The Great Speckled Bird Oct 19, 1970

Vol. 3 #49 pg. 9

independent female

The San Francisco Mime Troupe was in town last Sunday and Monday. I'd been wanting to see them for years, ever since Kelly Morris brought the Bread and Puppet Theater to Emory. The B & P T were here coincidentally when Nixon invaded Cambodia and when the Kent State massacre followed. They added so much depth and beauty to the marches and demonstrations in Atlanta, express our outrage, giving us strength, with their puppets, ranging from finger puppets to 18 foot parade puppets. It was true guerilla theater, as they emerged here and there, zapping people with awareness and vision, and a glimpse at living commitment. One of my best friends was so smitten he followed them back to New York, and later to San Francisco.

The first thing that amazed me about the Mime Troupe, like the Bread and Puppet Theater, was the amount of equipment they have, and on closer look, how ingenious they are at making something out of nothing. At Emory, they played "The Independent Female, or a Man Has His Pride" (published last December in Ramparts). It's the sort of thing that improves with age, it seems, done in old-fashioned traveling-show style, with lots of slapstick and elaborate mugging.

The plot follows the struggles of a Sweet Young Thing as she vacillates between the rewards and social approval of a straight role as submissive turn-of-the-century wife and the alliance with other women toward the smashing of those structures. On the one hand are her Mother and her fiancé, on the other, a flaming feminist named Sarah Bullitt, cape and all. At stake are her engagement versus a strike against The Company. Capitalism is revealed to be rooted in the male supremacy of the Bosses and our heroine learns how all men participate in the conspiracy to maintain control

It was too bad the script didn't include some analysis of the role of Mother. Instead of revealing how a lifetime of being fucked-over gave her near insurmountable fears and deeply ingrained social taboos, the play merely pitted woman against catty woman, until Mom capitulated in the end.

It was also too bad the play was directed completely toward a straight audience. Only one passing line ("There are laws against people like you; more every day!") breathed a hint of lesbianism at Sarah Bullitt, and it was left as a fusty, old-fashioned insult, never implying that gay ness could have been a source of strength, and her immunity against the social rewards offered by men. (Better known, in a power structure where straight men hold the rewards, as oppression.)

But it's so great to see a play about women that so accurately nails down the roles and system of roles, and structures leading up to Capitalism, that must be smashed before women can be free. And as one gay sister remarked, "Gay women don't have to be told not to get married anyway."

—nancy Jones

The San Francisco Mime Troupe's essence is its role as a source of revolutionary art and media.

Members of the troupe characterize the early days of the group in 1959 as “avant-garde” and “into Marcel Marceau." The troupe changed with the sixties and with the changes among the people and in the movement. More and more of their work featured political content, such as "Civil Rights in a Cracker-barrel," a minstrel show involving six actors, three black and three white, but all with black face; and a 1967 play attacking pacifism.

Other shows dealt with the war and related issues. In a sense, say several of the troupe, "The politics also escalated as a reaction to the pig, resulting in an energy drain at some levels."

The troupe experienced two busts in 1967, one for dope and one for obscenity. The booking agent for the troupe at that time, the Bill Graham, set up a benefit concert with the Grateful Dead and other San Francisco area groups. Members say that that experience helped turn Graham on to the possibilities of such big affairs. The result is history-the FilImore and many roots of hip capitalism exploiting a communistic and sharing culture. Accordingly. Graham supposedly now hates the troupe, whose members now call him a "capitalistic vulture." The troupe also influenced early San Francisco hip culture through some former members who corn nuch to the energy of the Diggers.

Reflecting similar changes elsewhere in 1969, the group became much more collective. A struggle over elitism resulted in the departure of the group's director, and work became shared. Each person now has at least two jobs in the collective, and the position of officer-of-the-day is rotated daily. Other positions are rotated, and each person receives a weekly salary, $30, from the corporate collective.

With political education classes every two weeks and with constant struggle, the troupe comprises its own Marxist-Leninist study group. Everyone in the troupe plays several musical instruments, and a current project for use in future work involves members' acquisition of circus skills—tumbling, balancing, juggling, etc.

Without such discipline and structure, a massive tour such as the present Southern "incursion" would be nearly impossible. The group finances itself largely through two such tours a year. In this case, they have had capacity crowds all over the South at military bases and universities.

The changes and struggles of the Mime Troupe, say its members, have come through their work and practice, and their work and practice flow together with their theoretical three-point program: (1) serve the people; (2) all art is political; and (3) smash individualism.

In the Bay Area, much of their political work is coordinated with women's and community groups. They also do media work with various worker groups, an example of which has been weekly shows for and with the dock strikers.

Much struggle with sexism came with the production of "The Independent Female” over a year ago; Shown at Emory, it is now nearing the end of its run. It was written by one person, but changed collectively. Some criticism has been levied at the play by gay groups (see our review), and a source of the play's vulnerability on that score is revealed by the members of the troupe's own sexual practice—almost all apparently have strictly heterosexual relationships.

The troupe's art is dynamic. Although a small, abstractly constructed stage is used, there's no "invisible wall" between actors and audience. The people out front hoot, hiss, clap, and generally participate in the action. The actors, in turn, respond to the audience. All in all, the San Francisco Mime Troupe is one of the richest works of art available to the people. —Rodney

The San Francisco Mime Troupe's newest work, "The Dragon Lady's Revenge," at Georgia Tech Monday night, reflects the historical, personal and political changes within the group. The play was written by a committee of four and has changed through collective struggle.

While revolutionary theater in liberated countries such as China extol the work of the masses, the task of such theater in the Belly of the Monster is to spotlight the abuses and contradictions of imperialism as it applies internationally to sex, race, and class. Part of "Dragon Lady's" beauty comes from its incisive targeting of all these issues.

The setting is Indochina, and the formula is imperialism plus dope equals genocide. Specifically, the dope is heroin, and it is spread to GIs and back to Amerikkka by a vast network engineered through the CIA, the embassy, and the puppet government, a network whose existence has been much documented, even in "respectable" publications. Heroin is not the only dope, however. There is also religion, coca-cola, and the secret X-90 ethnic weapon, the actual existence of which in some form is being tested at the Army's San Francisco Presidio, according to several scientists who have quit the project and described it at Bay Area news conferences. The scientists have "defected to the people” say the troupe's members discussing this new and horrifying addition to Amerikkka's technological and anti-people war arsenal.

The imagery of the show is piercing -the women repeatedly outwitting the stupidly sexist men; the CIA agent as priest, hip capitalist, and dope pusher; the hypodermic needle as a cross; the coca-cola; the young army officer Junker III, addicted to the heroin supplied through the network masterminded by his father, the diplomat Junker Jr., supposedly there to clean up the dope trade, but, in reality, the evil and mysterious Mr. Big; the puppet general, clearly the image of Thieu, who hungers to wipe out his opposition by gaining use of X-90, which is designed in infect all people with yellow skin (he happily accepts the CIA agent's promise that X-90 will not hurt him because in his case, "the yellow color is only skin deep"); the scheming Dragon Lady (a playback on Madame Nhu); the ambassador's old Asian yes-man who wisely turns on him; and the beautiful Blossom, who picks un the gun to drive out the oppressors.

Of course, the good guys win as the old man saves Blossom from an automated blade-saw death (just like in the old movies); the ClA agent drinks the poison that he, the Dragon Lady, and the general had prepared for the ambassador; the Dragon Lady commits suicide: and Blossom, with the support of young Junker and the old man, subdues the general and ambassador from the barrel of an AK-47. Myriad conspiracy and corruption at all levels of imperialism is clear; the people win the battle, but the struggle continues.

And that struggle can be won in Amerika, say the Mime Troupers in answer to a question at Georgia Tech, by organizing collectively with people you trust, educating yourselves on your relationship to the machine, and then dealing with it.

-rodney