Mime Finds Niche in Ethnic-Oriented Show

There may only be one person on stage, but when that person is Sasha Nanus, audiences see a whole lot more. As a mime, Nanus uses illusions to create an entire world-- specifically, a world filled with Jewish characters and culture.

For 15 years, Nanus has been entertaining Jews and Gentiles alike with her unusual craft. But about 10 years ago she decided to customize the shows to her audiences. Thus, she began creating characters that reflect Jewish heritage.

Nanus will present her show Wednesday at the University of Judaism as part of its 1991 Summer Festival of the Performing Arts.

Her characters include a Jewish girl at a singles dance, a woman in a Soviet shtetl preparing for the Sabbath, her grandmother and a survivor of the Holocaust. Nanus even does a piece called “Zeyde” in which she depicts her grandfather, illustrating how special and important he was in passing down the Jewish culture.

To help the audience understand, Nanus gives a verbal introduction to each segment of the show, then she uses music, recorded voice-overs and her eight years of experience as a stand-up comedian to round out the production.

She wants to give audiences a special experience and “make them feel and think,” says Nanus, who grew up in Chicago. “I want to give them a sense of their Jewish identity.”

Nanus describes her mime style as less abstract than others, minus the strange body contortions people tend to associate with the art form. However, to maintain her physical endurance, coordination and control, Nanus works out about five times a week, concentrating on low-impact aerobics and stretching.

She first became interested in mime in the early ‘70s while a theater arts student at the University of Illinois in Champaign. Noted mime Claude Kipnis was artist-in-residence at the university.

Nanus became hooked on the art form after taking a mime workshop with Kipnis. Subsequently, she continued to study more intensively with him. A few years later, when Kipnis was teaching mime at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, he got Nanus a teaching job there also.

“Teaching really improved my craft,” Nanus said. “It forced me to fine-tune my work.”

Two years later, Nanus said, she was ready to put her own show together. In 1978, she was booked at a 1,000-seat venue in Florida as the opening act for Johnny Desmond, a ‘50s crooner. The 10-day gig taught Nanus a lot, she said, especially that she thoroughly enjoyed what she was doing.

Desmond suggested that Nanus contact the Jewish Welfare Board Lecture Bureau, explaining that she might get work through the organization. Nanus followed his advice, and soon she was getting jobs through the group.

Eventually, Nanus became her own agent, booking herself at colleges, hillels, Jewish community centers and Hebrew schools all over the country. With her strong entrepreneurial spirit, she has found a niche for herself with her ethnic-oriented show.

And according to Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben of the Kehillath Israel Synagogue in Pacific Palisades, where Nanus has performed in the past, her endeavor is well worthwhile. “What she does is very powerful and very moving,” Reuben said. “She takes traditional Jewish values and Jewish history and is able to communicate them to people of all ages. What she does is very exciting, because we don’t see a lot of mime anyway. But Sasha also tells these whole, wonderful stories through mime, and through them, we understand a slice of Jewish history.”