ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090003
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
Doug Berky is pretty talkative for a mime. But then, he explains, contrary to what most people believe - he once believed it himself - mimes are not necessarily silent. They certainly weren't always so.
The Italian Commedia Dell'Arte was a hugely popular company in which the performers poked fun at society and at themselves. The entertainers' lively slapstick antics, which included plenty of verbal barbs, were so good they were stealing French audiences.
In what surely deserves space on the all-time list of bad entertainment edicts, somewhere around 1790-1810, France prohibited the Italian artists from speaking while performing. The resulting exaggerated actions and gestures the actors resorted to turned out to be possibly even more popular than the original art form.
On a recent afternoon, Berky tossed out such tidbits as he methodically plastered a Roanoke College student's face and talked about how he became a mime.
"I was a sociology major in college; that explains a lot," Berky said with a laugh. "But I enjoyed drama, too."
When he saw the legendary mime Marcel Marceau perform, Berky decided white-faced mime might be a way to combine his love of drama with his fondness for sports. He enrolled at the Dell'Arte School of Mime and Comedy in Blue Lake, Calif., expecting to learn how to mimic Marceau. Instead, he was introduced to the more physical comedy of Italian Renaissance street theater and the intricacies - and infinite possibilities - of masks.
He performed with the Two Penny Circus, a New England touring theater, then became an apprentice to mime artist Tony Montanaro, performing throughout the United States, Mexico and Sweden. With the Montanaro Mime Theatre, Berky produced an award-winning children's television series in Portland, Maine, and several specials for Swedish National Television; then toured with the theater of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf.
Since 1983, Berky has been solo, performing and teaching internationally and throughout the United States. His particular art form combines the antics of a clown, the disguise of masks, the illusions of a mime, suspense and improvisation.
"If I say I'm a mime, people have set ideas. So I sometimes call myself a mask performer. Then they have no idea what I do," he said.
As a Copenhaver Scholar-In-Residence at Roanoke College through Oct. 25, Berky is charged with enriching the intellectual and cultural life of the college through extensive interaction with faculty and students.
"You don't have a cold, do you?" he asked student Amy Kern, whose Vaseline-slathered face was about to become the model for an interactive lesson in designing and constructing masks.
"Because pretty soon, everything but your nose will be covered," he explained, deftly layering plaster bandage strips down from Kern's temples as a handful of students and an instructor watched. Eventually, Berky covered Kern's nostrils, as well.
"Some masks are recognizable as coming from the Commedia Dell'Arte," he said, retrieving a long-nosed half mask, which commonly spoofs an elitist nose-in-air attitude, and a pig-like visage that pokes fun at boorish people. Depending on the materials used and the design's complexity, Berky said the masks he sells generally cost at least $100.
He also occasionally designs and builds other stage props, with perhaps the weirdest being a pair of 6-foot animated latex hands.
Berky told Kern to move her facial muscles to loosen her bandages, then transferred the form to a sand-filled box. The sand, Berky explained, would help the bandages retain Kern's facial shape while he cast it in plaster, which he would then cover with clay.
His explanation of the mask-making procedure sounded complex. But Berky's description of his life and art did not.
"My work is my hobby," the 42-year-old Berky said. "I feel fortunate being able to practice my art and earn a living doing it. In my free time, I juggle, ride a unicycle, and I travel so much, when I'm at home I like to spend time with my family just doing family-type things."
Berky's wife, Marian, is working toward a doctorate in ethics. They have a 9-year-old daughter, Mikah, and a 5-year-old son, Isaac.
"Eating is a passion," Berky laughed, crediting his experience at cooking with helping him comfortably sight-measure the plaster mix for his masks.
In 1995, Berky traveled to Bosnia with Samaritan's Purse, a Christian children's relief organization. He also is involved with Christian outreach programs through a church in Cuba. "One of the sketches in my show deals with world hunger. That is a concern of mine; our lack of awareness about it," he said.
The audience may find a few of these concerns and passions addressed during Berky's roughly 90-minute performance Thursday. He said that the first part of the show will be family entertainment, with juggling, unicycling, slapstick and interactive open play with the audience. Part two will include three or four contained dramatic skits.
And, yes, he will sometimes talk.
There is no admission charge. However, seating is limited and tickets must be picked up in advance. Olin Theatre's box office is open 2 p.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, but will open at 7 a.m. Thursday. Call 375-2333.
Mask performer Doug Berky: Thursday 8 p.m., Olin Theater, Roanoke College. 375-2333.
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. 1. During a class forby CNBRoanoke College theater students (left), senior Molly Littrell holds
a neoprene mask called ``The Wind.'' 2. At right Berky demonstrates
how to make a positive mold of a face with a plaster mold and
celastic. 3. Doug Berky is Copenhaver Scholar-In-Residence at
Roanoke College. 4. Materials for his expressive masks (top) include
celastic (left, with acrylic paint) and papier mache (right).
color.