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Sure, jobs like that are thin on the ground. Where do you go when all you really want to do is swashbuckle?
Turns out, Iowa is the place.
That’s where Rage Theatrics is located, and that’s where Mims and his swords (yes, he has more than one) encountered an offshoot of Rage called Shattock School of Defense. That’s a troupe that buckles its swash on a regular basis.
Mims actually encountered his swashbuckling career at a softball game. Jason Tipsword (obviously born to fight) is the fight choreographer for Shattock, and he was at the game. When talked turned to sword fighting rather than runs batted in, Tipsword invited Mims to audition.
“You mean you actually sword fight,” Mims said. “I was kind of built for this.”
But he wasn’t ready for acting.
“I was a journalism and African American studies major. I read terrible.”
Still, when they let him show off his sword fighting, he won them over.
“I got a callback because I did good with the sword.”
Truth is, he’s pretty good with the ladies, too, especially when he’s playing the part of Ali, an ex-pirate from Egypt who “hooked up with this scurvy group of theater performers and decided to stick with them. It’s an excellent place to meet damsels, and (Ali) is motivated to meet the damsels.”
So hang on tight to your own fair damsel, but feel free to let the kids tag along after Ali.
“I love when the kids laugh. I’m always surrounded by a bunch of little kids.”
Three times a day, though, he ditches the kids and picks up the sword to fight. They rehearse constantly so the sword fighting comes naturally, Mims said.
“The choreography is very important because that allows us to focus on being funny. The fighting we know, so we can relax and be funny. We have a very good group of fighters. We practice fights as much as we rehearse everything else. I like to do it until I can do it without thinking.”’
IF YOU GO
What: Woden Thor Medieval Festival and Joust, with Theater of the Strange, Mistress Baud, Sir Gustave Doc’tain the storyteller, Celtic music by Riverwind and jousting
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday through Monday, May 24-26.
Where: Wild West Days grounds, Viroqua, Wis.
Admission: $8, $4 for children ages 8 to 16 and free for children 7 and younger
ON THE WEB: www.tribewodenthor.org/festival
Geri Parlin can be reached at gparlin@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8225.
