Born in Detroit, Michigan when it was the industrial capitol of the world. Great place to grow up in.

High school.

Had the good fortune to attend Cass Technical High School. Everyone picked a major and then had academics around that. I had the one teacher who made the difference, an art teacher, Leonard Johnson. We're still friends. It was in his class one day when I suddenly GOT IT! From that day on and ever afterward I was a straight A art student. I flunked all my academics. Did summer school every year to make up. 

Attend The Art Center School in LA. Was headed for a career in advertising design. Took mime classes on the side. Meet Stan Laurel in LA - think Laurel & Hardy. Just called him up one day. Visit him at home several times. This is the thrill of a young lifetime.

Get a job in an ad agency. Campbell-Ewald, one of the biggest in the world. That cured me. Outta here!

Sail to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth. It was October, the week of the Cuban missile crisis. The US and the Soviet Union were in a nuclear showdown over Cuba. Tense does not describe the atmosphere then. I pulled away from NY harbor wondering if I would ever see it again, if it would be there. Didn't know where I was going and couldn't speak a word of a foreign language. This was high adventure. Travel to Ireland to do Stan Laurel a favor.

Arrive in Paris and begin study with Etienne Decroux.

Classes meet six days a week. After a few months he began forming a company. I"m in. Classes increase to 3 to 4 hours a day.  After two years I become his assistant and remain so for two more years. Leave him in 1967. Stay on in Paris. Perform in children's theatre and tour the French provinces.

The year of student revolt. Bopped on the head by French riot police for being in wrong place at wrong time.

Return to U.S. and settle in Berkeley, Ca. 

Open private studio of instruction in physical theatre. Classes go on year round. This is a great time to be teaching anything.

Create first one-man show of abstract mime "Three Pieces." 

Still the purist, this was my loincloth period. Art with a capitol A.

Attend a concert of Balinese dance and music. Left the theatre dizzy and disoriented. Wow! This is a game changer. Six months later I travel to Bali and study mask dance with I Nyoman Kakul. Perform with him in village and temple celebrations. That’s me in the photo below. Return to Berkeley with a collection of masks and change the course of my work. Begin developing my own direction. My studio is my laboratory.

Create one-man show with George Coates, "2019 Blake."

 This is the show that puts me on the map. We get the review of our dreams. Crowds descend en masse. Do three runs in different theatres in Berkeley and San Francisco. The last run were midnight shows on Market St. The last performance had a waiting list of one hundred. Did an additional show at 1:30 am.

Return to Bali to study mask carving with Ida Bagus Anom.

Create one-man show, “Doppo Clown of Yesteryear.” 

Doppo is a retired French circus clown. This is a mask character. I carved the mask from redwood. Perform in San Francisco. Although the show is all talking, and in French, I perform at the North American Mime Festival, Syracuse, New York.

Form George Coates Performance Works, with George, Rinde Eckert, Paul Dresher and John Duykers. Create "The Way of How."  Tour the US and Europe.

Co-create and perform in “Are/Are” with GCPW. 

Create one-man show "Meantime" with George Coates who also directs.

Open Life On The Water theatre in San Francisco at Fort Mason. My partners in this adventure were Ellen Sebastian, today a director in the Bay Area, Joe Lambert, director of the Center for Digital Storytelling, and Bill Talen, aka, Reverend Billy in NYC. We produced original work performed by the artist/creators, including Avner the Eccentric and Spalding Gray.

Create one-man show "Not For Real" with Rinde Eckert who also directs.

Create one-man show “Spleenix” with director Ellen Sebastian. Perform at Life On the Water and in NYC at P. S. 122.

Begin research on Valentine Greatrakes, 17th century Irish healer. 

Stumbled on the name in an article. Got curious. Uh-oh! Spend eight years traveling to England, Ireland and Scotland doing research. One helluvan adventure. Write a book that finally comes out 17 years later. One month tour in New Zealand with Not For Real.

Perform at theatre festival in Campinas, Brazil.

A busy year.

Create one-man show “Ned”, written by David Barth. Directed by Ellen Sebastian. Create “Eco-Rap.” An environmental education program for inner city kids combining ecology and rap music. Take kids on a bus ride with a professional environmentalist, a "toxic tour" of their neighborhood to show them where all the poisons are. They write a rap. Perform at my theatre before a panel of judges from the rap world. Stage a big outdoor concert for the winners at the Embarcadero. This is the right thing at the right time. Media are all over us. Continue this for five years. Perform at Serious Fun festival at Lincoln Center in NYC.

Movement consultant for Jurassic Park. Work with animators.

Begin work on Paris walking guide book. Spend the next five years going to Paris twice a year for research. Spend days in archives or walking streets looking for what was where. You can feel my pain.

Create two person show "Seduction" with Ruth Zaporah, directed by Rinde Eckert and Jim Cave.

First Paris book is published in Paris in French. Promenades dans le Paris Disparu. 

My publisher sends me on the media blitz of my dreams. Book becomes an overnight bestseller. I definitely have my 15 minutes of fame in Paris. The book has hundreds of photos of things that no longer exist along with photos of the same spot today. I tell what happened and why. The most beautiful words in English, anyone would agree, are, "My publisher in Paris!" Swear to never do another Paris book. Too hard.

Promenades dans le Paris Disparu comes out in English as Walks Through Lost Paris.

One-man art show at Giorgi Gallery in Berkeley.

A Small Moment of Great Illumination - book about 17th century Irish healer Valentine Greatrakes is published.

Second Paris book comes out in Paris, in French. Paris, Un Voyage Dans le Temps. Begin work on new one-man show with director Arne Zaslove.

Complete work on 3rd Paris book due out in fall,

Paris, Postcards From the Golden Age.

Return to Paris and visit Decroux in his studio.

A busy year.

Create two person show with Ed Holmes. “Fo, Faux Fo & No Fo.” Directed by Arne Zaslove. Begin work on second Paris book. Create Berkeley Chocolate Club, the only chocolate tasting club in America. NPR does a feature story on the club in 2008.