There are few experiences in life more complete and more exhilarating than making a show -- actors and acrobats, puppeteers and musicians, with sets made by sculptors and painters and with bursts of unexpected dance between the passages of dialogue.

For two decades I have worked with extraordinarily talented performers. I love the physicality of the work and the demands made on all parts of a person.

The theatre that most fascinates me is unabashedly experimental, frequently elliptical and poetic in its probing. Having lived and traveled with troupes comprised of performers from many countries, and having played our pieces before audiences with whom we shared no spoken languages, I believe deeply in the power of images, sounds, and movements to transport witnesses into states akin to nightmare and dream.

I have been repeatedly renewed by contact with the ideas of Eugenio Barba, Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook, and Ariane Mnouchkine, as well as Brecht, Artaud, and Shakespeare.

I apprenticed as a youth with Peter Schumann and his ensemble, grew up with the Expanding Secret Company and Les Montreurs d'Images, and now find myself immersed in the cyclical productions of Carol Langstaff's Flock Dance Troupe and the madcap political exploits of Duncan Nichols and company.

I am a good person to have around during a production, as there are many tasks I understand and can do well. I am open to overtures from any direction.

Performances

With Bread and Puppet, in addition to the annual Domestic Resurrection Circus and the gigantic pageants that follow, Schley has performed in these stage shows, including tours of the U.S., Canada, and Europe: The Difficult Life of Uncle Fatso (1979); Two Villages (1980); The Story of One Who Set Out to Study Fear (1980); Saint Francis Preaches to the Potatoes (1981; Guernica/Esteli (1984; Warsong of the Things (1984); Devil's Contract (1985); The Hunger Cantata (Hunger of the Hungry and Hunger of the Overfed) (1987); A Tree: Sally Hemmings (1987); The Foot (1987); Life and Death of the Fireman (1987); Archetypal Slogan Circus (1987); The Ballad of Ben Linder (1987); and the Emergency Exit Circus (1988).

With the band The Gourds (also featuring Duncan Nichols, Chris Hebb, Joani Crosson, Patrick Freund, Nate Hine, and Nicolette Corrao): Performances at the Lebanon (N.H.) Opera House, Norwich (Vt.) Congregational Church, Hanover (N.H.) Grange, Nector's nightclub in Burlington, Vermont, and on Vermont Public Radio. (1983 - 84.)

With Georgina Forbes and Nancy Cressman: Peace Hunger Kitchen. Installations with performances in New Hampshire, Vermont, at the Riverside Church in New York City, and in the Capitol Rotunda, Washington, D.C. (throughout 1985).

With Amy Trompetter: Salut au Monde (performed at Middlebury College, 1985) and Colossal Birthday Party, commemorating the installation of The Statue of Liberty and performed at the Customs Building in Battery Park, New York City (1986).

With the Expanding Secret Company: Girl in First Position (1987) and Alexander Nevsky (1988), with performances in Vermont and New York City.

With Les Montreurs d'Images, directed by Monique Decosterd and Marco Jaccoud, including tours of Switzerland and central Europe: Jehanne Romée (1988, 1989, 1990); Le Grand Voyage (1989); Salut à la Compagnie (1989); Un Autre Voyage (1990); Lumen (1990); and a command performance at the inauguration of Czech president Vaclav Havel in July, 1990.

With Pendium, directed by Tracy Penfield: Performances in Lyme, N.H., Manchester, N.H., and Norwich, Vermont (1990 - 92).

With Revels North, directed by Carol Langstaff: numerous performances in Lyme, New Hampshire and Strafford, Vermont (1992).

With Other Voices, directed by Hedy Anderegg and featuring actor Alex Cherington, contrebassist William Craig, and dancer Jim Schley: Yo, Hamlet (three performances in New Hampshire and Vermont, 1999 - 2000).

With Flock Dance Troupe, directed by Carol Langstaff: Elemental (1999); Joy (2001); Go! Move! Shift! (2002); and the forthcoming Give or Take? (2003).

With the Cabaret Moose Players (also featuring Duncan Nichols, Ria Blaas, David Lasagna, Rahel Kuhne, Ann Swanson, Maureen Burford, Rebecca Bailey, and Tim Matson): Make No Mistake (2002).

With Thistle: Spoon River Anthology (two performances in Strafford, Vermont, 2002).

With Duncan Nichols and a company of twenty-five actors, dancers, and musicians: and Pam: Map of a Country (three performances at the Eclipse Grange in Thetford, Vermont, 2003).

With the Thetford Chamber Singers, directed by Valerie Miller: Framing the Moment (two performances in New Hampshire and Vermont, 2001).

Freedom and Unity: One Ideal, Many Stories, a documentary film project produced by the Vermont Historical Society in collaboration with Northern Stage (2002).

Jim Schley has also taken part in numerous poetry readings, staged readings, pageants, political demonstrations, and parades.

Poetry readings have included the Meetinghouse Reading Series, in Canaan, N.H. (1994, 1999); the Friends Meetinghouse, in Hanover, N.H., as a benefit for the Upper Valley Land Trust (1997); The Bean Gallery in Lebanon, N.H. (1997); The Frost Place, in Franconia, N.H. (1997, 2000); Riverfest, in Hartford, Vt. (1996, 1997, 2000); the Full Moon Café, in South Strafford, Vt. (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000); the Lathem Library in Thetford, Vt., as part of the Elizabeth Mines Remediation Project's Copper Mine Arts series (1999); The Town House Readings Series in Strafford, Vt. (1999); The Morrill Memorial - Harris Library, in Strafford, Vt. (1999); Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vt. (1998, 1999); The Good Life Center, in Harborside, Maine (1999); Camp Manito-wish YMCA, in Boulder Junction, Wis. (1999); The Norwich Book Store, in Norwich, Vt. (1999); Della Rossi Trattoria, Dublin, N.H. (2000); The Galaxy Bookshop, Hardwick, Vt. (2000); The Book Rack, Winooski, Vt. (2001); Bear Pond Bookstore, Montpelier, Vt. (2001); two benefit readings for Vermont Refugee Assistance, with Poets for Peace: Unitarian Church, Montpelier, Vt. and the Vermont Jazz Center, Brattleboro, Vt. (2002); and participation in a statewide series of readings in celebration of the poet Hayden Carruth (2002).