Outside the (invisible) box

Local mime competes on national TV, launches entertainment company

Posted
Mimes are up there with lawyers and female Republicans as socially acceptable targets of public ridicule. There’s no good reason — what’s so deplorable about invisible walls and stiff winds? — but it’s possible that their white faces and gleeful silences put them in the disturbing, not-quite-human zone anthropologists call the uncanny valley.

Joshua Moore, a local mime, has his theory, though: He thinks it’s because mimes challenge their audiences to do some of the creative heavy lifting.

“Mimes ask people to use their imaginations more than, say, listening to a musician or watching a dancer,” Moore said. “And a lot of people don’t like to use their imaginations for some reason. They want everything spelled out.”

Moore, 25 recently took his craft on the TruTV competitive reality show “Fake Off,” built around the performance art of “faking” — think “So You Think You Can Dance” for black light theater. Teams have a few days to create a themed 90-second act that utilizes creative movement and black light illusions, where performers work on blacked out stages with flourescent clothing and props that glow in ultraviolet light. They perform on stage in front of a live audience and a panel of three celebrity judges, which eliminate a team each week.

Moore was asked to join the Detroit-area mime group YFX for the show, led by a former student of the mime god Marcel Marceau. Moore said their first performance, with the theme “Science Fiction,” received mixed reviews (“Sci fi is not my forte.”), but their second act, “Weather,” won them high marks and led to what he calls a “magic moment of television” in his interaction with Rozanda “Chili” Thomas from the band TLC. Although the entire season taped last summer, Moore won’t say if his team won.

“You’ll just have to watch,” he teases. “But whether we win or lose, it was a life-changing experience for me. I was on national television in my skivvies. Anything for theater, I guess.”

Moore has been miming since he was 13. He got into it through his church, where he was part of a group that performed inspirational pieces. After graduating from Sexton High School, he studied theater at Columbia College in Chicago before moving back to Lansing and launching an entertainment company under his stage name, Josiah Moore. But Moore’s company has done something with mime some may decry as sacrilege — he’s added sound.

“I’ve added a live band, singers, sound effects and costumes to create this new genre of contemporary mime,” Moore said. “I’m trying to build a brand around it now. I didn’t want to get stuck in a box ” (Figuratively speaking, we think.)

Moore performs at community centers and churches, but he’s hoping to appeal to high-end clients, booking black tie events and fundraisers.

“Every time we perform, we get such extraordinary reactions,” Moore said. “It’s obvious we’re reaching people. But unless you’ve seen it, it’s a challenge trying to describe what it is I do.”

Moore’s performances skew toward the motivational; a recent show was dedicated to breast cancer awareness. He said his act is built around a song, secular or non, that he finds inspirational. But Moore said gigs have been sporadic. A recent high-profile job materialized but was canceled almost immediately.

“I think they were looking for something more traditional,” Moore said. “I don’t think they understood what I was doing. It’s still too out there.”

Until his business takes off, Moore works as a program administrator for a nonprofit. He’s also a student at Lansing Community College, where he’s studying advertising.

“I’d love to move back to Chicago, and New York and California are options too,” Moore said. “But I’ll stay here if I can find work. It’s a niche market. I just have to find my niche.”

But win or lose, Moore said the best part about being on “Fake Out” was the elevation of a much maligned art form.

“It introduced — or reintroduced — mime to a whole new generation,” Moore said. “And that’s huge. Mime will always be a part of my life. You get to create a character and live out these dreams. My job as a mime artist to push you see the same thing I see, and get something creative out of it.

“You’re creating this universe and getting people to buy into it. It’s the greatest thing. And if I can reach someone through that, then I’ve done my job.”

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here




Connect with us