photo: Larry Hanelin
For a man who has spent 30 years perfecting the art of non-verbal artistic expression through his work with mime, Rick Wamer is charmingly, even surprisingly, eloquent. The co-founder of Theatrical Mime Theater, along with Lorie Heald, Wamer articulates both his history and his dreams with passion and verve, uttering the words with a dramatic flourish and deeply felt convictions.
Almost thirty years ago, Rick Wamer was a student at the Goldston School for Mimes in Gambler, Ohio, now Kenyon College. His association continues to this day, and he and Heald now serve as the school’s Artistic Directors. His mentors included Gregg Goldston and Nick Johnson, as well as Marcel Marceau and Stefan Neidzialkowski.
The history of mime includes its transformation from pre-language communication to early 19th century French slapstick, culminating with the great Marcel Marceau, who was a teacher, mentor and friend to Wamer and Heald from 1985 until his death in 2008. Their warm relationship forms much of Theatrical Mime Theater’s underlying vision and philosophy, and it seems to serve the company as both circulatory system and lineage.
“How can the physical manifestation of the body transmit to the audience the drama and psychology of humanity?” The essential, universal drama is expressed sculpturally, through tensions within the human form. Mime is a compressed form of acting, according to Wamer. He wants to show essences of moments in time, moments of anger and joy, for instance.
“The arts give us humanity,” he says. Humans need to have a vehicle for symbolical and metaphorical expression, and mime is one form that can be the embodiment of the experience of being human.
Wamer wants to create a creative collaboration in Tucson encompassing theater, live music, dance, mime and the visual arts. He envisions a year-round, community-based entity, including outreach to youth, physical and traditional theater, monologue, multi-media exploration and circus art.
He also plans a Tucson mime/physical theater festival with local and international participants. Aiming for 2012, he’s looking for inspiration to the many events he and Lorie Heald have been part of; a Festival for Peace among Jewish and Palestinian Israelis in Shef-Amer, Israel, for instance, and festivals in Macedonia, Warsaw, Poland and Eastern China.
The spring showcase, Elemental Stories III: An Evening of Silent Music is at Zuzi Theater, 738 N. 5th Ave., May 14-15, 7:30 p.m. Performances will be a collection of mime theater creations, theatrical themes and some comedy.
Further information can be culled at TheatricalMimeTheatre.org or by calling 990-7425.
