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INVENTORY OF THE RONALD G. DAVIS PAPERS
D-065
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Table of contents
Title: RONALD G. DAVIS PAPERS
Date (inclusive): 1960-1973
Collection number: D-065
Origination: Davis, Ronald G.
Extent: 11.80 linear feet in 16 boxes
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library. Dept. of Special Collections.
Davis, California
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the Special Collections Department.
Language:
English.
The Ronald G. Davis Papers were purchased in 1975 and 1980 from Ronald G. Davis, founder
of the San Francisco Mime Troupe.
Collection is open for research.
The Library can only claim physical ownership of the Ronald G. Davis Papers. Users are
responsible for satisfying any claimants of literary property.
[Identification of item] RONALD G. DAVIS PAPERS, D-065, Department of Special Collections,
General Library, University of California, Davis.
Biography and Company History (The First Ten Years)
Ronald G.
Davis was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 9, 1933. He graduated from the University
of New Mexico with a degree in economics in 1955. During the next several years, Davis
gained an extensive performing arts background which included classes in modern dance and
attendance at the American Mime Studio in New York where he studied under Paul Curtis.
Subsequently, in 1957, he received a Fullbright scholarship allowing him to study under
Etienne Decroux at L'Ecole de Mime in Paris.
In 1959, Davis settled in San Francisco where he joined the Actors Workshop as an
assistant director. He soon formed the R. G. Davis Mime Troupe, and, under the auspices
of the Workshop, presented conventional mime shows in the tradition of Chaplin and
improvised performances called "events." Later, his commitment to reach a broader
audience led to his producing free outdoor performances in the San Francisco parks. He
chose the commedia dell'arte style for these performances, the first of which was
presented in January of 1962.
In January of 1963, Davis left the Actors Workshop. Soon afterwards, he renamed his
company the San Francisco Mime Troupe. He was seeking an alternative to commercial,
subsidized theater and a style to treat serious, current issues and to express his
radical politics which over the decade evolved from avant garde and counterculture to
more specifically Marxist. Davis wanted his theater to be a catalyst for social change,
and in 1966 he coined the term Guerrilla Theatre in an article describing the Troupe's
work. He maintained that theater in the U.S. should teach, direct toward change, and be
an example of change. The Mime Troupe's style has been described as "presentational,
broadly comic, mixing traditional mime, commedia and Brechtian techniques." Among other
forms developed by the troupe were the minstrel show, vaudeville, circus techniques,
puppet shows, melodrama, and band music.
In 1970, due to conflicts concerning focus, ideology, and organization, Davis left the
troupe which then became a collective.
The Ronald G. Davis Papers consist of rare items relating to the San Francisco Mime
Troupe's early period (1960-1970). These materials contain audio tapes, financial
records, general office files, legal records, photographs, production files, promotional
material, published material, scrapbooks, and scripts.
Included is a substantial amount of material relating to Bill Graham's extensive booking
of the troupe in
A Minstrel Show or Civil Rights in a Cracker Barrel.
The Production Files in particular reveal the troupe's working methods during its first
decade while under the direction of its founding director, Ronald G. Davis.