A Way Without Words Renowned Slovakian Mime Milan Sladek to Appear at Gallaudet by Gary Tischler What would it be like to talk to a mime over the telephone? What would he say and how would you understand it? While speaking on the phone with renowned Slovakian mime, theater artist and designer Milan Sladek in Cologne, Germany, through two translators, I found out that a mime can actually have a lot to say. Sladek will be making his first official solo appearance in the United States at the Gallaudet University Theatre Dec. 6 and 7. Although Sladek is famous throughout Europe and the world, he is less well known in the United States, and his appearance here will give American audiences a chance to see this famed artist. ìYou would be surprised,î Sladek said from Cologne, where he has organized and led a mime show theater for more than 20 years. ìMost mimes actually love to talk, and quite at length.î In Europe, mime is a time-honored tradition that goes back to the career of Jean Gaspard Deburau, Sladekís idol, who created the instantly recognizable and seminal character of Pierrot at the Theatre des Funambules, well remembered in the clas sic French film ìChildren of Paradise.î ìWhen I encountered the work of Deburau as a child, then I knew what I would do in life,î Sladek said. ìBut what a mime does in many ways is very verbal in the sense of being expressive, of showing ideas, of communicating with the body and face,î he said. ìWords come to mind.î Sladek is a giant in the European tradition of mimes, of acting silently and of pantomime, a tradition that includes the work of Marcel Marceau as well as Charlie Chaplin in silent films. ìHere [mime] is and always has been natural,î he said. ìWe are used to seeing this as part of our childhood and accept its seriousness as well.î In the United States, mimes are tied more so to humor and less to the more serious aspects of art. ìBeing a clown that is part, of course,î Sladek said. ìBut it is also an opportunity. Mimes can show the human condition in all of its aspects and show it in a universal way. There may be German, or Czech, or French or Slovakian mimes, but they are first human mimes. We are citizens of the world. ìI have my skits, unique to myself and the characters I play,î he continued. ìSome of them, I hope, will be funny, and others will be something else. We communicate. But I am very pleased, very excited to be here in Washington. I was here before on a visit but have never performed here.î As an artist, an actor and a mime, Sladek enjoyed a prominent career in Czechoslovakia and, like many artists, was hopeful in what was supposed to be the Prague spring when all things seemed possible. But the Soviet invasion of Prague in 1968 curtailed all that, and Sladek, as well as many of his artist friends, moved into exile. Sladek went to Germany to create the Kefka Theater in Cologne, at the time the only permanent mime group in Europe. Sladek also organized the first International Mime Festival. In addition to the Kefka Theater, he founded the Arena Theater when he returned to Slovakia in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the so-called Velvet Revolution. Kefka happens to be the name of one of Sladekís mime personas. ìHe is unique, not like other mimes,î Sladek said. ìHe learns, he grows, he matures, he begins innocent, but has acquired some wisdom. Perhaps he is a little bit of me or, more likely, like all of us. He doesnít stand still. He is always entertaining new possibilities.î Milan Sladek performs Dec. 6 and 7 at 8 p.m. at the Gallaudet University Theatre, Elstad Auditorium, 800 Florida Ave., NE. Tickets are $15. For more information, please call (703) 922-7503. Gary Tischler is a contributing writer to The Washington Diplomat.