San Francisco Mime Troupe to be Awarded 2026 Prize of Hope at 2026 Baduwa’t Festival

This is a press release from Dell’Arte International:

Social History, San Francisco, California, USA, 1st July 1967, The San Francisco Mime troupe entertains people in Haight-Ashbury (Photo by Rolls Press/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)

HOSTS:  Dell’Arte International with Danish Institute of Popular Theater and Aasen Theater of Denmark

WHAT:  The Prize of Hope Ceremony & Dinner

WHEN:   June 27th 3:30pm, Pre-show drinks at The Logger Bar

4pm, Ceremony

6pm, Dinner

WHERE:  Dell’Arte International, 131 H Street, Blue Lake, California 95525

ADMISSION:  $30, ceremony and dinner only

$50, including early admission to Mary Jane The Musical 2: The Grandson

Purchase Tickets: https://dellarte.com/

“Theatre is, and should be, dangerous because it can happen anywhere, and be about what matters. And if we decide that survival is more important than being the dangerous truth tellers we are meant to be, we will have rendered ourselves completely unimportant to our fellow citizens.” — Michael Gene Sullivan, San Francisco Mime Troupe

That’s a pretty astute summary of why Michael Gene Sullivan and his partner, Velina Brown, San Francisco Mime Troupe (SFMT) actor-directors, will receive the 2026 Prize of Hope on behalf of SFMT. The prize is awarded each year to a person or a theatre that has worked for human hope; daring, loving, vulgar, serious, poetic… with sparkling energy against habitual thinking, which is the greatest threat to our culture: for a world where people use their own eyes, ears, and voices. SFMT is being recognized for a body of theatrical work that’s as vibrant and relevant today as it was 66 years ago when it began life under the motto: Theatre is the Town Square.

A little back story

The concept of Theatre as Town Square is closely related to Dell’Arte’s focus on Theatre of Place, and that association is far from accidental. Back in the day, the mime troupe decided that commedia masks would be very effective for their political pieces, so they invited Carlo Mazzone-Clementi to the Bay Area. At the same time, Jane Lapiner and David Simpson, erstwhile members of SFMT, were in the process of moving to Humboldt County. One thing led to another, and by virtue of serendipity, Dell’Arte began its Humboldt life in Panther Gap.

SFMT today

For 66 years, the San Francisco Mime Troupe has insisted that theatre must go where people are and live. In a time when everything is measured, sold, and optimized, they insist on something else: that theatre is free, that art is a shared concern, and that people must gather physically and strengthen one another in an open community—Theatre is the Town Square.

They perform in parks throughout the Bay Area, where audiences sit on blankets in the grass, and where laughter, anger, and insight arise in the very same moment. In this way, they create a space where people are not users—but a “united people,” gathered in large numbers and becoming a force, a possibility for action. In concrete terms, there is hardly a citizen in San Francisco who does not know of the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

Michael Gene Sullivan (resident playwright) has written this and more than 20 other plays since the generational transition in 2000. He shapes today’s SFMT artistically with humor and does not hide his viewpoint, but throws it into the space with force and laughter—creating a theatre where people must take a stand.

Velina Brown (director and actor) carries her characters with great stage power—connecting the political with the human, the concrete with the poetic. She is always in direct contact with her audience and creates a lived encounter with each role she inhabits. Together, they are guiding lights in a theatre with collective leadership and intact ideals.

The San Francisco Mime Troupe is one of the oldest ensemble theatres in the US, founded in 1959. They have survived changing times, political crises, and economic conditions that have repeatedly threatened their existence. “That the San Francisco Mime Troupe still exists today demonstrates that theatre is possible: a living encounter that calls for action and resistance against dissolution, erosion, and the breakdown of communal life. It is not easy,” notes Dell’Arte’s Producing Artistic Director Emeritus Michael Fields. “There is great hope attached to the Troupe: in their art, they insist that hope is tied to action. And they have shown that they can keep going. The Prize of Hope is a just reward for that persistence.”

About the Prize of Hope

The Prize of Hope is an international award. The vision is to promote living, vital, and innovative popular art. The Prize was first awarded in 1989 in Denmark and in the United States in 2008. The award is presented every other year in Denmark at Aasen Theatre and every other year in the USA at Dell’Arte International in California. Previous winners include Cornerstone Theatre Company, Clowns Without Borders, David Simpson, Jane Lapiner and Human Nature, and Tim Robbins and The Actors’ Gang.

About Dell’Arte International

Rooted in the rugged beauty of Northern California’s Redwood Coast, Dell’Arte International pushes the boundaries of what theatre can be and where it can happen. The organization revels in ferocious play as they train daring, innovative actor-creators in ensemble-based physical theatre, build community through art, and serve as a cultural hub where artists and neighbors gather to explore what matters most about our art, ourselves, and the world around us.