Master class resource pack
The truth about illusion by Bill Bowers
Atlanta IB workshop
July 6-8 2015
A MIME SPEAKS OUT
By Bill Bowers
I know I know, I’ve heard the jokes.
“If a tree falls in the forest, and hits a mime, does anyone care?”
“If you shoot a mime, do you need to use a silencer?”
And we have all seen some pretty bad mime: those pale guys out on the
street in striped shirts, “lassoing” innocent passersby; walking against “the
wind, etc.” If I heard that there was a mime performing on the corner, I
would probably head in the opposite direction.
And I’m a mime.
There, I’ve said it. I. Am. A. Mime. I am an actor who specializes in the
silent art of Pantomime. It’s how I to make a living, and let me tell you, it
aint easy. In my illustrious film career so far, I have portrayed the mime
that Joe Pesci pushes down in Washington Square Park, the mime who
scares Drew Barrymore, prompting her run screaming into the Plaza Hotel.
And I’m the mime who referees a fight between Hugh Grant and Sandra
Bullock. (She even calls me “Bozo”, which really hurts!)
These are the roles often available to mimes.
Which reminds me of one more joke, the one that rings true:
“A mime is a terrible thing to waste.”
I have spent more than twenty-five years now working as an actor and a
mime- in the movies, On Broadway, Off Broadway, and in theaters all
around the country. For the past several years though, I have been really
focusing on Mime, performing my solo show in cities and towns, teaching
mime to little kids and old people. I spent more than 200 days last year
“on the road”, living out of a suitcase, being a mime.
However, It does beg the question: WHY?
I love mime. I am love with the art of it, the power of it, the history of it.
Mime has been around as long as humans have. It just won’t go away.
Let me tell you a few things about it.
1 As an art form Mime has been around for more than 2000 years, but more
than that, mime is the original language. It was, and still is, the common
voice (so to speak) of human beings. Before verbal language existed
people spoke with their hands. Cave drawings are full of images of humans
“acting things out- their dreams, what they saw that day....” The spoken
word is in fact an extension of gestures, as evidenced in Egyptian
hieroglyphics, Aztec symbols, and the pictographic writings of the Hebrews.
Native American cultures developed an intricate inter-tribal sign language,
still in use today. The physical is what links us together as a people.
The Art of Pantomime began as “pre-show” entertainments at theater
festivals in ancient Greece, but would evolve in to a hugely popular
Art form in Rome. Caesar is believed to have traveled with his own
personal mimes, who served as diplomats and “interpreters” of sorts, aiding
in cultural exchange. A nonverbal language called Chironomy, spoken only
in gestures, developed as an “underground language of the streets,” and
was sought after by the aristocracy as a means of communicating with the
masses. Eventually the popularity of pantomime grew to such an extent that
entire streets in Rome were dedicated to its performance. As was the
sensibility of the time, sex and violence sold tickets, so Pantomime reflected
this, becoming more explicit; in fact, a city ordinance decried that any
performance in a Pantomime must be realistically portrayed. To this end,
Pantomimes began including sex acts, bludgeoning and deaths. Prisoners
and slaves were often were cast in the Pantomime stories, and then killed,
live on stage. That’s show business.
As popular as Pantomime had grown to be, it was met head on by a
powerful movement, called Christianity, and the church would eventually
send the mimes packing. Pantomime would become illegal in the city of
Rome. By the Middle Ages, Mimes were transformed, by necessity, into
strolling players and jongleurs. Eventually they were invited back into the
church, where they collaborated in the religious Miracle, Mystery, and
Morality plays. Once again, their popularity did them in and performers
were kicked out onto the steps of the church, and eventually were back on
the road.
Mime would rise up again and take the shape of the one of the richest
theater forms in Europe, the Commedia dell’ arte. As there was no
nationalized language in Italy, in order to draw audiences in many regions,
2 Commedia players relied on extreme physicality and improvisation. Stock
characters began to emerge, such as the young lovers, the wily servant, and
the Captain, and proved hugely popular to the common people, who would
crowd into the town squares to see what their favorite characters were up
to. (Not unlike our sitcoms: think Will and Grace, Bart and Homer, Edith
and Archie).
During the 17th and 18th Century the mimic spirit was alive in the form of
pageants and ballets, dumb shows and harlequinades. The Italian
Commedia dell’ arte made its way to Paris, the capital of Europe, but
despite its success there, was soon outlawed. A city ordinance determined
that any performances in official French theaters must be spoken in French.
To combat this, the Italians simply became even more physical, and less
verbal. This would set the stage for the development of the silent
pantomime we know of today.
One of the stock characters from Commedia, the lazy valet Pedrolino
was adapted into the quintessential French Pierrot, and immortalized by the
great actor, Gaspard Deburau. A poetic, silent clown in white face and
flowing white costume, Pierrot became an “everyman”, a mascot for the
common people of Paris, and at one time was believed to wield more
power than Napoleon. Audiences would crowd together into the Theater
Funambule to see their Pierrot - he was a symbol of hope and rebellion.
This little clown unwittingly served as a guiding political force as well as the
father of modern pantomime.
Paris became the place for mimes to be, and by the mid-twentieth century
the three great masters of the art form had opened schools in Paris. They
were Etienne Decroux, Jacques Lecoq, and Marcel Marceau. Marceau took
the teachings of Decroux and converted them into an art that could be
readily communicated. Although there is a rich tradition of mime in Poland,
the Czech Republic, and in Asian cultures, France is still the center of the
mime world, and Marceau’s name is synonymous with the art of
pantomime.
In America there is only a handful of mimes working today, and that is one
of the reasons I travel extensively, in hope of passing on this ancient
tradition. Many children only know of mime as a punch line to a joke, or a
sight gag on “The Animaniacs.” I have been to places where no one even
knows the word mime. This year has taken me to one room school
3 houses on the prairie, to an Amish Colony, the Kennedy Center, homeless
shelters, a Native American school on the Flathead Reservation, and a
home for developmentally disabled adults. Wherever I go, I see and learn
over and over again that we are all mimes, and we are all looking for ways
to connect with each other.
Mime serves as the conduit between us. It is an equalizer, the common
denominator. It transcends words.
That’s why I have been living out of a suitcase. I love mime for its power
and simplicity. Mime is a temporal art, a living art that requires an
audience. It merges our imaginations. It asks for the human connection.
Kids say it best. I once asked a third grade class to describe mime, and
here are a few of their responses:
“Mime is like a really quiet poem.”
“You’re like a clown of the air”
“It’s like you draw pictures in my mind...”
www.Bill-Bowers.com
4 A CONCISE HISTORY OF MIME
By Bari Rolfe
Edited by Bill Bowers
Ancient Theatre in Rome
Mime in Antiquity
Pantomime in Greece, also called "the art of
interpretive dancing," often took the form of mimetic
dances, or military pantomimes such as Pyrrhic
dances. The art of gesture was called orchesis, from
which we get the word orchestra, the Greek term for a
dancing place.
The Romans were especially fond of pantomime,
mounting subjects from myth and legend in movement,
sometimes accompanied by narration or song. The
sketches were often played as after pieces to the written
plays, or even between the acts. Two famous players both freed slaves - were Pylades, who excelled in tragic
style, and Bathyllus, known for his comic style.
The Empress Theodora of Byzantium, a ruler remarkable
for her concern with the welfare of women and
performers, was a pantomime player from her childhood
until shortly before her marriage to Emperor Justinian.
To tell a story in movement and gesture was called
pantomime; often short comic, topical, satirical one-acts.
Medieval Mime
1 When Rome fell, the theatres were closed and
entertainers were reduced to wandering through the
countryside, playing at fairs and markets. The Church
banned them for being licentious and cruel. Yet, at the
same time, the Church was producing mystery, morality,
and miracle plays, first in church buildings and then later
in churchyards. Performed by guilds, these plays were
an important technique for teaching the Bible, because
mime, mystery, miracle, and morality plays were easily
adapted to biblical stories. Many of these spoken plays
were easily made into pantomime versions, or included
pantomime sequences. Tableaux vivants consisted of a
single representative pose, or a series of sculptural poses
illustrating a story.
Broadbent quotes Colley Cibber, "It has been
conjectured that the actors of the Mysteries of Religion
were mummers, a word signifying one who makes and
disguises himself to play the fool without speaking. They
were dressed in an antic manner, dancing, mimicking, and
showing postures." And Meyerhold wrote, "The
organizers of medieval festivals of mystery plays
appreciated only too well the magical power of
pantomime. In the French mysteries at the end of the
fourteenth century and the beginning of the fifteenth
century the most moving scenes were invariably mimed."
Commedia dell’ arte
Commedia dell'arte is a spoken form of theatre derived
from rustic farce. It is of interest to mimes because it
was a highly physical theatre form utilizing mime,
gymnastics, and silent by-play. Plays had a structured
2 plot and actors' texts were semi-improvised. Actors
usually played the same character throughout their
professional lives.
Commedia dell'arte lasted longer than any other period
drama, more than 200 years. During that time some
changes did take place, away from the early rustic farce
toward inclusion of some witty refinements and upper
class characters.
Elizabethan Dumb Show
Elizabethan Dumb Show, silent enactment, was an
integral part of Elizabethan drama, the best known
example being the dumb show from Hamlet. Dumb
show could also appear before the play, or after, or
between acts; it could depict specific story elements,
symbolic action, allegory, the supernatural, etc. It could
range from scenes to processions to off-stage action to
tableaux; it could be merely an added device, or fulfill an
important dramatic function.
Many Elizabethan playwrights used these mimed sections
within or around the acts. These mimes relieved the
strict form of classical tragedy, and helped to express the
plays' concepts by visual representation, beyond the
dialogue.
Dumb Show was also a part of civic entertainment, since
pageants and processions containing silent tableaux or
brief scenes were seen in various civic functions, from
about 1550 to well into the 17th century.
3 18th and 19th Centuries in England
Pantomime came to England from France as Italian
Mimic Scenes and from the Italian commedia
dell'arte. The English quickly developed their own form,
a combination of plays based on fairy tales, children's
stories, and songs. Traditionally it was performed at
Christmas time - also called Christmas Panto.
The most famous players were John Weaver and John
Rich; then came Joseph Grimaldi, whose name, Joey,
became a generic name for Clown.
The 19th Century and Deburau
A remarkable, long-lived form of pantomime began in
Paris at the Theatre of the Funambules in 1819 with the
debut of Jean-Gaspard Deburau in the role of Pierrot,
whom he called Baptiste. He became enormously
popular, beloved of high estate and low, and his influence
lasted for a hundred years.
Deburau was followed by his son Charles, and then Paul
LeGrand, the Marseilles mimes, Severin, and a revival in
Paris called the Cercle Funambulesque.
Pantomime underwent certain changes in that period,
but remained a recognizable continuation of Deburau, all
the way to the beginning of World War I.
4 Mime into the 20th Century
The turn of the century saw the most astonishing burst
of creativity that marked the beginning of modern day
mime. Mime was popular in vaudeville, music halls,
circus, and Ziegfeld Follies. Rudolf Laban, teacher and
theoretician of mime and movement, trained some
famous dancers, several of whom incorporated mime in
their dance work. Angna Enters was truly great, the first
popular concert hall mime. Charles Weidman often
used literary sources, like Thurber and Beerbohm, for his
serious and comic work. Kurt Jooss' anti-war piece, The
Green Table, became immortal and is still performed
today.
Silent Film Comics
When motion pictures came along, who was to play in
them? Comics, for the most part, because of their many
actions and facility in physical expression. They came
out of music halls, vaudeville, and circus.
France was the innovator, with Georges Wague who
saw film as a continuation of mime, and music hall star
Max Linder reeling off one-reelers beginning in
1905. Charlie Chaplin saluted Linder as his "professor";
then followed Keaton, Lloyd, Langdon, and others. At
first they simply improvised before a stationary camera,
but soon learned that film was different from the stage,
and developed the techniques that made them world
famous in a few short years.
5 The Big French Four
20th century mime in France began quite differently
from that in other European countries and the United
States, and contrasted greatly with the previous early
20th century mime. It was most unusual too in that the
four famous French names all stemmed, directly or
indirectly, from the acting school of Jacques Copeau, the
Vieux Colombier; they went in entirely different creative
directions from each other. The four are Etienne
Decroux, teacher; Jean-Louis Barrault, performer;
Marcel Marceau, performer and teacher; and Jacques
Lecoq, teacher.
They and their work form the bases of most of concert
mime today for one very important reason; they
established schools. The earlier teachers, Laban and
Weidman, centered on dance, and Enters projected no
body of mime technique. When she taught, much later
in life, she worked with actors.
So the mime schools of Decroux and Lecoq, and more
recently that of Marceau, give the bases of much of the
mime we see today.
Contemporary Mime In the second half of the 20th century, mime stayed
popular in the concert hall, the streets, the circus, and
television. Artists like Red Skelton and Dick Van Dyke
could make the jump from mime in vaudeville and
cabarets, to spoken pieces in television.
6 Present-day theatre exhibits a broad range of style and
form, and the advent of physical theatre offered
possibilities both to physical performers and to
traditional actors to enlarge their technical skills. Many
plays call for sequences in mime, or of silent
communication. Some have the actor simulate use of
imaginary props and sets (Thornton Wilder). Others
contain written mime sequences (Marat/Sade), or place
much of the action in silent enactment (The Miracle
Worker).
The Marceau style is evident, and equally evident are
other, individual styles of performing, many prominent
artists having come from sources other than the famous
French four. We now see (and hear!) more mime that is
unique to each performer, in style, content, and use of
technology. Their works are as different from those of
other artists as they are from the mime forms that
preceded them.
Bari Rolfe has worked for over 30 years as a mime, dancer,
choreographer, consultant, teacher, director, and writer; in the
United States, Mexico, and Europe. After the training and influences
of Marcel Marceau, Etienne Decroux, and especially that of Jacques
Lecoq, with whom she studied for three years, she returned to the
United States in 1966 to teach in universities and in acting and dance
studies for the next ten years. She has published many articles in
professional journals and the metropolitan press, and is the author of
Mimes on Miming, Behind The Mask; Commedia Dell' Arte, A Scene
Study Book; and editor of Farces, Italian Style and of Mime Directory
Bibliography.
7 Selected Bibliography for Mime and Physical Theater, Solo Performance, Improvisation & Creative Process Prepared by Bill Bowers for ISTA, 2015 Solo Performance Texts & Anthologies Extreme Exposure: an Anthology of Solo Performance Texts from the 20th Century Jo Bonney, copyright 2000, Theater Communications Group *** The Knowing Body: The Artist as Storyteller in Contemporary Performance Louise Steinman, copyright 1986, North Atlantic Books *** O Solo Homo: The New Queer Performance Holly Hughes & David Roman, copyright 1988, Grove Press Out From Under: Texts by Women Performance Artists Lenora Champagne, copyright 1990, Theater Communications Group Of All The Nerve: Deb Margolin Solo Deb Margolin & Linda Hunt, copyright 1999, Cassell *** The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe Jane Wagner (performed by Lily Tomlin), copyright 1985, Harper & Row 1 Practical Manuals The Body Speaks: Performance & Expression Lorna Marshall, copyright 2001, Palgrave Macmillan *** Movement for Actors Nicole Potter, copyright 2002, Allworth Press *** An Acrobat of the Heart: A Physical Approach to Acting *** Stephen Wangh, copyright 2000, Vintage Books The Art of Stillness: The Theater Practice of Tadashi Suzuki Paul Allain, copyright 2003, Palgrave MacMillan The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition Anne Bogart & Tina Landau, copyright 2005, Theater Communications Group The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theater Jacques LeCoq, copyright 2001, Routledge Respect for Acting Uta Hagen, copyright 1973, Macmillan Publishing Co. Mime Talking About Mime David Alberts, copyright 1995, Heinemann On Mime Angna Enters, copyright 1965 Wesleyan University Press 2 Apostles of Silence: The Modern French Mimes Mira Felner, Mira, copyright 1984, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press Mime Spoken Here: a Guide to Personal Style of Performance Tony Montanaro, copyright 1995 Improvisation and Mime Howard Muir, copyright 1998, Theatre Communications Group, Exploring Mime Mark Stolzenberg, copyright1984 Marcel Marceau, Master of Mime Ben Martin, copyright 1998, Paddington Press, Ltd. New York Claude Kipnis. The Mime Book Claude Kipnis, copyright 1974, New York: Harper and Rowe Publishers Mime: The Technique of Silence Richmond Shepard, copyright 1971, Drama Book Specialists. Improvisation Action Theater: The Improvisation of Presence Ruth Zaporah, copyright 1995, North Atlantic Books *** The Wonder of Improvisation Al Wonder, copyright 2006, Wunder Publishers Impro: Improvisation and the Theater Keith Johnstone, copyright 1981, Methuen Drama 3 Improvisation for the Theater Viola Spolin, copyright 1963 & 1983, Northwestern University Press Performance Art & Theater Theory The Empty Space, A Book about Theater: Deadly, Holy, Rough, Immediate Peter Brooks, copyright 1968 Macmillan Publishing Co. Performance Art: From Futurism to Present RoseLee Goldberg, copyright 1979, 1988, 2001, Thames & Hudson Inc. The Explicit Body in Performance Rebecca Schneider, copyright 1997, Routledge Creative Process A Director Prepares: Seven Essays on Art and Theater Anne Bogart, 2001, Routledge *** And Then You Act: Making Art in an Unpredictable World Anne Bogart, 2007, Routledge The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life Twyla Tharp, copyright 2003, Simon & Schuster 4 Physical Theater & Acting The Body Speaks: Performance & Expression Lorna Marshall, copyright 2001, Palgrave Macmillan *** Movement for Actors Nicole Potter, copyright 2002, Allworth Press *** An Acrobat of the Heart: A Physical Approach to Acting *** Stephen Wangh, copyright 2000, Vintage Books The Art of Stillness: The Theater Practice of Tadashi Suzuki Paul Allain, copyright 2003, Palgrave MacMillan The Viewpoints Book: A Practical Guide to Viewpoints and Composition Anne Bogart & Tina Landau, copyright 2005, Theater Communications Group The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theater Jacques LeCoq, copyright 2001, Routledge On the Technique of Acting Michael Chekov, copyright 1991, Quill Respect for Acting Uta Hagen, copyright 1973, Macmillan Publishing Co. Improvisation Action Theater: The Improvisation of Presence Ruth Zaporah, copyright 1995, North Atlantic Books *** 5 The Wonder of Improvisation Al Wonder, copyright 2006, Wunder Publishers Impro: Improvisation and the Theater Keith Johnstone, copyright 1981, Methuen Drama Improvisation for the Theater Viola Spolin, copyright 1963 & 1983, Northwestern University Press Selected Media Resources The General; a film by Buster Keaton The Goldrush, Shanghaied, The Tramp, The Kid; or any other films by Charlie Chaplin Illusions and Mime Spoken Here-­‐‑ videos by Tony Montanaro: excellent for self teaching The Mime of Marcel Marceau and Pantomimes; both great examples of mime by Marcel Marceau Mr. Hulot’s Holiday; a film by Jacques Tati 6 1766
Alumni Magazine
The Genius of
Bill Bowers
Making audiences
laugh and cry —
without ever opening
his mouth
ALSO INSIDE:
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• The Bzdak’s Give Back • Member Services Committee Spotlight
• Loyal Sons and Daughters 2010 • Sports Update...and more!
The magazine published
by and for the
Rutgers Alumni Association
SUMMER 2010
As an Acclaimed
Performer,
Bill Bowers
Finds Himself
Speechless
BY RANDY YOUNG RC ’68
Let’s start with the
basics. Bill Bowers is
an entertainer who loves
to give his audiences
the silent treatment.
More amazingly, they
lap it up. Some are even
moved to tears.
B
ill Bowers, a 1984 graduate of
Mason Gross School of the Arts,
is a professional mime with a
genius for connecting to people without
ever opening his mouth. Often compared
to the legendary Marcel Marceau, under
whom he studied, Bowers’ eloquent and
expressive movements on stage have a
way of awakening the deepest truths in
all of us. “I’m just presenting a metaphor
that people can fill in with the color of
their own lives,” shrugs Bowers (yes, he
can be induced to talk). “Oftentimes they
say to me, ‘I had no idea I’d be crying at
a mime show.’”
6
Rutgers Alumni Association – 1766 MAGAZINE
Since cutting his acting teeth at Mason
Gross, Bowers’ unique and heartfelt style
has taken him on a dizzying global journey that includes not just pantomime, but
Broadway (he was Zazu in Disney’s The
Lion King and originated the role of
Leggett in The Scarlet Pimpernel), TV
(he’s appeared in All My Children, One
Life to Live and Out of the Box, a popular
educational program on the Disney Channel), and film (he was the mime in Two
Weeks Notice, starring Sandra Bullock and
Hugh Grant). Some of his most satisfying
work, though, has been the educational
workshops and residencies he’s conducted
at colleges, high schools and elementary
schools throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Asia.
As known playwright and actress Anna
Deavere Smith put it, “Bill Bowers is a
wonderful mixture of skill and diligence,
humor and heart—a real artist for humans.
He makes you laugh and cry and think, all
in one swoop. Maybe he’s really an angel.”
“Bill is a wonderful
mixture of skill and diligence,
humor and heart—
a real artist for humans.
He makes you laugh and cry
and think, all in one swoop.
Maybe he’s really an angel.”
The Role of ‘Seat Belt Man’
Bowers was anything but an angel
when he started out. Working the streets
as a mime to earn bread while at Rutgers,
he was Seat Belt Man, stationed at Exit 9
on the New Jersey Turnpike dressed in a
crazy costume, waving robotically at
passing motorists to remind them to
fasten their seat belts to comply with the
state’s new law. He gave lessons at the
Menlo Park Mall to live mannequins on
how to remain stiller than a bowl of fruit
in store windows. And as Mechanical
Man at various public venues, he was
punched in the kidneys, nearly set on
fire, and verbally taunted by passers-by
determined to “break” his stone-cold
concentration.
and on weekends. “It was extraordinarily
challenging,” he recalled during an
interview at his East Village apartment in
New York City, his two pint-sized mutts,
Ruby and Taffy, taking in every word. “But
looking back, it completely changed the
direction of my life.”
That process began after his graduation from rustic Montana Rocky Mountain
College (with less than 500 students),
and the decision to venture East to find
his acting muse in the hardscrabble
precincts of New Brunswick. “It was a
dangerous little city, and seemed like it
was totally under construction,” he remembers of New Brunswick, circa 1981.
“I was suddenly part of this huge university system. For the first time in my life I
found myself riding a bus to get to and
from classes.”
Why Rutgers and why New Brunswick?
Bowers had caught the eye of William
Esper, then head of the acting program
And that was the easy part of his formative years as an entertainer. Mason
Gross School of the Arts put him through
a long and rigorous daily set of paces -voice, movement and acting lessons
by day, and stage rehearsals by night
at Mason Gross, with his performances
at regional auditions in California, sponsored by graduate acting programs
around the country. Following his acceptance to Rutgers, it was Bowers’ mother
who closed the deal, telling her son, the
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
Playwright and actress
youngest of six children, “There are lots
of times in life when you’ll say no to
something. Say yes to an opportunity as
big as this.”
The Process of Self-Discovery
Bowers has never looked back. By his
own admission, Rutgers allowed this
sheltered small town boy to not only find
his acting chops in the shadow of the
Great White Way, but begin the difficult
process of self-discovery. “A lot of acting
is figuring out who you are in the world,
and how you feel about things and
what’s your point of view,” he observes.
“And I had a lot to figure out.”
So much that he wrote and has performed before scores of audiences his
one-man autobiographical show, It Goes
Without Saying, which The New York
Times called “zestful and endearing…
full of life.” In his touching performance,
Bowers describes through a unique
hybrid of monologue and mime his fascination with the concept of silence. “I’m
a mime because I’m from Montana….
it renders you speechless,” he playfully
tells his audience.”
continued on next page
Spring Issue 2010
7
Bill Bowers from page 7
But it’s more complicated. “I’m a gay
man, and I was a gay kid growing up in
Montana – well before Oprah – so there
was literally no conversation to be had
around the subject,” he informs me. “So
the idea of not talking has always been
a big part of my life, and when I learned
at around the age of 14 that there was
an art form that embraced this, a light
bulb went off inside me. I had discovered a whole other language.”
He began reading books about mime,
and got support from a high school
teacher who knew a little bit about the
art form. His senior year in high school,
his mother handed him a ticket one day.
It was to see the world renowned Marcel
Marceau in concert at the University of
Montana in Missoula. After his perform-
Want to catch Bill Bowers
on stage? Visit his web site to
see where this critically
acclaimed mime is performing:
www.Bill-Bowers.com
8
Rutgers Alumni Association – 1766 MAGAZINE
ance, another light bulb – this time practically sparking – went off for Bowers. “He
absolutely made me want to become a
mime,” he says.
But first came his studies at Mason
Gross, followed by a budding acting career
with no shortage of roles on Broadway,
off-Broadway and regional theater. Ironically, his biggest break may have occurred
while he was in the hospital recuperating
from a serious tendon injury suffered on
the set of The Lion King. As Bowers describes it: “I happened to see a news story
about Marcel Marceau turning 80, and
from my hospital bed I realized that if I
didn’t study with him right away, I was
going to miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
So I applied to be a student of his, was
accepted, and spent the next three years
studying under the master of mimes.”
Learning from the Master
Bowers made the most of the opportunity. He learned from and applied the
master’s technique and artistry to find his
own “voice” as a mime. “He didn’t want
us to be just like him,” Bowers recounts.
“So what I did was use his classic technique to look at and interpret contemporary issues that really interested me.” And
that meant not just performing but, for
the first time, writing his own material.
From this artistic epiphany arose
Under a Montana Moon, a collection of
silent stories which takes place under an
expansive Western sky. Bowers uses his
medium to explore the idea of silence:
to remain silent, to be silenced, to silence
someone else. More than just a visual
performance, as critics have pointed out,
Under a Montana Moon is a relevant social commentary that poignantly captures
the heart, mind and body of its lone protagonist. Since its original off-Broadway
run, the show has been performed by
Bowers at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Accademia Del Arte in
Arezzo, Italy, and Norway’s International
Bowers appeared in Two Weeks Notice with
Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock.
NonStop Festival, among others. Just last
month, he returned from performances
in Tokyo and as the headliner at an international theater festival in Macedonia.
Bowers’ full repertoire of creative
talents is also on display in The Old
Photo Box, a show he wrote which had
its premiere last November in Boston.
The premise is this: an elderly man
comes across an old box of photographs
in his musty attic, and is transported back
to his youth, to a world of carousels and
other evocative memories. In this series
of 20 miniature “pieces,” all of which can
be considered photographs, the man
confronts his past and questions the
decisions that shaped his life. This moving journey through the heart and soul
of one man is set to the live piano music
of Sarah Bob, working from the original
score of Israeli composer Lior Navok.
Bowers’ imagination also runs rife in a
play he scripted last year while in residence at the University of Wyoming,
called Heyokah Hokahey. The tonguetwisting title derives from “Heyokah,” the
Lakota Sioux word for sacred clowns who
delight in doing everything (like walking
and talking) backwards, and “Hokahey,”
the Lakota word that roughly translates
into “go for it” or “be yourself.” Born of
Bowers’ fascination with the idea of being
an outsider or “the other” in society,
Heyokah Hokahey drives home the
message of tolerance and the fact there’s
continued on page 17
Bill Bowers from page 8
more than one way to look at the world.
The show begins rehearsals this spring at
a New York theater company and has
two productions scheduled in Colorado
next season.
Playing the Role of Teacher
Even before he thought of acting, Bowers
thought of teaching (he got his undergraduate degree in English, with an eye
toward working in the classroom). Acting
won out, but it’s not surprising the Mason
Gross alum would years later decide to
channel his inner teacher to presenting
workshops, residencies and performances fashioned around his illusive art to
students and educators alike, and in
settings that range from colleges like
Harvard and Rutgers to high schools and
elementary schools to professional actor
training programs. Says Susan Speidel,
director of education at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, where Bowers has
repeatedly taught, “His enthusiasm is contagious and his artistry is only surpassed
by his genuine affection for students and
his respect for the learning process.”
Bowers has brought that enthusiasm to
self-expression programs he’s created for
groups such as the Make-a-Wish
Foundation, Operation Smile, Teach for
America, and Very Special Arts (VSA). He
also worked as artist-in-residence at a number of New York City schools after 9/11,
helping children find creative expression
for their feelings of anxiety and loss.
What this mountain of activities has
created for Bowers is a frenetic routine
that taxes his stamina — and scheduling
prowess. Indeed, last year he was on
the road 310 days, either performing or
teaching. By his latest count, he’s entertained audiences in all 50 states and
performed in countries as farflung as Norway, Romania, Italy, Japan and England.
Still, making a living as a mime is never
an easy business, as Bowers will readily
testify. “It distinguishes me from the huge
herd of actors, but there’s not a big call for
mimes,” he allows. “I used to audition for
a lot for commercials. My agent would tell
me, ‘Go, they need a mime.’ But when I
got there, they didn’t need a mime at all.
They wanted a Ringling Brothers clown.”
For all the challenges, though, Bill
In addition to performing, Bowers spends time
teaching his illusive art to students and educators.
Bowers couldn’t be happier with the
niche he’s carved out. “I had the chance
to work on Broadway, which was fantastic,” he says. “And it led me in a direction
I would have never thought possible:
becoming a solo performer and writing
my own material. It’s given me a chance
to connect with people – and usually on
an emotional level. That’s what truly
makes it worthwhile.” University Swim Club Offers Membership to Alumni
O
ne of the best-kept secrets on
the Rutgers Campus is a hidden
gem known as The University
Swimming Association Inc. (USAI).
Since 1961, USAI has been a nonprofit,
full-service, outdoor swim club serving the
Rutgers community. Originally open just
to faculty and staff, in recent years Rutgers
alumni have been welcomed as members
at the pool. USAI is located on Sutphen
Road across from the Rutgers University
Welcome Center on Busch Campus. In
addition to faculty, staff and alumni of
Rutgers University—membership to the
pool is also open to faculty, staff, and
alumni of the New Brunswick Theological
Seminary and UMDNJ.
The club has a wonderful sense of
family and spirit of community — and
offers many programs for members.
These include a swim school, free adult
lessons, free adult water aerobics, low
cost children swim lessons, a competitive
summer swim team for children ages 517, designated lap lane swimming, and
an early morning adult swim. Additionally,
members enjoy social events such as
covered dish “pot luck” family nights, a
pre-teen night party, a poolside movie
night, “swimming under the stars” with
pool lights and tiki torches blazing, and an
adults only hors d’oeuvres social.
The facility features a large L-shaped
pool set in a secluded wooded grove
along with a small kiddy pool. Changing
and rest room facilities are available, along
with picnic tables, Bar-B-Q grills, and a
large open field with volleyball net and
“tether ball” post for free play activities.
The pool is open from early June through
Labor Day.
2010 SEASON RATES (subject to change):
• Family Membership: $560.00
(parents & children)
• Couple Membership: $420.00
(2 adults or 1 adult & 1 dependent child)
• Individual Membership: $315.00
For more information on
swim club membership and an
information packet, contact
Bob Markley at 732-463-1915.
Spring Issue 2010
17