Acme Flea Circus Featured on Chicago Television.

My show was recently featured on Chicagoland Television.

Here's an embedded video of it. If you can't see the video, visit their website.


I've started a new blog to house reviews of the flea circus at

www.acmefleacircus.blogspot.com so feel free to check that out also. It even includes a couple of people who blogged about seeing the show.


Not sure how long the video will be up for, so view it quickly!

Hey-Ya Brothers in NY at Urban Stages

Hey-Ya Brothers- now performing at Urban Stages!

The Hey-Ya Brothers is a two-man slapstick comedy variety show with clowns and physical comedians Joel Jeske and Christopher Lueck.

This 45min show is a mixture of classic comedy, slapstick, juggling, magic, and music. The Hey-Ya Brothers create a memorable show full of laughs. Now with special guest performer Mike Richter!

WHEN: SUNDAYS, March 15 – April 5, 2009 at at 2pm.
WHERE: Urban Stages, located at 259 West 30th Street (between 7th & 8th Avenues)NYC
TICKETS: $10 To purchase, email urbanstages@gmail.com or call 212-421-1380. Tickets are also available at the door.

Running Time is 45 minutes, ages 3 +

For More Info vsit www.heyyabrothers.com or www.urbanstages.org

August 2009 Clown & Comedy Course with Mick Barnfather (London)

Full details at http://www.mickbarnfather.com/workshops.php
London workshop for August 2009 is Clown and Comedy (3rd - 7th August)

Picture taken by Rebecca Hersh-Boyle

Clown and Comedy This is a 5 day course. In this workshop I will be looking at what it is that makes us laugh and how we can be funny. It is not about big shoes, make up and squirty flowers. I will concentrate mainly on the clown and the pleasure to be ridiculous in the space. The clown moves from one flop to the next always happy and optimistic to be playing before an audience. There are many confusions and disasters in a clown show but there are never any doubts. The clown is joyful, playful, mischievous and full of fantasy. I will also be looking at other catalysts for comedy during this workshop such as status games, parody and improvisation. Nothing in this workshop is related to a style but very much looking to find what is uniquely funny about each person and how they can make that accessible to an audience. Workshops will aim to be energetic and very playful. Participants will be encouraged to have fun and pleasure and use this as a starting point. In my opinion when people have fun and play instinctively it is then that they start to play the fool, tell stories, joke and discover their creativity.

Accommodation: Although I do not provide accommodation I do sometimes hear of places to rent. I also know of a cheap hostel which was recommended by a former student. Please contact me if you would wish to do the workshop(s) and would like details. Venue: Clown and Comedy - The Gallery, Edwards Lane, N16 (off Stoke Newington Church Street, behind the Library) This is very close to where Albion Road meets Stoke Newington Church St. Directions: By Bus 393 from Highbury and Islington Tube Station (15 minutes), and 73 and 476 from Angel (also 15 minutes) Hours: Clown 10-5pm, Mondays to Fridays Cost: Clown £180 (Concessions £150) (these prices are less than previous, on account of the recession) Deposits: Clown - £80 80% refundable up to two weeks before the workshop. 50% up to one week before the workshop.

Maximum Clown Class with Eric Davis (NY)

Eric Davis-- He of the Red Bastard, and director of some top notch bouffonery, is teaching a clown class in NY.

It's a one week intensive designed to take you farther than you've ever gone before...
(AND THEN SOME!)

An invitation and a challenge to yourself!

One concentrated week of extreme overindulgence and fun.

Participants will explore taking an impulse (an emotion, an attitude, a concept) to its wild and ridiculously extreme conclusion. A particular concentration will be given to the paradox of "staying true and real" and "committing" to an impulse.

CLOWNS GO TOO FAR! They indulge themselves and their inner impulses!

With the only rules being we do not hurt ourselves, we do not hurt others and we do not hurt the space, let us pass through something cute or novel and enter deep into the edges of something wild!

What unknown and ridiculously fun territories might we reach?

Have an impulse to take this workshop?

INDULGE IT!

Space is limited.

Reserve now.

REGISTER HERE WITH PAYPAL
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3724344


Dates & Times

Sunday April 5, 1-4 PM
Monday April 6, 6:30- 9:30 PM
Wednesday April 8, 6:30- 9:30 PM
Thursday April 9, 6:30- 9:30 PM
Saturday April 11, 1-4 PM

15 hours total.
Cost: $250
Location: NYC . TBA

Jessica Hentoff -Circus Harmony

Jessica Hentoff, founding member of both Big Apple Circus and Circus Flora, is still working in the biz. She is "The Circus Lady" of Circus Harmony and the artistic director of Circus Harmony, a social circus/education program that (as their mission statement says) teaches the art of life through circus education.

In addition to classes and performances in the St. Louis area, other projects have included Circus Salaam Shalom, a project that brought together Jewish and Muslim children. This developed into the Patchwork Circus troupe, which consists of Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Caucasian, Hispanic, African-American and Chinese children from urban and suburban areas. Another project was titled Far East Meets Midwest I and II. These shows combined Asian and Midwestern arts and artists. Asian artists wanted to include Middle Eastern musicians. Circus Harmony became the logical confluence of all these projects, combining diverse children and multicultural music into one expansive project.

An interview with her appeared in the St. Louis Jewish Light recently.

Excerpt below:

Q & A | JESSICA HENTOFF

A life in circus

Jessica Hentoff, artistic/executive director of Circus Harmony, talks with (left to right) Glenn Callanan, Keaton Hentoff-Killian and Max Pepose before a performance at the City Museum on Saturday afternoon. Photos: Dennis Caldwell

BY ELLEN FUTTERMAN, EDITOR

Jessica Hentoff, 53, is the artistic/executive director of Circus Harmony, St. Louis' only year-round circus school and social circus program based in the City Museum. She also co-founded the Big Apple Circus in New York in 1977 and Circus Flora in St. Louis in 1986. Recently, Hentoff sat down with the Jewish Light and discussed her obsession with the circus, its place in Jewish history and how it's never too late to join (and you don't even have to run away).

This is one of those questions I just have to ask: What's a nice Jewish girl like you doing in the circus?

I took circus classes in college (at the State University of New York at Purchase) because I thought they would be fun. That was over 30 years ago and it is still fun.

What intrigued you?

A big part was that it never occurred to me that I could do any of the things circus performers do. I grew up on the Upper West Side of New York City attending private school. I couldn't even climb a tree until I was 10-years-old.

Don't you have to grow up in the circus and be from a circus family to be any good at it?

That's a myth. I work with all ages, from 5 to an 82-year-old aerialist. I've taught children of all labels -- autistic, ADD, LDD, BDD, deaf, Down syndrome, physically handicapped. Circus arts doesn't require one skill set. Maybe you can't juggle but you can flip, or you can't flip but you have great balance and can walk the wire. We have kids with severe and obvious disabilities and they find something they can do in the circus. We had one girl who did not have any legs. She was great on the trapeze because she had phenomenal upper body strength. Another performer is missing most of her fingers on one hand. She does aerial work and contortion. The audience sees her ability rather than her disability.

What brought you to St. Louis?

My trapeze partner was from here. She convinced me it would be easier to tour logistically if we lived in the middle of the country.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

To find out more about her work, please visit her websites listed below:

http://www.circusharmony.org/

http://www.everdaycircus.net

MOVE IT- Free Physical Theatre March 19 at HERE (NYC)

MOVE IT! – a free evening of Physical and Visual Theatre

Parallel Exit, New York City’s award-winning physical theatre company, offers audiences a free opportunity to see some of New York’s most exciting physical and visual theatre artists in MOVE IT!

Featuring brand new physical theatre from Parallel Exit’s Joel Jeske, Mike Dobson, and Spencer Novich, dance-theatre from The Chase Brock Experience, clowning from Ishah Jannsen-Faith, and juggling from World Champion juggler Tony Duncan, MOVE IT! is presented at HERE Arts Center on Thursday March 19^th at 8:30pm.

Parallel Exit launched MOVE IT! in the fall of 2006 in order to support and promote the work of quality physical theatre artists and companies in New York City. This performance series appears throughout the year to invite audiences to experience the diversity and excitement of physical and visual theatre artists working in dance-theatre, mime, puppetry, clown, and circus.

MOVE IT!

Thursday March 19, 8:30pm, FREE

HERE Arts Center

145 6th Ave. (between Spring & Broome, enter on Dominick), Subway: C, E, 6 to Spring St.

For Tickets & Information: www.here.org 212-352-3101

This production is being presented through HERE’s Supported Artist Program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical and administrative support.

To find out more about Parallel Exit, the producer of the program, visit their website listed below:
http://www.parallelexit.net/

To find out more about some of the other artists, click on their names below:

Parallel Exit’s Joel Jeske, Mike Dobson, and Spencer Novich

The Chase Brock Experience

Ishah Jannsen-Faith

Tony Duncan

Rev. Billy runs for Mayor of NY (under the Green Party)

Reverend Billy, he of the Church of Stop Shopping, appears to have the endorsement of the Green Party, and will be on the mayoral ticket come November running against Mr. Bloomsberg.
At least, so says the New York Times

This is a long line in the tradition of clowns running for elected office. I'm not sure that Rev. Billy would classify himself as a clown, but I do. (and I mean it in a good way, Reverend!)

Rev. Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping have been performing since 1996, growing from a street performer on Times Square to a 35 person choir and 7 person band. The Church of Stop Shopping is a project of The Immediate Life, a New York based arts organization using theater, humor, and grassroots organizing to advance individuals and communities towards a more equitable future - starting today.

They partner with citizens, grassroots organizations and progressive visionaries to produce dynamic, informed public campaigns that enact our core values - participatory democracy, ecological sustainability, and the preservation of vibrant communities and local economies.

The big question is CAN HE WIN-- and if he did win, could he actually get it together enough to solve the multiple problems that the mayor of NY must face.

He's got popularity, and a populous message-- but ultimately, I don't think that the people of New York want a reverend (of any persuasion) to be their mayor. I don't even think they want a rabbi, although he might have better luck!

There's a story about Wavy Gravy, who ran for councilman of Berkeley CA, a surprisingly conservative place. Wavy's political poster was a picture of Wavy in his full clown regalia, and at the bottom it said "Wavy Gravy has a long history of fighting for what he believes in. We doubt his opponent has ever been arrested once!" Which is all about spinning your negatives into a positive.

Anyway, the good news about Reverend Billy running is that it will make good entertainment, and hopefully will provoke some real discussion about some of the good Reverend's ideas about anti-consumerism.

Find out more about Reverend Billy at his website
http://www.revbilly.com