Clowns Talk about Clowning- YouTube Videos

Jim Moore, the variety arts photographer who has probably photographed more clowns than anybody in the history of photography, has been doing something new-- he's been videotaping clowns.

If you check out his YouTube videos (URL below), he's putting up interviews with performers as they talk about their work, how they create their work, and even why they create their work.

Jim's got tons of archival stuff, so who knows what else he's got in his archives.

Recently he posted an interview with Keith Nelson of the Bindlestiff's, and he's also got David Engel and Hilary Chaplain talking about creating a new act for David's character El Magnifico.


HILARY CHAPLAIN & DAVID ENGEL VIDEO
I suggest subscribing to his YouTube feed on the page, or checking in there pretty often to see what rare and interesting material he surfaces. He'll also be interviewing somebody from the NY Downtown Clown Revue every month, where he remains the official staff photographer)

(And speaking of subscribing, thanks to the ever more efficient Pat Cashin of Clownalley.net for the link to Keith's interview. I knew Jim was putting these videos together, but didn't think to mention them until I saw Pat's post. He beats me to the punch a lot in posting stuff.) If you are not RSS'ing Clownalley.net, you should be!

Jim's Youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=jm5star&p=r

Pat Cashin's Clown Alley: www.clownalley.net

Acme Clown Art Exhibit- 2001

In 2001, I became the Clown Laureate of Greenbelt Maryland. As part of my work there, I curated a clown art exhibit, that featured over 50 pieces of artwork. I' ve assembled some samples on a web page, and recently moved it to my own site:

http://www.acmeclown.com/clownartexhibit/

The piece to the left is "Dunk the Clown" by artist Frank Wu

Enjoy the artwork!

More about the Greenbelt residency:
http://www.acmeclown.com/greenbelt/

Workshop with Ronlin Foreman 3/2 in Chicago

On Sunday March 2, Master Clown Teacher at the Dell'arte School RonLin Foreman and Joe Krienke will teach a class entitled: The Powerful Presence: Effort, Risk Momentum, Joy. The 3 hour workshop, at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, will include work on the actor's presence, physical efforts, movement and improvisation.

Ronlin was one of my teachers at Dell'arte. And while I certainly didn't agree with everything that he said (in fact, at one point he told me that "I misunderstood the nature of education."), I have to say that he is an amazing clown, and for certain people, can be an excellent teacher. Years later, I feel like I am incorporating some of the things in my work that I didn't understand at the time (and that RonLin didn't help me understand at the time, either-- which made it a frustrating experience then) I highly recommend studying with him.

One of the pieces that I continue to use when thinking or teaching now: The clown must truly fail in order to succeed. Not pretend to fail. Not fail at something with low stakes. The clown must be at the point of failing, and at that moment, the audience will ALLOW the clown to succeed. This point of view is obviously more useful in the theatre than in the circus, where you need to get on, do your funny, and leave. But it still applies.

This is the bio from Ronlin's classes at the Clown Festival two years ago:

A provocative teacher and director, Ronlin Foreman is Director of Pedagogical Research and Master Clown Teacher at the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in California. Zany and poignant, Foreman's uniquely confrontational and poetic brand of physical theatre has been featured at major international Movement, Theatre and Clown festivals in Mexico, Spain, Canada and the U.S.

Foreman's hallmarks are his character (drawn from the fool, the clown, and the grotesque) and his ability to play profoundly with comedy, and irreverently with the profound, and outrageously with an audience.

The workshop at Steppenwolf will go from 10am-1pm. From 2pm-6pm, auditions will be offered for admission to the Dell'arte School of Physical Theatre.

Space is limited to 35 people.

Participation fee of $100 required at time of reservation. Space preference and fee waivers are available to serious program applicants.

To register, email Louise at louise@dellarte.com

WHEN & WHERE
Steppenwolf Theatre's Garage Space
1650 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL. (south side of the parking lot)
Workshop: 10am to 1pm
Auditions: 2pm to 6pm

To find out more about Dell'arte, visit their website listed below:
www.dellarte.com

Circus Juventas

Circus Juventas is a performing arts youth circus school located in St. Paul, Minnesota and serving the Twin Cities metro area. They offer youth circus arts training and performance opportunities for children and youth ages 3 to 21 in a safe and noncompetitive environment.

Circus Juventas was founded in 1994 by former circus performers Dan and Betty Butler. Originally known as Circus of the Star, it began as an after-school program in a neighborhood recreation center. The initial offerings were limited and
could accommodate only 30 students. From the start, classes were filled to capacity. Realizing that the need for this kind of education was great, Dan and Betty founded a non-profit, got a board of directors, and started raising money. By the time they opened their doors in 2001 in a long term lease from the city of St. Paul, they had raised over 2.1 million dollars and created a 21,000 square foot Big Top to work in Since that time, their enrollment has doubled, then doubled again.


Juventas was the Roman goddess of youth who had the mythical power of rejuvenation, and because of Circus Jeventas, hundreds of thousands of delighted spectators have experienced the mystique and rejuvenating powers of the circus arts.

To find out more about Circus Juventas, visit their website listed below:

http://www.circusjuventas.org/

Clown Show for Bruno Feb 27,28 in Atlanta

Acclaimed mime Daniel Stein and Dell'arte graduates Kali Quinn and Bill Celentano are featured in a new show about Polish artist and novelist Bruno Schultz (author of the classic Street of Crocodiles) Schulz was killed in the Holocaust in 1944 by a German officer. The show will be performed at Atlanta's PushPush Theatre. The play,written by author Murray Mednick, is produced in association with Padua Playwrights.


In 1978, Murray Mednick and five other playwrights, including Sam Shepard and Maria Irene Fornes, converged on the old Padua Hills estate in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, just east of Los Angeles. The playwrights, as well as playwriting students and actors, were given free reign to re-investigate their creativity, developing writing exercises for the morning, rehearsing in the afternoon, and presenting the results in the evening.

Since 2000, Padua has become a production company that produces works as well as inspires them.

The Bruno Project is expected to tour throughout the world, Poland, Germany, the Ukraine and Israel. Guy Zimmerman’s direction uses elements of mask, clowning and other theatrical disciplines to underscore the lyrical poeticism of Mednick’s text. This timeless production will speak to audiences at all levels – young and old, Jewish and non-Jewish - but will have a particular impact on younger audiences looking for new ways to understand the Nazi genocide.

Key collaborators in the Bruno project include, playing the lead, celebrated Commedia performer and teacher Daniel Stein. After attending the professional actor training program at Carnegie-Mellon University, Stein studied in Paris with French master Etienne Decroux, and made his home in Paris for 20 years.

Daniel started his professional career as an actor with the French National Theatre, and his solo performances have toured in more than 30 countries, as well as in theatres such as the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center here in the United States. Formerly head of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre, in Blue Lake CA (among many other prestigious teaching credits), Stein is joined for this production by two of his star students, Kali Quinn and Bill Celentano, who have made names for themselves in the Los Angeles and New York theater community. Also on board for Padua’s production of Clown Show for Bruno are award-winning designers John Zelewski (music and sound design), Ann Closs-Farley (costume design), Jeffrey Atherton (set and mask design.), and current Padua director Guy Zimmerman

SHOW DATES
Monday, February 25: Danville, Kentucky - Centre College, Norton Center for the Arts (Studio 502)
Wednesday, February 27: Decatur, Georgia - Push Push Theater
Thursday, February 28: Atlanta, Georgia - Goethe Institute Library

To find out more about the show and the theatre, visit the websites listed below:

http://www.pushpushtheater.com/
http://www.paduaplaywrights.net/

On the Padua site, there is a video (apparently not linkable) that you can view which is an interview with author Murray Mednick about the project. The video also features scenes from the production.

Johnny Peers Muttville Comix

One of the top working clown and dog acts is Johnny Peers' Muttville Comix. Johnny has been performing his act for over 25 years, and has performed it on four continents and with some of the best circuses in the business, including Ringling, Big Apple Circus, and Carson & Barnes, among many others.

Johnny's dad was a concessionaire on the Ringling circus. While helping his dad, Johnny ended up sneaking away to watch the clowns, and eventually decided to become one. He graduated from Ringling's Clown College in 1970 and a few years later, began creating the character and act that he's been doing ever since.

Johnny currently uses about 15 dogs in his show, but owns and cares for 25 dogs. The dogs do everything, including jumping rope, climbing ladders, walking a tightrope, and most importantly, knocking Johnny down several times a minute and then walking all over him.

It takes from 6 months to a year for each dog to learn its act, and the act is a collaboration between the dogs natural talents and Johnny's masterful ability to place the dogs in a circus context.

In 2003, Johnny and his group won the Animal Planet Pet Star award.

To find out more about Johnny and his Muttville Comix, please visit his website listed below:

http://www.muttvillecomix.com.
(site updated on 4/30/09)

Clown School of San Francisco

The Clown School of San Francisco is a character based school that combines small classes with intensive personal work to create clown characters and routines. The focus is on creating work that is personal to the actor. The work is primarily theatrical and exploratory in nature-- not particularly of the circus.

The instructor, Christina Lewis Clinton, has been teaching workshops in clown character development and improvisation for fifteen years. Christina started clowning in Nicaragua when she traveled there with a Women's Circus. She has studied and performed clowning in Europe, Mexico and the United States. She received her Master's in Drama Therapy in San Francisco.

Christina and I studied together with Czech master clown Ctibor Turba.

They are currently in the midst of a 20 week session that started January 20 and will finish in May with a public show. They will also have an intensive two day workshop in June.

To find out more about their work, visit their website listed below:
http://www.clownschoolsf.org/

JUGGLE THIS! - NYC March 7-9, 2008

	NYC's 7th Annual Juggling Festival! Friday March 7-Sunday March 9, 2008 Pratt Institute 200 Willoughby Ave Brooklyn, NY Juggling, workshops, games, shows, prizes, special guests, a raffle and more!! For more information click the links to the right. All events open to the public. JUGGLING AT PRATT ACTIVITIES RESOURCE BUILDING: FREE and open to the public Friday 5-10:30 pm (open juggling) Saturday 10 am-7 pm (open juggling & workshops) Sunday 10 am-5 pm (open juggling, workshops, & games) SHOW SPECTACULAR AT PRATT MEMORIAL HALL Saturday 7:30 pm Admission $10 Featuring world-class local and international talent, including: From Brooklyn: telepathy from The Adult Circus From southern California: Josh Casey, comedy juggling From the Celebration Barn in South Paris, Maine: Amanda Huotari, dramatic clowning From France, via Montreal's National Circus School (ENC): Florent Lestage, mesmerizing manipulations From NYC: The Maestrosities: The Coolest Band Ever! From rural Vermont: Brent Eden McCoy, "Clown at Work" From Spain, via ENC: David Menes, juggling communication From Harlem, NYC: Paris, the hip-hop juggler From Denmark via France: Jens Sigsgaard, "beyond belief" high-technique juggling and subtle artistry From ENC: Yann et Grég, hand balancing BONUS: Bindlestiff Family Cirkus at the Zipper Factory Sunday, 8pm followed by post-festival party. For details on the show, see bindlestiff.org. Juggle This is hosted by Jugglers Anonymous: the Pratt Chapter with support from the Carmine Street Irregulars For more info about Juggle This, visit their website: http://www.jugglenyc.com/fest_08.html

Dell'arte Workshop in LA 2/9/08

In conjunction with the LA tour of The Golden State, the Dell'Arte Company is offering a one-day workshop at 24th Street Theatre in Los Angeles on Feb. 9.

Where: 24th Street Theatre
When: Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, 2:00-6:00pm
Cost: $100


This four-hour workshop will be an exploration of the physical comedy techniques and ensemble-based exercises at the core of Dell'Arte's work. Physical theatre explores how proven notions of craft interact with an individual's physical expressive
possibilities. From commedia and vaudeville to contemporary theatrical circus, Dell'Arte training is the source of the work necessary to become an actor/creator.

Capacity: 25 students
Come dressed to move and ready to play.

Taught by Joan Schirle, School Director of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre

You can purchase your "ticket" to the workshop at the website listed below (more info about Dell'arte and their show (which the SF Bay Guardian called "...a glittering gem of a farce") is also listed below.

WORKSHOP: MORE INFO/PURCHASE
THE GOLDEN STATE: MORE INFO/PURCHASE TICKETS
ABOUT DELLARTE: http://www.dellarte.com

Tall Toys Troupe

The Tall Toys Troupe is a group of stilt-walking performers based in Connecticut who perform a number of stilt-based shows. They provide a number of entertainers and shows for corporate gigs, parades, birthday parties, and other events.

Their costumes are great, and they have a number of different looks, including a 9 foot tall Uncle Sam, trees (like Ents from the Lord of the Rings), wizards, and lots of other characters.

Although their name implies stilt-walking, they also provide jugglers, balloonologists, face painters, and of course clowns. Many of the performers they bring in are graduates of Ringling Clown College (one of the founders, Katie Wilson Peterson, was in my year)

To find out more about the Tall Toys Troupe, visit their website at http://www.talltoys.com

UPDATE: Both their email and their phone isn't working, although their website works like a charm. Not sure if everything is okay with them. If anyone reading this has more of an update on Tall Toys, please let me know. Or you can post in the comments....