They’re MUTES, not mimes

Some people dream in color. Bay View resident Alice Wilson dreamt how she could make the world a little more black and white.

Wilson, an actress, has organized a troupe of silent performers inspired by the silent film era and vaudeville. They’ve named themselves the MUTES, the Marvelous Unspeaking Troupe of Entertaining Scoundrels.

“I quite literally had a dream about it, woke up in the middle of the night with a start, scribbled a couple ideas down, and went back to sleep,” Wilson said.

The actors write their own scripts and perform as an ensemble on stage or rove around festival grounds performing skits or improv. 

“Everybody thinks we’re mimes,” Wilson said of festival goers’ reactions to the silent street actors, who dress in black and white with white makeup, bowler hats, and the occasional Charlie Chaplin mustache. “We’re not mimes. Really the idea is-we want the audience to get they’re sitting and watching a silent film being made.”

There’s no spoken dialogue, but the MUTES use music and title cards to accompany the scenes.

So far, the MUTES have performed at the Alley Cat Revue burlesque show, Bloomin’ Days in Kenosha, and PrideFest, with upcoming gigs at Stonefly Brewery and other venues throughout the summer. They’re hoping to rove around at Festa Italiana. Wilson said the MUTES can modify how suggestive their tone is according to the audience.

“The unique thing about this group is we can adjust our skits and what we do to any audiences from children to the burlesque shows.”

One of Wilson’s favorite skits is “The Butcher,” involving physical comedy with fake meat props, where a lazy butcher shop employee during the Great Depression faces his overbearing boss and a flirtatious female customer.

One future goal is to get a live piano player experienced in ragtime and able to improvise as the actors improvise, which would free the actors from using prerecorded music, Wilson said. “My dream would be to actually have that-have a live piano player.”

Wilson said she’s always had an affinity for silent films, which she said offer lessons to actors on how to communicate a scene through body language and facial expression without relying on words.

“The thing that has drawn us all together is our love or affection for the era,” Wilson said. “It’s a part of history. We can learn so much from it.”

For booking, rates, performance dates, and auditions info go to myspace.com/themutesmke or contact the MUTES at themutesmke@gmail.com or (414) 430-0507.

MUTES schedule

July 18                 in the Brew City Bombshells Burlesque show 10pm at Stonefly Brewery

Aug. 6-9              Milwaukee Comedy Festival (exact dates & times TBA)

Aug. 22               in the Brew City Bombshells Burlesque show 10pm at Stonefly Brewery

Sept. 6                 Wauwatosa Farmers Market 11am-3pm

Oct. 16                Artbeat Show at the Hide House

The MUTES

• Alice Wilson (aka Vine Pewter)
• Jeremy Eineichner (aka Nash Vandeburgh)
• Michael Guthrie
• Greg North
• Rachael Lau
• Additional appearances by Jason Hames & Kasia Drake