The Production and Performance of Mime

The goal of this creative project was to direct a troupe of actors who would develop mime through the use of dance and improvisation. Street mime was used by the actors, not only to provide experience with improvisational mime and audiences, but also to reinforce and improve the actor’s skills as a street performer. The actors became more flexible in through and more confident in themselves as performers. The director was to act as coordinator of the project. At times the director became a collaborator such as in street mime and in rehearsals during the improvisation period, but her main function was to aid the actors in creating mime sketches and to help the actors refine and polish those sketches so that they might be performed. The performance was not an end goal in itself but rather served as a recital for the actors to display what they had learned. It was and still is hoped that the skills the actors learned will benefit them in other performance situations.