T. DANIEL
hailed as "Poetic", "Forceful", "Extraordinary" and "One of the World's Great Mimes!” is an internationally acclaimed creator, choreographer, performer of and writer on the Art of Mime and Movement consultant for theatre.
Born and raised in Chicago, creating and performing is a passion for Daniel. After completing his Bachelor’s degree and the requirements for Master of Arts degree in Theatre at Illinois State University, T. Daniel began his Mime training with Marcel Marceau and finished with Etienne Decroux, Father of Modern Mime. T. Daniel has used his knowledge of theatre and Mime to write and create 15 world premiere Mime plays, to bring them to the stage and perform in most of them. Many of these plays have toured the world including: A World of Mime; Fantasmia; Merlin & The Color of Magic; Structures on Silence; Magic, Mime & Mirth; Christmas Wonderment, and others. He has been commissioned to write and create four original Mime plays (two of them with Laurie Willets), two television programs and choreograph the MGM film Poltergeist III.
T Daniel has collaborated with 35 Symphony orchestra to create Mime works that visualize the music. These the American premiere of The Nightingale by Theo Loevendie; Nightrides and Sunrise by Jean Sibelius and L'Histoire du Soldat by Igor Stravinsky and C. F. Ramuz. T. Daniel has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on 8 different occasions.
In 2002 T. Daniel, along with Laurie Willets and Evelyn Meine formed the non-profit organization T. Daniel Productions to further explore the techniques and ideas of Mime. The first production of the newly formed company, with T. Daniel and Laurie Willets as Artistic Directors, was An Evening at Le Boeuf sur le Toit, with the re-imagining of Jean Cocteau’s pantomime farce play Le Boeuf sur le Toit (1920), with Darius Milhaud’s four-hand piano version of the music by the same name. This was the first time that this pantomime was performed by Mime Company and with the piano version of the music. He and Ms. Willets were commissioned to write a new Mime play to the lost music of Kurt Weill’s Zaubernacht (Magical Night) and to perform the world premiere of the Mime play with the American Premiere of Kurt Weill’s music with James Conlon conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival.
T Daniel has received recognition for his outstanding contribution to theatre and the art of Mime with the Urban Gateways’ Award, the Barat College Award for Outstanding Performance, the recipient of 3 National Endowment for the Arts Grant, 6 Illinois Arts Council Grants. He has been nominated twice for the Illinois Governor’s Award.
T Daniel has written extensively on the art of Mime including a nine-part presentation Mime… Speaking Out and the first ever Encyclopedia of Mime.
LAURIE WILLETS
“…masters of the exotic and magical art of Mime…”. Laurie Willets is an internationally acclaimed creator, performer of Mime and an Interdisciplinary Theatre artist. Ms. Willets is at the forefront of creating new images of Mime as she moves the art in new directions. She is also a consultant for Movement in Theatre.
A native of Chicago, Willets stepped onto the stage at the age of four with her training in Dance. She received her Bachelor and Master of Arts Degrees from Illinois State Universities specializing in French and Theatre. At the Université de Grenoble in Grenoble, France, she received a "Premier Degré" in French Studies. Her Mime studies began with T. Daniel, and then with Marcel Marceau, Pierre Verry (Marceau’s partner) in Paris, and completed her studies of Mime with the Father of Modern Mime Etienne Decroux.
Her training in French, Theatre and Mime uniquely positions her to write and create new original Mime productions, of which she has create seven including Sights on Scene and The Imaginary Road. She was commissioned to create a work based the environmentalist photographer James Balog’s book, Survivors, A New Vision of Endangered Wildlife. This encouraged her to create her own stage production WILDlife! With T. Daniel.
Ms. Willets has appeared with over 20 orchestras from around the world from Singapore to France including The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (8 occasions/11 new works) She collaborated with T. Daniel and musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to create the inventive and groundbreaking Mime and Music ensemble INnOvaTionS ProJecT.
She has worked with T. Daniel to create several unique Mime productions including Tea on a Settee with Satie, Benches (both the film and the stage play). She also created a series of television programs for Austrian television.
In 2002 Ms. Willets, along with T. Daniel and Evelyn Meine formed the non-profit organization T. Daniel Productions to further explore the techniques and ideas of Mime. The first production of the newly formed company, with T. Daniel and Laurie Willets as Artistic Directors, was An Evening at Le Boeuf sur Le Toit, with the re-imagined Jean Cocteau pantomime farce play Le Boeuf sur le Toit (1920), with Darius Milhaud’s music. She and T. Daniel were then commissioned to write a new Mime play to the lost music of Kurt Weill’s Zaubernacht (Magical Night) and to perform the Mime play with the American Premiere of Kurt Weill’s music with James Conlon conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival.
In 2002, T. Daniel and Laurie Willets were officially invited to the White House for a reception and given artistic recognition by Lady Laura Bush as honored American Artists.
She continues as Artistic Director of T. Daniel Productions as they explore other creative Mime Productions.