American Mime Theatre Mission Statement

The American Mime Theatre (AMT) is a Performing Company and School based at 137 West 25th Street in New York City. Its mission is to preserve and evolve the art form known as American Mime, founded in New York City by Paul J. Curtis in 1952. American Mime is a Medium for silent actors who play symbolic activities in characterization and express the feelings and desires of their characters honestly through a kind of motivated movement we call form “acting in form”, that is both telling and beautiful. Every gesture must emerge from the deepest and most personal inner self, while remaining in direct contact with fellow performers through a dynamic interdependence—individual and symbiotic, vulnerable and powerful.

The Medium is taught through Classes at AMT’s Studio and outside institutions. The purpose of the Classes is not only to produce American Mime artists who may become teachers or members of the Performing Company, but also to teach the skills of the Medium to actors, dancers and other professional or beginning performers, teachers, directors, children and all those who find American Mime beneficial to their creative state. Initial American Mime Core Classes include the following Class Procedures: preparation, moving to words, characterization, Interplay, technique, elements of movement, freedom, pantomime and improvisation.

All Class Procedures are taught in the context of AMT’s Study Process known as the “Curtis Method”, a unique methodology that requires each student, in each Procedure, to define their greatest lack, choose a device to improve that lack and to show the results in class. Paul Curtis used to say that the Study Process must be entered into with a creative spirit like a game and applied with all the practicality of plumbing. The Curtis Method is guaranteed to produce independent performing artists capable of creating and growing in any professional arena. It will also produce and sustain a creative life for persons inside and outside the theatre world.

American Mime Theatre Inc., a New York not-for-profit corporation that supports AMT, has just appointed as AMT’s Artistic Director, Janet Carafa, a longtime American Mime artist and yoga master, who has studied mime with both Paul J. Curtis in New York and Marcel Marceau in Paris. Her mission is to create an all-new AMT School and Performing Company, with the goal of developing and evolving American Mime for new audiences, first in New York, and then nationally and internationally.

In her own words, Janet describes her mission as follows:

Our mission is to touch the world with expressions of the heart, using the universal language of movement to inspire, connect, and transform. By emphasizing truth over illusion, we aim to celebrate the raw power of human expression, fostering a deeper understanding of our shared humanity through artistry that transcends cultural and linguistic barriers. At AMT, we believe that the art of American Mime has the potential to benefit the world by:

• Elevating Artistic Expression: Training performers in the Curtis Method to create work that embodies precision, presence, and authenticity—unlocking the profound American Mime Theatre capacity of the body to tell stories that resonate universally.
• Promoting Human Connection: Using movement to bridge divides, foster empathy, and create a shared language of understanding that speaks directly to the heart.
• Enriching Communities: Bringing American Mime to new audiences through performances, workshops, and outreach programs that inspire creativity and self-expression across all ages and backgrounds.
• Preserving and Evolving the Art form: Honoring the legacy of Paul J. Curtis while continuing to innovate and adapt American Mime for contemporary audiences, ensuring its relevance and vitality in the modern world.

We believe that AMT’s ability to distill human experience into its purest essence makes it a powerful tool for connection, healing, and transformation. By shaping artists who perform with clarity, power, and intention, we aim to make American Mime not only a theatrical discipline but a universal force for good.

American Mime Theatre History

American Mime Theatre (AMT) is both a Performing Company and School dedicated to American Mime - a unique and self-contained theatrical medium developed by Paul J. Curtis. Dramatic storytelling is achieved through the universal language of movement, rather than words. The Curtis Method, a distinct study process and discipline with unique learning procedures, develops motivation, precision, presence and artistry. Every gesture must be intentional and personally forged through practice and a deep human connection with fellow performers. This is not mime as illusion, but mime as truth, that strips performance down to its essence, shaping artists who command the stage with clarity, power and authenticity.

It all began in 1952 when the young, 24-year-old Curtis, with training by Erwin Pescator, graduated as a theater director from the Dramatic Workshop of the New School for Social Research (NYC). He went to Europe to explore different theater forms and was disturbed by the arbitrary separation of acting and dance. Returning to the United States, he thought it would be interesting to present to American actors a project of mime to demonstrate its potential and to correct the limitations of the medium practiced by the French School of Mime.

Forming a Company of five actors and five dancers, they began to create new plays for a concert at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. The audience's response to the concert was strong and the Company decided to continue with the work - creating plays for a repertory and codifying the teaching methodology of this new kind of mime.

The famous French theatre director, film and stage actor, Jean-Louis Barrault (who, with Etienne Decroux, created the basis of French Pantomime at Jacques Copeau’s Théatre du Vieux Colombier in Paris) suggested to Paul in 1954 that he should call his new work “American Mime”.

American Mime has always advanced the art of movement-based mime. Unlike traditional pantomime, American Mime is not silent imitation but a complete dramatic art form, merging the depth of acting with the precision of movement.

For over 70 years, AMT has trained generations of performers, actors, directors, and movement artists, preparing them to command the stage with clarity, power, and authenticity. At the core of its teaching is The Curtis Method, a highly disciplined approach that develops motivation, precision, presence, and artistic truth. Every movement is intentional, deeply felt, and forged through practice and connection with fellow performers.

Following Paul J. Curtis’s passing in 2012, AMT continued under the direction of lifelong AMT artist, Jean Barbour, who even held classes via Zoom during the COVID-19 period. In the past two years, AMT has purchased and renovated a new home studio in New York City. In April 2024, AMT produced an outstanding performance, “Dreams - 13 Variations”, directed by former Artistic Director Arthur Yorinks, based on the original “Dreams” from the AMT repertory.

Now, under the new leadership of Janet Carafa, AMT is entering an exciting new phase, opening an all-new Studio School to train future American Mime artists and creating a new Performing Company. AMT continues to honor its rich history while embracing the future of movement-based theater. Through performances, training programs and workshops, AMT remains committed to pushing the boundaries of physical storytelling.