I have been remiss lately in not mentioning one of my very favorite midwest school assemblies, performed by a skilled and passionate young gentleman, who is certainly one of the best school assembly performers I have ever seen!

If you have read my earlier blogs, you will know my feelings about paying authors of children's literature to visit schools as school assembly performers. In short, I have almost always been disappointed either in the expense and trouble it took to arrange the visit, or in the lack of performance skills exhibited by the authors. Writing is, by nature, a solitary endeavor, and most writers simply do not have the same skills as professional performers when it comes to capturing the attention of an audience.

Thankfully, when it comes to encouraging writing through school assemblies, there is a stunning alternative.

Years ago, a young man from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan was studying theatre at Wayne State University in Detroit. He became interested in the field of classical mime. Heedless to warnings from friends and family that mimes live at the bottom of the professional performer food chain, this young man decided to risk a lot and set off to spend a year of his life in Paris, France. There he studied classical mime under the genius of grand master Marcel Marceau, the most famous and successful mime in the world.

In the months that followed, Tom, the young man we are discussing, worked hard, learned much, and eventually became known as “Toma the Mime”. In France, apparently, his French friends, trying to pronounce “Thomas” would end up with “Toma” and so this became his “mime” name.

Upon returning to the states, Toma set out to create his most enduring and influential work, a program to use mime to teach children the joy of creative writing and imagination.

Years later, and with thousands of performances under his belt, Toma is a master at his program, “Young Authors Day”, and even maintains a Facebook page where his legions of young student fans may write out their admiration for him!

His program consists of performing first, in order to demonstrate to the extreme delight of his audience, the manner in which a mime may tell a story. He then visits classrooms while the students engage in writing stories based on a rubric given them during the opening assembly. In the afternoon, Toma returns to perform the stories written by the students that morning. In one great school assembly day, kids are entertained, encouraged to write, given incentive to write and then rewarded for their writing!

Our records are filled with glowing comments from schools throughout the Midwest. Here is one from Carloyn Bucko, principal of Lake Village Elementary in Lake Village, Indiana:

“This performer was awesome! The students were engaged and really enjoyed the whole process of writing and performing their stories!”

Most author visits pale in comparison to this magical day which comes at a price far below that charged by even lessor writers, and with far less trouble or difficulty.

Toma is available for Michigan school assemblies, Ohio school assemblies, Indiana school assemblies and assemblies in Kentucky. This winter he is also visiting Texas, so schools looking for Texas school assemblies yet this year might want to consider hosting Toma. 

For schools outside those areas, despair is not required. Toma has trained some very able assistants and they are able to offer his Young Authors Day in other areas. Illinois school assemblies are available, as are Wisconsin school assemblies, through the skilled presentations of Jeff Hoge, a marvelous disciple of Toma. And schools on the West Coast are also able to get involved. California school assemblies are performed by Karen Lorshbough, a very skilled and highly trained mime in her own right, who lives in Los Angeles and is available for performances throughout California. In addition, our East coast friends are still able to participate in this fine program by way of two highly experienced performers, Mr. Jeff Dove and Ms. Lluana Jones!

So wherever you live, your school and your kids can enjoy the wonder of Young Authors Day! Thanks to you, Mr. Toma!

Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN