For 66 years, the San Francisco Mime Troupe has packed its stage, along with its ragtag group of actors, musicians, and production staff, into a van and driven around the country, bringing its anti-establishment political musicals to parks, theaters, and school cafeterias, free of charge.
This is the first year that the Mime Troupe will have to curtail the tour of its summer show.
Along with many other San Francisco arts organizations, the Mime Troupe has lost all federal grant funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The cuts followed President Donald Trump’s funding restrictions announced at the beginning of May.
Though the amount of funding the troupe has received from the NEA has varied year to year, it received $98,549 in state and federal grants last year.
The troupe estimated it was short about $250,000, the minimum amount of money required to fund its traditional 15-stop state tour. After a successful fundraising campaign, it’s been able to raise around $200,000.
According to Michael Sullivan, a longtime actor, director, and writer for the troupe, securing funding is a “constant chase,” compounded by the fact that many Bay Area theaters are dying.
Despite a major fundraising initiative, CalShakes closed its curtains last year, along with Aurora Theatre. Many others have now also lost NEA funding, like The New Conservatory Theater and the longstanding Magic Theatre.
The troupe has struggled financially for years. Last year, it ran out of money to perform mid-tour. When its truck broke down, it were about to call off the show, but a supporter stepped in and funded a new one. Members of the troupe say their supporters are the only reason the troupe has been able to survive for so long.
Tax filings from 2023 show that the troupe spent $668,762 to put on the summer show, and a Christmas show, “The Red Carol.”
Its revenue that year fell well below that, to $415,626. Though the troupe has scraped together over $200,000 from private donors to perform for a month and it received a $55,287 city arts grant, Sullivan says it would need to raise at least another $50,000 to perform free shows for another month.
Its usual summer run, from the Fourth of July to Labor Day, will have to be significantly shortened, but the show will go on.
Sullivian says that in recent years, the troupe has also relied heavily on foundations that receive support from the NEA. If it were to apply for a grant from the NEA this year, after Trump’s changes to funding restrictions, the troupe would have to change the language of its application significantly: Any mention of diversity, equity, and inclusion would have to be eliminated.
That means virtually any mention of what the mime troupe is all about, which prioritizes a diverse cast and staff, and regularly puts on shows that are centered on denouncing racism. That is not something the troupe is willing to do.
Nor will the troupe take any corporate donations or ask audiences to pay for tickets. Sullivan says that doing any of the above would compromise the message of the show.
“It’s very difficult to not take corporate money … we’ve hired grant writers who have asked, ‘Well, how about Bank of America, how about Apple?’ How about no,” laughed Sullivan, who explained, “Even if a sponsor never asks you to edit any of your work, you are going to be censoring yourself, like, ‘If we say this, maybe they won’t give us money next year.’”
Over the years, the mime troupe has put on slapstick, but earnest, musicals that have thrown punches at wide-ranging topics, including public-private partnerships at nonprofits, ICE crackdowns on immigration, and police brutality.
This year, its story is focused on San Francisco city government. Specifically, a tech mogul-turned head of the Mayor’s Office of Public Safety, and her efforts to “clear the streets” before the president’s upcoming visit to the city.
Sullivan says that putting on this show is more important now than ever, even if the troupe runs out of money in the process.
“We’re about speaking truth to power,” says Sullivan who, in this show, draws parallels between the Trump administration and local government.
He says he would like for people to watch the show to be inspired to “rage against what’s going on in Washington,” but also, to “rage against what’s going on here.”
This year, Sullivan says he hopes the show, “Disruptions,” will encourage San Franciscans to take a stand against what he sees as the “impending dictatorship and Nazi takeover” in Washington, D.C.
But Sullivan says that in order to do that, it helps to make people laugh.
“You have to find the humor, so that the audience can relax and be open to what you’re saying,” says Sullivan.
This treasured part of San Francisco history must not die under this president and this mayor. Seeing the July 4th premiere has been our tradition for 30 years and we always toss a couple twenties into the bucket at the end. But the troupe can’t survive on tips alone. Please donate at their website!
I still get emails from Aurora Theatre!!! And the Magic’s gone? I worked at the Magic when it was still in Berkeley on Shattuck & Dwight Way. This was in the 1979s, when theatre and music was everywhere. ☹️
The inherent pitfalls of depending on government to fund rebellious cultural expressions that attempt to challenge the government’s positions.
The only reason why government funded groups like this is that they were absolutely no threat whatsoever. The only reason why Trump is gutting the NEA is to own the libs.
Today’s (June 4) PBS News Hour episode had a story about art and cultural programs losing funding from the Trump administration. It mentioned how the San Francisco non-profit SCRAP is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPKm9ALUC1A&pp=0gcJCbEJAYcqIYzv.
Most of us in San Francisco and the majority of people all over the country, are absolutely appalled by what is being allowed to happen! First the Trump administration went after the immigrants, then judges, then international students, then the colleges and universities…. It must stop!
The conman and swindler Trump and his fascist-MAGA gang are intent on attacking anyone who might stand in the way of his intention to establish a dictatorship in the United States. These people are cruel and heartless, and thrive on ignorance. Their emergence was the inevitable outcome of a country that is cruelly and heartlessly divided by extreme inequality, abetted by ignorance.
We are so proud of our artists, our dancers, actors, musicians, and visual artists– all the creatives– who really make San Francisco what it is!
Without the vocabulary they give us with the best of their poetry and portraits, our geographical plot would make about as much sense to us as it makes to a fish or a star.
Maybe one of our artists can provide us with the imaginative ideas we really need now when we are all in danger.
Marina – thank you for reporting the reality of cultural workers under the current regime. I haven’t seen the Mime Troupe in over 50 year’s, but so glad they are tuckin’ on and true to their collective truth.