Out of the Loop Festival review: It Goes Without Saying

For a one-man show that's completely different from Dixie's Tupperware Party, you simply must watch and listen to mime artist Bill Bowers' It Goes Without Saying. I know you're thinking "wait, did he just say listen to a mime?"

Yes indeedy.

Bowers, who has made a career from mime work, wrote and performs this 90-minute piece (it was developed with and directed by Martha Banta), in which he tells -- by actually speaking -- how he was destined to be a mime. It begins with how growing up in Montana taught him how to appreciate peace and quiet, and from there, the story frequently detours into his family and love life, ingeniously using the theme of silence as a through-line. Throughout, his liquid hand and arm gestures visually illustrate his story, as you would expect from a mime.

It's a fascinating work, a testament to how everything that happens to you in your life shapes who you are.

It is presented at 2pm today (March 8) and 5pm Sunday (March 9). Find out about tickets and more info here.

And below is a tribute to the late Marcel Marceau, one of two "great mimes" to whom Bowers dedicates this show. The other is his mother, Verne Bowers, who wasn't a mime in the sense that we think of one. But in the context of his show, it makes perfect sense.

-- Mark Lowry