The San Francisco Mime Troupe Reader

Ripped van Winkle

Ripped van Winkle 1988 Script by Joan Holden and Ellen Callas, with Sharon Lockwood and Keiko Shimosato Introduction Ripped van Winkle is the most charming and nostalgic of all the troupe’s shows. Rip, a hippie who wakes up twenty years after a bad acid trip in Golden Gate Park to the consumer-driven 1980s, has suggested the Mime Troupe’s own anachronistic presence to many observers. The troupe has, on occasion, been criticized as being too sixties, and Rip embodies those values. The power in the play is in the juxtaposition of Rip’s naive idealism with the narcissism of the yuppies, and the play searches and ‹nds a place for his principles to make a difference. The battleship Missouri, state of the art in 1944, is a foil for the real argument: is there a way Rip’s 1960s ideals can effect change in 1988? Commentary Arthur Holden As a large white guy, one of my contributions to the troupe’s mission was to portray characters who in one way or another represented the patriarchs/oligarchs/exploiter types: villains who make life so rough for so many of us. This was fun, don’t get me wrong, their obsessions were great material . . . but Ripped was a character with essentially my outlook and consciousness and my problems. This rare synergy intensi‹ed my pleasure in the performance as well as that taken from the response. (Email to Susan Vaneta Mason, 22 July 2002) Joan Holden This play is, in a way, my answer to The Big Chill. . . . Everyone usually either dumps on the 60s or oversentimentalizes them. I wanted to show what was 189 The San Francisco Mime Troupe Reader 190 ridiculous in that era without ridiculing it or reducing it to nothing. (Quoted in “Ripped van Winkle: ’60s Hippie in the 80s,” San Francisco Chronicle, 17 July 1988) Bruce Barthol Ripped asked the question we of the generation of ’68 were asking: What the hell happened? A cathartic and fun show to work on. (Email to Susan Vaneta Masen, 3 August 2002) Bernard Ohanian Ripped van Winkle takes a fond look at the 1960s through the eyes of a hippie who drops some bad LSD in 1968, sleeps for 20 years, and awakes to the rampant consumerism of the 1980s. The show pokes good-natured fun at the foibles of both eras and prods the audience to greater activism. (“Fighting That Bushed Feeling,” Mother Jones 14 January 1989, 49) Paul Schmidt Ripped van Winkle restoreth the soul. (“Mime Troupe Back in Parks with a Winner,” People’s Daily World, 29 July 1988) Audrey Smith For me, this play was a blast from the past to teach the future. (Telephone interview by Susan Vaneta Mason, 30 July 2002) Ed Holmes Ripped was an inspired show. Great to contrast the decades/attitudes. Makes you wonder where idealism gets a bad name. My character Benny was the essence of lost ideals. Playing the cheesy white guys is fun: I get license to chew the scenery and be over the top of the top. Having the crowd boo/hiss and being able to respond to them is a performer’s delight. I don’t consider myself an actor; an actor needs a script, a set, motivation, a director, etc. A performer just needs an audience. I feel very lucky to be working with the San Francisco Mime Troupe. I doubt it could exist anywhere else but here in San Francisco . . . outdoor theater needs good weather, mental and meteorological . (Email to Susan Vaneta Mason, 8 August 2002) The Production Ripped van Winkle opened on 23 July 1988 in Mission Dolores Park, San Francisco, with the following cast: Supervisor, Benny, Brad Ed Holmes Wong, Sunrise, Little Fox Keiko Shimosato Ripped van Winkle 191 Anizetti, PJ, Waiter, Juice, Del Mark Christopher Lawrence Rip Arthur Holden Rock, Woman Executive, Liberté Audrey Smith Susan, Crazy Lady Sharon Lockwood Woman Executive’s Date, Stone, Harry Rothman Lead Singer Rambo Dojo The Band Passersby, Cashier, Customers, etc. The Ensemble Directed by Dan Chumley. Lyrics by Bruce Barthol. Music by Bruce Barthol and Randy Craig with the band. Set by David Brune with backdrops by Kent Mathieu. Costumes by Jennifer Telford. Musicians: Randy Marsh, Muziki Roberson, Dan Hart, Barrett Nelson. Characters (in order of appearance) Anizetti and Wong, gardeners for the city Their Supervisor Rip Rock, a crack dealer PJ, his homeboy Benny, a lawyer Sunrise, a young person Susan, her mother A Woman Executive A Waiter Brad, from the...