Study-Guide Trent Arterberry • Actions Speak Louder make good choices in life. Mime is an authentic, immediate Synopsis of Program Actions Speak Louder i n t r o d u c e s and unique experience of live the- students to the communicative and atre, which teaches social skills and Designed for secondary audiences, expressive art form of mime, and the creates community. It stimulates Actions Speak Louder uses modern potential of the human body. concentration, imagination and scenarios to examine how our own Students will observe how the mime abstract thought. inner resources can help us to make creates characters, environments, the right decisions when con- narratives, and the passage of time Educational Objectives/ fronting challenges like peer pres- through the simple use of body and Responding to Show sure, moral confusion, dangerous s p a c e . drugs and coercive advertising. The educational goals of A c t i o n s Following is a an outline of a sample Trent Arterberry Speak Louder a r e : performance with a brief synopsis of During his 30 year career, Trent each piece. Arterberry has performed for thousands of 1. To introduce mime as an art audiences across North America, Europe f o r m . I n t r o d u c t i o n and Asia. He left pre-med studies at UCLA • What are some of the elements that —Uses mime technique and to study mime, eventually training with the the mime uses to communicate his monologue to illustrate the road renowned French master, Marcel s t o r i e s ? of life, and the many choices we Marceau. • How is mime like acting? How is f a c e . it like dance? How does it differ? Don’t Be A Dope —Examines the potentially tragic 2. To demonstrate and make con- consequences of careless action. scious the expressive ability of the T V human body. —Demonstrates the medium’s • Give examples of how people com- powerful influence on the municate without words in everyday unwary viewer. l i f e . M e l t d o w n • What were some of the seemingly —A technological nightmare in impossible moves the mime made? which appliances and services malfunction and mayhem 3. To introduce and teach several r e s u l t s . techniques of classic mime. Birth, Life and Death Arterberry has opened for major • Identify some of the illusions that —A humorous and touching recording artists including Marvin Hamlish, the mime used to tell his stories. portrayal of the cycle of life. B.B. King, Spyro Gyra and the Kinks. He • How does the mime separate the O l y m p i c s opened Julio Iglesias’ first North American different characters/shows in TV? —Promotes perseverence in tour, including four nights at New York’s • How does the mime create the bed- achieving one’s goals. Radio City Music Hall. room/kitchen/bathroom environ- After hundreds of college appear- m e n t ? In the end we discover time and ances, Trent was named “Campus again how our own powers of mind Performing Artist of the Year.” He has 4. To introduce art and self- and body—balance, self-awareness, performed around the world on luxury lin- employment as a potential career imagination and perseverence—can ers including the world cruise of the QE2 c h o i c e . guide us through life’s most difficult and the SS Norway Comedy Cruise. • What are some of the skills that challanges and enable us to realize Arterberry has entertained at trade would be required to be a profession- our dreams. shows and meetings for major corporations al mime? including AT&T, MCI, ÆTNA, Mass Mutual •What are some of the Educational Content and Digital Equipment. advantages/disadvantages of being In 1998, Trent brought his public per- s e l f - e m p l o y e d ? Actions Speak Louder e n c o u r a g e s formance, Mime Out Loud, to the Victoria • How does society value/not value young people to think about the Fringe Theatre Festival where it won “Best the role of the artist? consequences of their actions, and to Local Production.” Trent Arterberry • 1 (888) 642-2788 • [email protected] Trent Arterberry • Actions Speak Louder Creating/Performing in the Classroom Creating/Performing minute to see the object in their 1. Students work in pairs. mind’s eye and to use slow, pre- 2. Together they choose characters Frozen Picture Warm-up cise movements to show size, that might be in a scene together. 1. Students work in groups of shape and weight. One character can be an animal, t h r e e . 5. Other evaluation criteria include: but not a television character. 2. The teacher calls out a cue word: using the whole body, keeping 3. The next question is “What are e.g. beach, family, football, zoo, test, the presentation uncluttered, we doing?” The students answer on the moon, or u n d e r w a t e r. short and simple. this by finding a conflict 3. The first group runs across the 6. The teacher can help guide the between the two characters. This room and forms a tableau students to notice what kinds of can be physical (a farmer trying (frozen group picture) that rep- gestures, facial expressions, etc. to move a spirited horse) or resents the word. help to communicate clearly and emotional ( a child wanting an 4. The teacher can comment on ice cream cone from a parent). what makes the tableau effec- 4. If students are stuck for ideas, tive, and what can make it more have them focus on some s o . object in their scene. Remind them that a conflict is not The Adverb Game always a “fight,” but can be a 1. Students sit in a semi-circle with problem that needs to be a chair in front of them. solved. Usually, conflict 2. Each student thinks of an comes out of opposing objec- adverb. S/he must then pick up t i v e s . the chair, move it and sit down 5. To help the students create a on it, moving in the style of the clear narrative, try making a adverb. For example, a student “comic strip” first: might be asked to move the a. Students form a frozen pic- chair quickly, romantically, angri- ture that begins the story. ly, fearfully, clumsily, joyfully, Who are the characters? slowly, proudly, rigidly, gently, Where are they? a n x i o u s l y , e t c . b. Students create a middle 3. When the actor is finished, the frame or two, to show the rest of the class guesses the c o n f l i c t . w o r d . c. Students show the out- 4. The purpose of this game is to Marcel Marceau, the great French mime, as come or ending in a final teach how quality of movement his alter-ego, Bip. (Courtesy of Ronald frozen frame. can convey emotion, attitude Wilford Associates) d. These physical tableaux and tone. will capture the essence of what gets in the way of audience a scene and help students to Do You See What I See? recognition. If students are really use strong, uncluttered ges- 1.Students sit in semi-circle on the shy, then no talking is allowed tures and expressions. floor, and perform on at a time. until everyone has presented. 6. Have students perfect these 2. One student walks into the play- This helps to create a safe and tableaux until they can move ing area, looks around, sees focussed environment. quickly from one to the next and something imaginary, and com- hold them in stillness for the municates what s/he sees by Character/ Conflict/ Narrative count of five. his/her expression. This is a long narrative process and 7. Students can then fill in the tran- 4. When s/he returns to his/her can easily take two 40 minute class- sitions between the tableaux, seat, the other students guess es. It does, however, help with creating a smoothly flowing nar- what it is. understanding story and structure r a t i v e . 5. As an extension to this exercise, in other disciplines and can be students can handle the object. linked to the curriculum in a num- Remind students to take a ber of ways. Page 2 Trent Arterberry • Actions Speak Louder Glossary and History Glossary of Terms The First Mimes In a sense, mime was humankind’s Commedia dell’Arte M i m e—t he art of telling a story first language. From ancient cave In the fifteenth century Italian com- through movements of the body. paintings, we specu- edy theatre G e s t u r e—a movement of the late that primitive known as hands or body that communicates people acted out the Commedia dell’ or emphasizes an idea or feeling. hunting of animals, Arte emerged. P o s t u r e—a shape of the body to insure success in Commedia was that expresses an attitude or char- the real thing. performed by a c t e r . Perhaps he acted out t r a v e l l i n g I l l u s i o n—the appearance of his ideas of the ele- troupes of play- something happening that is not ments and the ori- ers, who impro- really happening. gins of the world. vised shows I s o l a t i o n—mov ing one part of based on stock the body separately from the rest.