What comes to mind when you think of "mime?" Do you think of the words "fresh," "clever," "hilarious" or "poignant?" If not, you have clearly never been to a performance by HYPE!, Tufts' very own mime troupe. Fear not, because HYPE!'s annual spring show is coming up on Sunday night.
HYPE! is one of Tufts' performance treasures. Founded in 1998, it is the only collegiate mime troupe in New England. The troupe, 11 strong, boasts absolutely no hierarchy. "We try to keep ourselves as equal as possible," senior Lauren Fisher said.
This ensemble's attitude shows through not only in HYPE!'s rehearsal process, but in its performances as well.
One minute the troupe is relaxing, snacking on energy bars in sweats in an Aidekman Hall rehearsal space; next, the music starts, and without any director's cue, the group runs onstage physically and emotionally transformed.
HYPE!'s skits run the gamut from hilarious to deeply emotional, bringing together a well rounded and satisfying show. To keep ideas fresh and readable, and to keep with HYPE!'s no-leader policy, no skit can claim just one author.
"We have so many ideas, and they are so varied," Fisher said. "Up until the last minute, it's all revision by everyone."
The skits are short, silent vignettes set to music. Sometimes the ideas for skits come from the music and sometimes the other way around, but the two are always very closely connected.
When there are several musical options for a particular skit, the troupe gets together to decide as a group on the right choice.
During these sessions, all of the options are played by the original author, or authors, of the skit. In most other groups, these meetings would lead to petty bickering over which song fits the emotions or the sets the tone better. But for HYPE!, when the right song comes on, everyone points excitedly to the speakers and shouts, "There! That's the one!" and they waste no time getting down to work.
The skits are fascinating for audiences because, as the troupe emphasizes, there is no right or wrong way to interpret them. During a rehearsal, the troupe asked the small audience what two characters had been standing on in one scene. Answers ranged from a bridge to a roof garden. The entire troupe was quick to assure the audience that both answers were right, and that all they had to do was make the setting more clear.
But fundamentally, according to HYPE!, it doesn't matter whether the audience sees a bridge or a roof garden. What matters most is that the audience stops seeing "a man miming drinking at a bar," and starts seeing "a man drinking at a bar," which is what invariably happens, and that's what makes these shows so much fun to see.
Still not convinced enough to attend HYPE!'s spring show at 8 p.m. on Sunday in Cohen Auditorium?
"Tell them we're wicked rad," says the troupe.
