The San Francisco Mime Troupe  has been performing its brand of political and social humor for decades. The 2016 season begins July 2nd in Berkeley, and winds its way through San Francisco, back to Berkely, then Point Arena, Ukiah, Redway, Mill Valley, Palo Alto, Richmond, San Francisco (again), Oakland, Petaluma, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Nevada City, Davis, and Sacramento, before a return to San Francisco once again. 

This auction item is a package of goodies from the vaults of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. While we can assign a value—say $75.00—the truth is, to those who know the Mime Troupe, this collection is kinda, sorta, priceless. As shown in the accompanying picture, the legendary organization has donated the following: 

• An Official SFMT Lunchbox. An old school, metal lunch box that everyone will get nostalgic about! Tin. Dimensions: 8x6x4 inches. • The Distressed look hat, one size fits all heads. • The Mime Troupe Reader. Edited by Susan Vaneta Mason. A collection of some of the finest political satires created and produced by the Mime Troupe from 1965 through 1991, and a history of the company during those years. • An assortment of buttons and stickers. • A few CDs from the archives. 

The Tony Award-winning SF Mime Troupe’s 57th season premier’s "Schooled" Education. It's like the weather: everyone has an opinion but nobody does anything about it. That's how Livina Jones feels about her son Tom's new school, Eleanor Roosevelt High. With it's old textbooks, crumbling classrooms, and racist treatment of kids just like hers Livina believes Roosevelt is exactly the sort of school that can benefit from a little free-market common sense. The nanny-state government has failed to see students as individuals, and failed to give them the real-world skills they'll need to get ahead. So who says it isn't time for some big money, for-profit schooling?

Edith Orocuru, for one. She's the long serving history/civics/American government/basketball coach at Eleanor Roosevelt, and she's willing to fight for her version of education as long as her reconstructed hips will allow. But is she fighting for a system that can be fixed, or is she just too blind by her past to see how times have left her and her school behind? And when an efficiency expert, Mr. Babbit, is assigned to improve her class is it a sign that Edith is behind the times, or a sign of something more sinister? And with privatization on the line, and a Wall Street heavy hitter lined up to fold the entire district into his conglomerate, suddenly the next School Board election is more about a hidden agenda than the open curriculum. And when did the hall monitors start wearing brown shirts and arm bands?

The San Francisco Mime Troupe does not do silent pantomime. We mean 'mime' in the ancient sense: to mimic. We talk, we sing, we make a lot of noise. We are satirists, seeking to make you laugh at the absurdities of contemporary life and at the same time, see their causes. We've done shows about most of the burning issues of our time, generally shows that debunked the official story. We perform everywhere from public parks to palaces of culture, aiming to reach the broadest possible audience.

Donated by the San Francisco Mime Troupe. 855 Treat Avenue - (between 21st and 22nd Street), San Francisco, CA 94110. 415-285-1717. www.sfmt.org.