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Comical, Profound, Intimate & Breathtaking

Tony & Karen Montanaro

Karen Montanaro’s one-woman, multi-media show, Tony Montanaro ~ A Love Story, is a comical, profound, intimate, and breathtaking account of the personal and professional relationship between Tony and Karen Montanaro.

When Tony and Karen met in 1987, Tony was a world renowned mime artist and Karen was a professional ballet dancer. Tony was 60 years old and freshly divorced. Karen was a 27 year-old virgin. Tony was ready to leave his former life, buy an Airstream and hit the road. Karen was at a dead end, suffering from anxiety attacks and a life-threatening malaise. Thus began a relationship that Karen credits with saving her life; imparting grand lessons in vulnerability, artistry, playfulness and more playfulness.

The show is partially funded by an ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) grant from the Maine Arts Commission that was generously matched by Tom Bergeron, former television host of Dancing with the Stars, America’s Funniest Home Videos and Hollywood Squares, and one of Tony’s most famous protégées.

Press Release for ARPA Grant Reward: Click Here.

Introducing Tony

An early student of both Marcel Marceau and Marceau’s teacher, Etienne Decroux, Tony Montanaro was one of the great masters of mime.

Tony taught his personal style of “physical eloquence” to thousands of students and other teachers for over 50 years – and not just to mimes. Actors, musicians, acrobats and clowns, storytellers and dancers, jugglers and magicians – all sought out Tony for his unique ability to turn individual talents into true and marketable theatre. Tony founded the Celebration Barn in South Paris, Maine, where he taught for 17 years, directing several touring companies and launching many duet and solo careers. He toured nationally and internationally with his wife and partner, Karen Hurll-Montanaro as the Montanaro-Hurll Theater of Mime and Dance.

To Tony, mime is “eloquent gesture,” with or without words, with or without props. Montanaro’s approach is more than an invaluable lesson in theatre; it’s a lesson in communication. Knowing what you want to project, sensing what the audience sees, and developing the skill necessary to bring the two together with eloquence and personal style is the focus of Tony’s Montanaro’s method.

Research Tony Montanaro’s Legacy Here: Click Here.

Introducing Karen

Karen Montanaro is a world-renowned dancer and mime artist, an award-winning choreographer, and the innovator of “mimedance” (the fusion of two classical art forms).

Karen is a teaching artist and offers residencies in movement, mime and dance in public and private schools throughout the United States. She studied ballet at the Cantarella School of Dance, the Ram Island Dance Center and on scholarship with the Joffrey Ballet School. Karen danced professionally with the Ohio Ballet and the Darmstadt Opera Ballet in Germany. For more than a decade, Karen toured and taught internationally with her husband and teacher, mime master Tony Montanaro.

Research Karen Montanaro Here: Click Here.