"Be careful not to bite through the fork."
No, this wasn't a warning to an overzealous diner at Dewick, but a rehearsal note to a mime preparing for performance.
Hype, Tufts University's only mime troupe, will hold their annual spring show in Cohen Auditorium at 9 p.m this Sunday. Hype sets mime skits to contemporary music, using the art's traditional physical theatrical techniques to tell stories.
Highlights of this spring's show include the story of a feuding husband and wife, set to the overture of "The Fantasticks," the tale of a disgruntled dog owner who will stop at nothing to ensure dog show victory (Beck's "Loser"), mixed-up nursery rhymes (Peter Gabriel's "Salisbury Hill"), and the soap opera dramas of a middle school homeroom (The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love").
Senior mime Lily Ladewig described the creation of each skit as a "collaborative process". Mimes begin the semester with rehearsals working on technique and by simply listening to music for skit ideas. By the end of the semester, these ideas become fully realized in the theater.
Hype, the only college mime troupe in the Boston area, is in its seventh year. It was founded by students who had mime training, but since then, technical knowledge of the performance style has largely been passed down from generation to generation within the group.
Hype recognizes that not everyone may immediately appreciate what their art form. The recent "Starsky and Hutch" movie popularized mocking mimes but Hype works to innovate and modernize miming.
"We know that mimes are considered un-cool by the general population, but we're doing our part to make them cool," Ladewig explained.
But Hype is not what you might expect from a mime troupe. These Jumbo mimes break through the stereotype of the panhandling street performer, updating the mime image for a modern generation. Although they wear traditional white face paint, their presentation is very different from their artistic predecessors.
"We're trying to bring this art form off the street," explained junior mime Kevin Miller. "We're not invasive... people tend to be bugged by street mimes. We give a different kind of performance."
By using contemporary music and situations, Hype connects the mime art form with its spectators. Skits in recent years have been set to songs by such diverse artists as Mason Jennings and the Streets. The music to which Hype sets its skits is definitely part of the troupe's appeal. The skits also make use of settings near and dear to Jumbo hearts, moving beyond the "glass box" that mimes are traditionally stuck in. Last semester one skit dealt with a conflict between two roommates in Tilton Hall.
Mime is a different kind of drama than theatergoers may be used to. Miller emphasized the unique relationship that mimes have with their audience. "There's a need for the audience to have an active role in the show that you don't get in other kinds of theater," he said. "The audience has to have an active imagination."
Ladewig explained that this power was what drew her to Hype in the first place. "I was blown away by the fact that the mimes could go onstage without [anything] and tell a story."
Hype is entirely student directed, acted, and produced. They present two shows a year; in addition to their spring show, Hype teams up with Cheap Sox, Tufts' improvisation troupe, for "CheapHype" in the fall.
