S.F. MIME TROUPE SEES U.S. PARALLELS IN ‘SPAIN/36’

In their own words, “We sing, we dance, we tell the truth.” They are the San Francisco Mime Troupe, whose “Spain/36” (with song, dance and, yes, truth) opens next Thursday at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.

Written by longtime troupe member Joan Holden, “Spain” is a “comitragedy” (“funny moments but sad at the end”) on the Spanish Civil War, centering on two historical figures--anarchist Buenaventura Durruti and Prime Minister Juan Negrin--against a backdrop of historical slides, rifle ballets and the meeting (in outrageous masks) of world leaders Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Churchill, Tojo and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“Our expertise,” acknowledged Holden, 47, “is putting a message across and juggling tones. So we are both political and comic. Always going a little too far. And being loud.” That sense of humor does not detract from the seriousness of their purpose--in this case, said director/troupe member Daniel Chumley, 38, drawing parallels to the world situation today.

“It’s important because of what our country is doing in Central America,” he pointed out. “Then, the fascist powers of Italy and Germany were rising up on their hind legs, moving all over Europe--and Spain was the testing ground. Many Americans don’t understand that: what happened there, how a small country can be affected by foreign intervention.

“Today, in the Central American context, it means allowing our government to interfere, supplying weapons, contras --just as Germany supplied men and equipment, as Franco was supplied by the Germans and Italians. It’s controlling what is essentially the sovereign right of a nation to determine its own future. So our actions today are very significant. We, as Americans, seem to think it’s our right to be a police force, to run the world.”

To give herself a historical overview of the war, Holden (who’s lived with Chumley since 1968), spent a year on reading and preparation--during which time, she says, the project underwent both theatrical and ideological changes.

“Two months ago, I would’ve said it was a historical epic,” she offered with a wry smile. “It’s become the story of the Spanish people and their struggles against the powers of reactionary countries, the landowners, the Church, the army, the foreign fascists--how they fight very hard, do everything they can to win, the reasons they had, the hopes, false hopes, what mistakes they made. And how noble the fight was, even though they lost.”

The actual process of writing, she added, “was very different from anything else I’ve ever done.” A 10-step historical outline soon gave way to an “Oh, What a Lovely War” version (“epic scenes that had no connection”) before its final incarnation. “My original ambition was that people would leave the theater knowing what happened in the Spanish Civil War. I’m not so sure anymore that they will.”

Added Holden: “But there’s a whole other level that we’re dealing with, something we never intended. At one point, I realized that I was writing a play about the Mime Troupe: that everything I’d read about the Spanish Republic, the choices people had to face were ones I have to face in my own life with the group.”

Chumley said that the Troupe (which, since 1959, has produced such fare as “L’ Amante Militaire” on Vietnam, “Frijoles” on food prices, “Hotel Universe” on housing and “Squash” on the energy crisis) “is very important to the left--though the left may not know it. There’s a certain idea about left-wing projects: that they’re childish, to be abandoned at a certain point. I think the Mime Troupe proves the necessity of a left culture, of institutions on the left that continue to survive to validate its ideas.”

Very recently, however, that validation lay in doubt--as did the opening of “Spain.”

“At one point,” said Chumley, “we were so far behind, they (the co-producing LATC) were considering postponing it--which in our situation, because of contracts and bookings, meant canceling. Canceling meant a loss of $85,000, the contract from here. It also meant losing the $90,000 NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) grant that was matched against this contract--which would’ve meant losing the $50,000 line of credit we had arranged. The show had to happen, or the troupe would’ve collapsed.”

Instead of collapse, they’ve opted for survival--at a price. Chumley calls it compromise: “It means coming down here and Joan working with a dramaturg, Bruce (Barthol, the composer) with a musical director they brought in, me with (co-director) Stein Winge.”

The situation is a far cry from their usual low budget, self-contained productions, and Baltimore-born Chumley (who encountered the troupe during 1967 anti-Dow Chemical demonstrations at Harvard and “just left with them”) is already getting flak from folks who’ve accused the 16-member group of selling out.

“Things change,” he said. And that includes their “not-so-young-left” audience: “In San Francisco (for their free summer productions) we’re now dinner in the park: yuppies with wine coolers and a picnic basket. Then the rest of the crowd arrives--which now involves many more people of color--and it’s big because we’ve gone electric. Our park audiences go up to 1,500 people.” (Originally relying on car and golf-cart batteries for amplification, they’ve recently acquired a large generator.)

“When I started out, we played to 45 people,” Chumley continued. “Our process has been to adapt, make the theater more available: both in terms of the kind of people in the company--which means guaranteeing a multiracial mix--but also doing whatever’s necessary. The electrification in the park. The bureaucratic hassles. One of our biggest struggles has always been to come up with enough money for the shows.” (Their annual $600,000 budget affords each member a $231 weekly salary.)

They hope to insure future security by keeping their base in San Francisco, but adding one in Los Angeles--and staging new shows on alternating years in the two cities. Up to now, they’ve created two productions annually (says Holden, “our audiences won’t accept an old show”), and the constant pressure to come up with original material “is rapidly wearing out our minds and bodies.”

For “Spain,” the 16-hour-a-day writing became so overwhelming that for two months last year, Holden set up separate residence from Chumley and their daughters (Katy, Sophie and Lily), while he worked with the company, “directing a concept because I didn’t have a script.” But, he said, with a sidelong glance, “Joan wasn’t completely away. “She did drop in for Christmas Eve, New Year’s. . . .”