What will the next decades bring? Will we be standing under water, or plagued with drought - or both? Can the ordinary western citizen manage to live an ordinary life without contributing to the final catastrophe? Is it wise to invest in Antarctic real estate?

These and other questions are posed by the new production of Theater R.A.B. – Random Acts of Beauty – a theatre company based in Freiburg, Germany. Franziska Braegger (CH) and Len Shirts (USA), the founding members of the mask and movement ensemble, brought “Tip of the Iceberg” to California in the Fall of 2007. After touring Europe, Theater RAB has returned!

Together with director Ed Holmes (San Francisco Mime Troupe, St. Stupid’s Day Parade, etc.), the mask and movement theatre production is an entertaining contribution to the desperately needed paradigm change in society.

About the Company:
Theater R.A.B. produces original theatrical works speaking to the themes of the times through movement, music and the spoken word. The performers are at once actors, authors and designers of their shows. Nine productions for the conventional theater stage and dozens of smaller sketches and special performances in a magnitude of environments have had their premier since the beginning of the company in 1998: Park landscapes, castle ruins, thermal baths, subterranean cellars and even crypts have witnessed "Random Acts of Beauty."

Theater R.A.B. performance style blends elements of conventional acting, mask and movement theater, pantomime and music performance to create dramatic visual and acoustic poems, or light-hearted comic looks at mankind's ups and downs. The unique masks, designed and built in their own workshop, play a central role in most of the productions.

Franziska Braegger (Switzerland) and Len Shirts (USA) founded Theater R.A.B. after working together since 1990 in several experimental theater projects and movement theater productions.

R.A.B. stands for “Random Acts of Beauty“ – a name that has much to do with our belief that we can never completely control a performance. The minds of the audience, the environment in which we perform (even in a controlled theater space there is the surrounding events of the day), the miniscule changes in light and perspective that play such an important role in mask performance: all of these elements force a randomness upon the effect of theatrical perfomance… and this situation we embrace.

ED HOLMES
Ed has been performing and teaching in the San Fransisco Bay area for the past 34 years. Born and raised in Cleveland Ohio Ed came to the Bay Area by way of a seven year hitch in the Navy. He then commenced a seven year hitch as a college student where he earned a BA in theater from Cal State University in Hayward and an MA in dance from Mills College (1978). Ed began performing with the Berkeley Mime Troupe (white face, silent),was a founding member of i Fratteli Bologna (Commedia dell’Arte), and has worked with Antenna Theater (experimental and mask), Frozen Dinner theater (sign language) as well as developing one man shows - "The History of Clowns and Mimes" for elementary school children and "Subhuman-true tales from beneath the sea", salty sea tales about his service as a marine mechanic aboard a diesel submarine in the 60s, performed at small theaters, bars and VFW (veterans of foreign wars) halls thru out Northern California since 1999. Ed has also worked as a performer/clown/mime/choreographer with the San Fransisco Opera, the Oakland Symphony, San Jose Taiko, and the Philippine Educational Theater Association in Manila. Since 1986 Ed has traveled the country and the world as a performer/director and collective member of the San Fransisco Mime Troupe,(not silent), America's oldest political satire company (www.sfmt.org).
As a teacher of mime and theater movement Ed has taught at Cal State Hayward, Mills college, American Conservatory Theater, San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art , the San Fransisco Mime Troupe summer workshops and college residencies around the country, as well as movement workshops for computor animators at Dreamworks and Sony in Los Angeles, and Pacific Data Imaging in Palo Alto. For the past 29 years Ed has instigated and lead the annual St.Stupid's Day Parade held every April First in San Fransisco. (www.saintstupid.com).

FRANZISKA BRAEGGER
Franziska Braegger was born in 1963 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. From 1980 to 1987 she performed with the Swiss street theater company "Teatro del Cuore", appearing in small Alpine villages and for five years in the fringe theater festival of Avignon. Training 1983-1985 in Movement Theater at the "Vorbühne" in Zürich. From 1985-1987 she was a member of the Grotowski-influenced "Tulari Boga“ in Bern. 1987-1990: Training in Acting and Theater Pedagogy on the Theater Academy "Spielstatt Ulm." 1990-1998: she co-founder and performer in the companies "Theater Séraphim" and "Integrale Theater Werkstatt Ulm." Franziska Braegger is actress, director, and theater teacher.

LEN SHIRTS
Len Shirts was born in 1956 in San Diego, California. 1974-78: B.A. in Theatre Arts with emphasis in Acting and Pantomime from the California State University at Humboldt. 1978-79: Training with Leonard Pitt School of Mime and Movement and workshops from various professionals in Stage Combat, Dance and Experimental Theatre. He lived from 1978-85 in San Francisco, California, where he performed in Shakespeare plays, musicals, with the Environmental Dance Theatre "Zaccho SF" and in experimental performance works of his own authorship. He moved in 1985 to Ulm, Germany, to teach Theater Movement at the Theater Academy "Spielstatt Ulm." He continued creating and performing original works, and in 1993 was co-founder of the environmental theater ensemble "Integralen TheaterWerkStatt Ulm." Len Shirts directs, teaches and performs theater. Since 1976 he has designed and built over 80 masks.

VERONICA REIFF
Veronica Reiff studied Saxophone, Flute, Arranging and Composition at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, Switzerland. She performed as Lead Alto Saxophonist in the Swiss Jazz School Big Band with Bob Mintzer, Clark Terry and Phil Woods at Jazz Festivals in Montreux, Switzerland, Bern and New York. She performs with the Jazz ensembles "Pickpocket," "Moment´s Notice Trio" and "VIP." She was the leader of the 2002 Zelt Musik Festival's "Beatles Marching Band" in Freiburg, Germany. In 2007 she opened the City-Sound sound studio together with Jens Gebel in Freiburg. She has worked with Theater R.A.B. on various productions since 2002.

JENS GEBEL
Jens Gebel is an outstanding multi-instrumentalist and Jazz, Rock and Pop arranger and producer. Born in Germany, he studied guitar and e-bass 1993/1994 at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, where he recieved the award „Player of the Year“. He toured Hungary in 2001 as guitarist in the Dieter Ilg Trio, has performed with Scott Henderson, Mike Stern and Joe Diorio. He recieved the „Freiburg Zelt Musik Festival“ scholarship prize in 2003 for his work in his band „Pickpocket.“ Since 2004 he plays Fender Rhodes and keyboards with „toktoktok“ (German Jazz Award).