Mangano says people also confuse the art of mime with pantomime, which consists of smaller communicative gestures using only the face and hands. Mangano is in favor of possibly changing the term from “mime” to “gestural theater” or “physical theater” in order to escape popular clichés of what mime is, even though those terms are less accurate descriptions of what these performers do onstage.

Mangano and Massip both believe that the future of mime is to be found in fusion with other arts, such as dance, singing, circus and speaking theater.

“Sometimes a story doesn’t need words, and sometimes it’s good to have them,” says Mangano. “If you need words, you should use them…speech and mime can exist at the same time.”

Mangano and Massip are already exploring these possibilities in their own, smaller company, which performs independently of Marceau’s company.

Some graduates of Marceau’s school who are not chosen for his company perform in similar smaller mime companies. Additionally, many graduates of Marceau’s school find jobs in contemporary dance companies, which tend to have much in common with mime, especially newer dance companies in France.

In addition to fostering the development of new and innovative young mimes and other theatrical performers, Marceau also heads the Marcel Marceau Foundation for the Advancement of Mime. This foundation, supported by celebrities ranging from Placido Domingo to Dustin Hoffman, aims to accumulate and preserve an archive of mime performances, primarily those created or performed by Marceau himself.

The greatest threat to the future of mime remains the inevitable loss of Marceau. Energetic as he is, age is a force he can only deny onstage, and no performer has emerged as singularly talented to be deemed his successor.

“Who comes after Chaplin?” says Massip. “Marceau. And who comes after Marceau? Nobody. We must look to the other arts for the future of mime and to students building on the past to create something new.”

For the time being, Cambridge audiences appear infinitely appreciative to witness Marceau’s artistic genius; company members say they have received lengthy standing ovations at the end of nearly every performance here.

“They are a fun public,” says Mangano, “They have given us a very warm reception.”

And if anyone still has lingering doubts of the modern relevance of mime, consider the moonwalk: Michael Jackson based it on—that’s right—Marceau’s “Walking Against the Wind.”

—Staff writer Marin J.D. Orlosky can be reached at orlosky@fas.harvard.edu.