The San Francisco Mime Troupe Reader

Hotel Universe

Hotel Universe 1977 Script by Joan Holden with Dan Chumley and the Cast Introduction Hotel Universe was created during a two-week residency at the Rencontres Internationales de l’Art Contemporains in La Rochelle, France, in July 1977. William Kleb describes the process in “Hotel Universe: Playwriting and the San Francisco Mime Troupe” (Theater 9 [spring 1978]: 15–20). The play is one of six troupe shows about urban redevelopment destroying low-income housing. It also employs a favorite troupe action: political awakening. The characters are pushed to a point where they unite and stand up to their oppressor. Hotel Universe is based on the true story of the tenants of the International Hotel in San Francisco who fought for seven years to save the hotel from demolition. When the play was ‹rst created in France, the ending was optimistic because it looked as though the tenants might win. By the time the play opened in San Francisco a month later, the tenants had been evicted, and the ending was changed. Hotel Universe toured in the United States, Europe, Cuba, Canada, and Nicaragua and was revived in San Francisco in the summer of 1986. It is probably the most-performed show in the troupe’s history because the plot and dialogue are simple. It can be understood by spectators who do not know English, although in Cuba spectators didn’t understand the concept of a landlord. It can also be easily translated and was ‹rst performed in a combination of French and English. In Cuba and Nicaragua it was performed in Spanish and English. Commentary Bruce Barthol There were two Hotel Universes; one was the show created in La Rochelle that became the basis for the show done in San Francisco and thereafter. 120 The International Hotel was the last remnant of Manilatown in San Francisco . The hotel tenants were mostly old Filipino and Chinese men who had never married due to the race laws when they came to California. The most distressing thing is that the site of the International Hotel is still a hole in the ground twenty-‹ve years later. (Telephone interview by Susan Vaneta Mason, 16 July 2002) William Kleb Hotel Universe has the simplicity and acuity of a political cartoon: the characters are graphically outlined (what they say is less important than what they do), and the action, on the whole, moves quickly, logically and visually forward, animated throughout by a single, consistent idea. (“Hotel Universe: Playwriting and the San Francisco Mime Troupe,” Theater 9 [spring 1979]: 20) Barry Levitan The irony is that the site of the International Hotel is still an empty lot. It’s a terrible waste of a resource. It wasn’t just housing; it was a home. And that policy continues. It’s worse today. People don’t pay attention to evictions anymore. Being in the Mime Troupe ruined me—since then I’ve expected so much more of people in life—that spirit of helping each other. (Telephone interview by Susan Vaneta Mason, 16 July 2002) Sylvie Drake The hotel is a painted curtain, the ›ames and ashes are chiffon strips of appropriate hue, and the spoo‹ng is splendidly underscored by musical sound effects. Proof that a good imagination . . . is the only true essential in the theater. (“S.F. Mimes in Hotel Universe,” Los Angeles Times, 9 November 1977) Ed Levey It was very simple and very physical. It’s probably the only Mime Troupe show created through improvisation that I had a background in. It was a blast. We got to create the characters and put them in various situations roommates might ‹nd themselves in. It was fun. Other shows, like False Promises, were fun, too, but much more work. (Telephone interview by Susan Vaneta Mason, 18 July 2002) Audrey Smith When we did Hotel Universe in West Berlin, there was a squatter movement, and when I sang “We Won’t Move” there was an emotional explosion in the audience—cheers, yelling, screams of support. The show is still powerful. Hotel Universe 121 “We Won’t Move” is a song that continues to live. (Telephone interview by Susan Vaneta Mason, 30 July 2002) Nancy Scott I loved it. I loved the content, which is about something happening to real people right now. (“Check into the Mimes Hotel,” San Francisco Examiner, 16 December 1980) The Production Hotel Universe was ‹rst performed in La Rochelle, France, in July 1977, then opened on 12 August 1977 in San Francisco’s...