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Crosscurrents

Teenagers get creative (and political) with the SF Mime Troupe

Courtesy San Francisco Mime Troupe
San Francisco Mime Troupe members Ellen Callas and Lisa Hori-Garcia

The San Francisco Mime Troupe has been performing free satirical theater in Bay Area parks for 50 years. They also run the Youth Theater Project, an after school program currently celebrating its 20th anniversary.

This weekend they’re putting on a Youth Arts Festival featuring original works by the young participants.

Lisa Hori-Garcia and Ellen Callas, members of the Mime Troupe collective, talked with KALW’s Jen Chien about how the teenagers adapt the troupe’s method of political theater.

More information on the Youth Arts Festival.

Jen Chien was the managing editor for Crosscurrents and KALW News from 2016 to 2018. She has been a contributor to All Things Considered, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, BBC/PRI’s The World, Making Contact, SF Public Press, East Bay Express, New America Media, and KPFA in Berkeley, where she took part in the First Voice Apprenticeship Program. She is the recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Emerging Journalist Award from the Society of Professional Journalists of Northern California. She holds a BA in American Studies from Smith College, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Performance from New College of California. Before entering the field of journalism, she had a successful career as a professional dance and theater artist, teacher, and massage therapist.