Award-winning Mime Troupe Spotlights San Francisco’s Homelessness Crisis
Founded over six decades ago, the Tony-Awarded San Francisco Mime Troupe has always been at the forefront of the pulse of the City and the issues of the day. SFMT opens its 64th season on July 1 with a new musical called: “Breakdown - Sometimes it’s not all just happening in your mind.”
Directed by Michael Gene Sullivan, Breakdown features a five-person cast, with original music & lyrics by Daniel Savio.
The musical reflects what is currently happening in San Francisco as homelessness continues amid a stressed-out economy from the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation. The story/plot of this musical is how can we help those struggling with actual mental illness? And who is driving the country insane?
The main character, portrayed by Kina Kantor is a homeless woman named Yume. She lives on the San Francisco streets of an increasingly intolerant urban landscape. Yet that doesn’t mean all her issues can be solved by a passionate social worker, named Saidia, portrayed by Alicia M.P. Nelson.
In the City “by The Bay” San Francisco seems to have more bureaucracy and paperwork than compassion. Help is always just around the Kafkaesque labyrinthine corner!
But that doesn’t mean San Francisco is the hellhole of progressivism as an up-and-coming Fox News commentator, named Marcia Stone, portrayed by Jamella Cross, seeks to present San Francisco that way to the rest of the country.
As playwright/director Sullivan and music composer/lyricist Savio strive to illustrate…whether it’s an individual, a bureaucracy, or a national sanity, everything is headed for a…”Breakdown!”
While SFMT’s initial inspiration was and is rooted in mime, as Sullivan explained.
“We use the term ‘mime’ in its classical and original definition,” he said.
"The exaggeration of daily life in story and song." “It is a form of popular theater that is as old as the marketplace itself,” he said.
Similar to SFMT is Theatre in Paris, in France. Upon hearing the news about the upcoming 64th season and SFMT’s new musical, Carl de Poncins, one of the founders of Theatre in Paris agreed with Sullivan, saying…
“Yes…The history of mime relied on elaborate movement and gesture but also incorporating speech and some song.” Pointing to mime’s universality as an art form, de Poncins noted…
“variations of the practice also found their way into ancient aboriginal, Indian, and Japanese theatrical heritages, all of which feature performances that blend music and dance with a narrative told through a stylized gesture and facial expression.”
“The Japanese Noh tradition of masked theatre, in particular, is another example, said de Poncins, and Noh would go onto influence many contemporary French theorists of mime.”
Co-founders of Theatre in Paris, Christopher Plotard and Romaine Beytout, like de Poncins are very pleased and excited for SFMT as they present an entirely new production. Bringing live theatre directly to the people in public places such as parks is what they are all about. They applaud the work SFMT is doing.
Following much of the basic commedia dell'Arte format, SFMT revels in the ability for art to enhance and improve people’s lives. Adding further, Sullivan said. “From the ancient Greek and Roman farces to the Renaissance/Shakespearean era to modern Chinese Opera, we are using archetypes comically to illustrate people's issues.”
“This is a time honored worldwide tradition,” said Sullivan just as de Poncins mentioned. “Our broadly drawn characters are instantly recognizable allowing the audience to immediately engage in the action,” he said.
BREAKDOWN - A New Musical, opens July 1 at Cedar Rose Park in Berkeley and continues with a showing at Dolores Park in the Mission District on July 4. Shows will continue throughout the Bay Area in SF, Marin (Mill Valley), Ukiah (Mendocino), Cotati (Sonoma), East Bay, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, San Jose, and Davis, until September 4.
All performances are free of charge unless otherwise listed. Some performances will require an RSVP.
Written by Michael Gene Sullivan with Marie Cartier, BREAKDOWN - A New Musical has been made possible by contributions from The Don Stevens Laugh and Love Fund; California Arts Council, Grants for the Arts; and Individual Donors. For a complete schedule and more information, visit sfmt.org or call 415-285-1717. (Photos by David Allen Studio, Courtesy of SFMT).
