Have You Heard of the San Francisco Mime Troupe?

Contents this page:

1. Introduction
2. Streaming Video of the Film
3. Gallery of People & Scenes
4. Guerrilla Theatre manifesto (R Davis)
5. Risk and Frontal Assault article (P Berg)

Praxis of Change

One of the most important influences on the Diggers was R.G. "Ronnie" Davis, the founder of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. The experiences that many of the original Diggers took from their involvement with the Mime Troupe were the foundation for the idea of "life acting" in the service of social change. Ron was the consummate theoretician of radical change. In his essay "Guerrilla Theatre" he called for theater collectives to "teach / direct toward change / be an example of change." In a nutshell, this is the definition of 'lifestyle as change agent'—the contribution of the Sixties Counterculture to social protest history. Later feminist theory would propose "the personal is the political"—a slight reformulation of Davis' concept of guerrilla theater.

Here, with Ron's permission, is the full version of a 1968 film that the Mime Troupe sanctioned and which has footage of many of the actors and writers who would go on to join the Digger movement. But even more relevant, it shows the early workings of a collective of women and men struggling to make sense of the social and political situation of the Sixties and to formulate personal and collective responses that were congruent with their beliefs.

Have You Heard of the SF Mime Troupe?

A film by Don Lenzer and Fred Wardenburg, narrated by Paul Herlinger* (1966**)

*Full credits: Produced and directed by Don Lenzer and Fred Wardenburg, Photographed by Don Lenzer, Edited by Don Lenzer and Fred Wardenburg, Narrated by Paul Herlinger, Assistant Editor and Soundman Charles Horman, Assistant Cameraman Richard Chew, Executive Producer Robert G. McBride.

**The official release of the film is not yet known. However, it received the Silver Award at the San Francisco Film Festival in 1967. In dating the footage, the opening scene of the Mime Troupe performance of Moliere's "The Miser" in Washington Square can be dated to Sep 3 & 4, 1966.

Gallery of People and Scenes

R: Pantalone (Bill Lindyn); Dottore (Peter Cohon)

R: Audience, Washington Square Park

R: Becky Jenkins (daughter of Dave Jenkins)

R: Audience member, Washington Square Park

R: Jason Marc-Alexander in dressing room with Peter Cohon (in background)

R: C.W. ("Chuck") Herrick,  Tech and Stage Manager for "The Miser" etc.

R: "Minstrel Show" cop killing scene: unknown actor; Jason Marc-Alexander; Peter Cohon

R: Peter Cohon and Jason Marc-Alexander

L: "Minstrel Show" final bathroom scene written by Saul Landau: Jason Marc-Alexander; Interlocutor Kent Minault; Peter Cohon

R: Peter Cohon

R: Ditto

R: Dottore without mask (Peter Cohon)

R: R.G. Davis arguing with Becky Jenkins

R: R.G. Davis

R: Performance of "The Miser" in Washington Square Park, North Beach. Peter-Paul Church (background)

R: Dottore (Peter Cohon)

R: Secretary (name?)

R: Anne Bernstein, actress

R: Willie B. Hart; Kent Minault (as Interlocutor)

R: Peter Cohon without mask

R: John Condron (bartender at the M&M Tavern) in "Minstrel Show" (as temporary replacement for Kai Spiegel)

R: "Minstrel Show" cop killing scene (with unnamed actor)

R: Sandra Archer (in the end of film speech)

R: Audience inside Mason Building

R: Kent Minault (as Interlocutor) and Jason Marc-Alexander in the opening “cross fire”

R: Bill Lindyn (as Pantalone in "The Miser")