Body Language

Todd Larsen wants to make it perfectly clear that he does not “do� mime. “People don’t like mime,� he insisted. “When they see the word mime , they automatically think of Marcel Marceau and white face.�

But, Larsen admitted, “I do incorporate many mime styles in my work--classical mime, pantomime and especially corporeal mime, which was made famous by Decroux in France and is the most important premise for the style of movement I do.�

Corporeal mime, one of the latest evolutionary stages of mime, involves formation of a movement vocabulary through the isolation of each body part, and cataloguing the possible movements and their emotional effects. “It’s a whole way of acting,� Larsen said, “letting the body do the talking instead of the mouth.�

But it’s Larsen’s mouth, so to speak, that makes his style of theater different than pure mime. “I still believe in words,� he said. And so when you see Larsen perform, he breaks the first rule of mime: He talks.

And he uses props: a chair, a table, a book.

“I was looking to start a new genre of theater when I got into movement,� Larsen said. “But I missed acting. I feel they go hand in hand.�

Larsen has been committed to acting since he was a child. “Both my parents were directors,� he said. “When I got home from school, I’d do my homework as fast as I could and go to my parents’ rehearsals whether they liked it or not.�

To incorporate his allegiance to both acting and movement, Larsen created a solo work called “Silent Reminisce,� which he will perform tonight and Saturday at the Worklight Performance Space in Reseda.

“It’s a play about a man struggling with his memories,� Larsen said. “He’s about to move and as he packs up some forgotten belongings in an attic, he comes across an object and remembers where it came from.�

The object triggers a flood of memories that Larsen feels can only be expressed through what he calls the “three-dimensionalization� of thought. “It’s an acting and movement synthesis,� he said. “Through movement we can see that the mind is troubled, and how the mind manipulates what we remember and what we don’t.�

How does this actually work on the stage? At one point near the end of the play, where a normal actor might cry (“Crying,� Larsen said, “we’ve seen that before�), Larsen moves about the stage to express the emotion.

“The movement could be a progression of 20 movements done in 20 seconds or a simple shrug of the shoulder,� Larsen said.

Todd Larsen will perform “Silent Reminisce� at 8 p.m. today, Saturday, Sept. 22 and 23 in the Worklight Performing Space, 17714 Saticoy St., Reseda. Tickets are $10. Call (818) 996-8688 for information.