sides to even out the illumination and to heighten the illusion of space.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

General: All special effects such as films, projections, smoke, etc., may be used if they don't violate the previously stated laws and are not so strong in and of themselves that they dominate the performers by their presence.

MUSIC & SOUND

Silence: Silence should be the dominant auditory condition of American Mime performance, and this silence must be skillfully protected, for a breath sound can easily obliterate the special world that this Medium creates.
Music & Sound: Music and sound can and should be used for certain Mime plays, but since all American Mime performance is a spiritual endeavor and since music and sound are freer from social association and hence are a powerful means of reaching that part of the human being, great care must be taken in the choice and execution of our scores. I say music and sound because often a score of composed sounds is more valuable to the play than a musical score.
Scores: Scores are generally written after the Mime play is ready to perform. Sometimes the play is filmed to aid the composers. It is possible to create a Mime play to an existing score, but since the core of this Medium is acting, this process requires more advanced directors and performers or the result will be danced feelings. Most scores are converted to electronic tapes which are used in performance.
Performers: American Mime performers are required by the Medium to have achieved the skill of creating posited vocal sounds which are often used in the performance of our plays. Occasionally, our performers are asked to create posited* sound with objects or musical instruments as part of the play.
Electronic music: I prefer electronic music for this Medium, except when doing a play where it would obviously violate the dynamics, because electronic scores are less relatable to the past and other performing media and represent to me the most fecund musical avenues of the future.

SCENERY

Set Pieces: The American Mime Theatre uses neither flats nor scenery in the conventional sense of the term. Its basic scenery element is the set piece which is defined as any physical object onstage that is not a property. Examples: a 13 foot egg, a white stool, 20 square feet of fabric, etc. The function of the set piece is to communicate the script and to add its dynamics to those of the play.

PROPERTIES

General: Properties are defined as any physical objects carried by the Mimes* to delineate character*. They adhere to the same laws mentioned above. Great care must be taken in their selection, design, and execution to guarantee that they are not merely informative decoration but depend on the performer's skills of handling for their desired effect. A property or set piece should not be a work of art in and of itself. Properties, correctly conceived, must add more to the Mime play than pantomiming* the objects would add.

COSTUME

General: American Mimes wear tights because they communicate with their bodies, and their bodies must be seen.
Basic Units: The basic costume of American Mime is a black cotton elasticized jersey unit. Males wear tops and tights, and females wear a one-piece unit. Both have close round necks, long sleeves, and closed-foot tights. The footwear is called footgloves and resemble black ballet shoes except they are softer and have no added sole.
Costume additions: To these basic units, costume elements and/or costume props are sometimes added. Full costume is almost never used. It is discordant with the dynamics of the Medium. The use of full costume would reveal too much and suggest too little, thereby eliminating part of the very essence of the correct relationship of the audience to the performance which is the participating act of completing for themselves what has been suggested from the stage.

MASKS

General: The use of masks is most appropriate for American Mime and represents approximately 2070 of Repertory performance time. Under the term masks, I include body masks, half masks, applied noses, ears, teeth, wigs, etc. Since these elements are by nature patently theatrical, the usual problems of abstracting from the social, are greatly reduced. It is an essential American Mime performing skill to both bring to life and to motivate* the various masks employed in performance and further to communicate the changes of feelings demanded of these masked characters by the scripts.

MAKEUP

Low Key: In The American Mime Theatre where the same Mimes perform in any different plays during a performance, the practice of using a straight low-keyed theatrical makeup, with a pancake base, has evolved. This concept, while not ideal, has succeeded because the level of abstraction of the other technical Means has been kept high.
High Key: Under different circumstances, i.e., more performers, or enough time to change makeup without delaying the performance, a high-key makeup should be employed. This makeup should be boldly theatrical employing colors in place of skin tones and lines that delineate the facial contours at the level of a mask.
Whiteface: American Mime never uses whiteface. Its results, while marvelously theatrical, are too limited to be used in a performance where the performers may change characters within the play or play many different characters in different plays throughout a performance.
Hair: Generally, the hair styles of American Mime characters should be different from contemporary social hair styles. Mimes must be skilled in effecting different hair styles that are both communicative and effective. Some female Mimes are aided by having long hair which increases the number of possible arrangements.
Glasses: If American Mime performers wear glasses socially, they should condition themselves, if possible, to the use of contact lenses onstage.