San Diego Arts. : Theater

- East meets West at its wildest and wooliest in December. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show is slated for a run in Indonesia. And San Diego’s silent star, mime Mark Wenzel, will be tagging along.

“I’ll be doing what I always do--warming up the audience,” Wenzel said as he prepared for the journey. His mimed mischief as a whitefaced warm-up comic kept crowds at Sea World happy for years, but this gig will really test his mettle.

“I’ve been doing some research on Indonesia, and I’ve discovered that I’ll have to be very careful. Some of our (typical mime) gestures are considered obscene over there,” he said.

“You can’t point to anyone (in the Indonesian culture), and I do that all the time when I work with an audience. I like to grab people’s hats, too, and that’s no good either, because you can’t touch anyone.”

Nevertheless, Wenzel is optimistic about breaking down all the cultural barriers with his wordless art.

“They love everything American, and I know it will be great fun trying to make them laugh.”