Free Events at the NY Clown Theatre Festival

There are a number of free events going on during the festival.

for a list of all the events, your best bet is to visit the festival website:

2nd Annual NY Clown Theatre Festival

It's got much more complete information.

Events include:

October 5: 4:30 pm Parade, Pie Fights, and a cabaret
(Starting at Union Square Park, and taking the L to the Brick Theater.) Just like it sounds, with a huge pie fight somewhere in the middle. Cabaret starts at 10:30 pm.



October 5, various times: HUMÔRTAL (roving throughout Union Square)
Spanish clowns who perform a roving street show where they are professional pall bearers looking for work-- and they even bring their own coffin.



October 18 at 8 pm: THE CLOWN OLYMPICS & CABARET(at the Brick Theater)
In conjunction with Downtown Clown Revue, the Festival presents the first-ever CLOWN OLYMPICS! Events include Slapstick, Eccentric Dance, and, of course, Synchronized Kiddy Pool Swimming. For more info, visit http://www.newyorkdowntownclown.com/workshops.htm
The Free Cabaret will begin at 10:30 pm.



October 19 at 11 pm CLOWN BAR HOP (starts at Macri Park Bar, 462 Union Avenue (between Metropolitan Ave. and Conselyea St)
Put on your best clown nose, slip on those big shoes and celebrate the 2nd Annual NY Clown Theatre Festival in style! Join in the fun and frivolity with these red-nosed pros as they spread the mirth and merriment with a massive late night bar crawl. Watch the hipsters scatter as this horde of clowns drink their way through Williamsburg. Sorry, hipsters, BOOZE is not free.



October 21 at 9 pm: GRANDMA SPEAKS: BARRY LUBIN OF BIG APPLE CIRCUS (at the Brick Theater)
Barry Lubin, Grandma from the Big Apple Circus, will talk about his 33 years of professional clown and circus experience.



October 23 at 8:30 pm: AN EVENING WITH GIOVANNI FUSETTI (at the Brick Theater)
Giovanni Fusetti, clown, director, and teacher will discuss his 20 years of work in the theater, especially about his new form of theatre creation entitled Helikos.



October 27 at 2pm: THE CLOWNS OF VAUDEVILLE by Trav. S. D.(at the Brick Theater)
Trav S.D., author of NO APPLAUSE, JUST THROW MONEY: THE BOOK THAT MADE VAUDEVILLE FAMOUS will talk about some of the most important clowns of the vaudeville era.
For more information, visit: www.el.net/mountebanks/travsd.html



October 28 at 6:30 pm:CLOWN FESTIVAL FUNERAL(starting at Bedford at North 7th, proceeding to the Brick Theater)
The 2nd Annual NY Clown Theatre Festival will be mourned in style in a Felliniesque clown funeral/procession. The Maestrosities will provide suitably somber clown music.

Clowns Without Borders South Africa Needs Help

I received this letter from Jamie McLaren Lachman, one of the principal forces behind Clowns Without Borders South Africa. He and I are also Dell'arte Graduates. (I've reproduced only a portion of Jamie's letter below)

Jamie and his crew do amazing work in rural communities of South Africa. (to read about some of Jamie's recent work in Lesotho, visit their Clowns Without Borders journal page

If you are so inclined, please consider donating to them.

They are doing wonderful stuff, and bringing joy and laughter to kids (and families) who have very little joy in their lives.

---

Dear Friends of Clowns Without Borders South Africa,

... We are in URGENT need of donations to cover our final expedition for 2007. We have a team of South African and Canadian teaching artists heading to the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa this month. The expedition will be working with community based organizations to provide emotional relief to children and their caregivers in rural communities affected by HIV/AIDS. We expect to be performing for about 8,000 children over the next 4 weeks. Our performances and theatre arts workshops hope to allow the space and opportunity for children who have recently lost one or both parents to rediscover a sense of play, creativity, imagination, and hope in their lives - the permission to be children again.


Unfortunately, we are $2,000 (R15,000) short of our fundraising goal to cover this expedition.


Please support us! Any amount from $5.00 to $5,000 is most welcome. This money will help cover our travel costs. teaching artists' stipends, and necessary supplies including food for the children who come to our daily workshops.


To Donate:
CWB-SA is a register NonProfit Organization in South Africa. About 90% of our donations go directly to expedition costs in the field.

We are now set up to receive electronic transfers into our bank account
(from South Africa and internationally):

Nedbank, Brand Rd Branch
Acct: 1743009747
Branch Code: 174305
Swift Code: NEDSZAJJ
(from the United States)
US donations made payable to “Clowns Without Borders” with “South Africa” in the memo are Tax Deductible through our sister organization, CWB-USA, a 501c3 not-for-profit organization in the United States.

1. Send Checks to:
Clowns Without Borders
42 Cumberland Rd.
West Hartford, CT 06119

2. Paypal:
Click on www.clownswithoutborders.org/helping/index.shtml. Be sure to write “South Africa” in the “Payment For” line

**Please notify us by email that you have made a donation so that we can track it and let you know that it has safely arrived.

Thank you very much! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! I would be more than happy to answer them. I really appreciate your interest in our work. Hope to be sending you reports from the field in Limpopo soon!

May you be peaceful and happy,

Jamie McLaren Lachman
Director and Founder
jamie@clownswithoutborders.org

Fab! Festival NY-- 9/29

Kendall Cornell and her Soon-To-Be-World-Famous Women's Clown Troupe
will perform at the FAB! Festival -- A Block Party and Festival on September 29th (1-5pm) E. 4th Street between Bowery and 2nd Avenue

Presented by the Fourth Arts Block and its many members, FAB! Festival celebrates the arts of the East Village with performances, food, and open houses.

Kendall and company will be participating on behalf of La MaMa, Etc.,(their stage will be in front of LaMaMa at 74A East 4th Street)



Schedule will feature Kendall Cornell in Flamenco Girl at 2 pm (approximately)
and the Soon-To-Be-World-Famous Women's Clown Troupe at 3:15 pm (approximately) The STBWF group includes Kathie Horejsi, Ishah Janssen-Faith, Mona Le Roy, Judi Lewis Ockler, Maria Smushkovich and Ginny Venk

Other La MaMa performances include music by Heather Christian, theatre by Collaboration Town, performance by Michael Cross Burke, puppetry by Frederico Restrepo and more...

To find out more about the festival visit http://www.fabnyc.org/festival.shtmlfor info about more performances and the day's many events!

To find out more about Kendall Cornell and her STBWF Troupe, visit
http://www.notjustforshockvalue.com/

The Midnight Circus

The Midnight Circus started as a collaboration between circus clown Jeffrey Jenkins and actress Julie Greenberg. They combined their talents to create a 5 minute eccentric acrobatic act to be featured with Vermont's Circus Smirkus. While on tour with the show, they apprenticed themselves to two former stars of The Moscow Circus. In between shows and practice, they would all sit over a cup of tea (or a more than occasional vodka!) and share aspirations and ideas for the future of performance. It was in that backlot that the seeds were planted for The Midnight Circus.

In 1997, having returned to Chicago, they created a show called The Midnight Circus: When Circus and Theatre Collide, which was what happened when a Shakespearean troupe and a Circus troupe end up sharing the same performance stage, and what happens when they mix. That show got great reviews and ending up running in various incarnations for the next year. Later that show was licensed by the Big Apple Circus, which took it on tour to large theatres across the United States.

Since that time Jeff and Julie have served as artistic directors for Circus Smirkus, have created many other shows in the Chicago area, including a tented show called The Big Bang and Other Amazing Adventures! which played in a tent on Chicago's Museum campus for three months, and an annual Haunted Hijinx show in Daley Plaza, which combines the theme of haunted house and circus arts. They also work with many of the other Chicago Theatres, performing and directing. In addition to this work they tour the cruise ship circuit, create shows for corporations, and have collaborated on another front: they have a child together.

The Midnight Circus also has had at one time or another training opportunities and performance opportunities for most of Chicago's clowns at one time or another.

Next up for the Midnight Circus is a weekend of performances in Chicago's Welles' Park Four shows Sept 29-30. Shows are at 3:30 and 6:30 pm. Tickets are $10 each (children under 2 are free)

To find out more about the Midnight Circus, please visit their website listed below:
http://www.midnightcircus.net

Au Revoir, M. Marceau

Marcel Marceau died yesterday, and the world is a sadder place for it.

The only real response to Marceau dying can be this

" ! "

He was a true master of his work, and he popularized (and romanticized) the work of mime to an unbelievable degree. there's no question that nearly every clown or mime performing in the world owes something to Marceau. And every mime-bashing joke also owes Marceau too. He didn't invent mime (he was a student of Etienne Decroux, widely considered to be the father of modern mime), but he turned it into something that has become part of our national zeitgeist. Everybody has a feeling about mimes (usually bad ones who were imitating the Master)

I saw Marceau perform three times, and saw him teach once (he gave a demonstration at a master class that I was in.) Popped in unexpectedly. He demonstrated the Ages of Man (an exercise in which you start as a baby and transform into an old man slowly going through life)

He was a fantastic performer and a generous teacher, and someone who did what he loved to do his entire life. I saw him last in the late 1990's, and he performed his computer dating bit, and while the material itself was dated, he was fantastic in it.
He had real heart and soul, and the world is poorer (and strangely louder) because of him.


BBC OBITUARY: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7009040.stm

REUTERS OBIT: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-arts-marceau.html
MARCEAU INTERVIEW (CSM): http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0923/p25s01-almp.html


INFO ABOUT MARCEAU'S SCHOOL: http://www.mime.info/EIMP_help.html

NY Clown Festival Performances.

Ah, there's a whole lot of shaking going on over at the Brick Theatre-- there's tons of great clowns that are coming to their hallowed (more likely yellowed) halls for the Second Annual NY International Clown Festival, which means lots of great stuff to see and to write about.

Sadly, I'll be MIA for most of it-- I'm teaching clowning in Rhode Island (university gig as a temporary lecturer for the semester), directing a Dario Fo play in Connecticut (We Won't Pay), and getting ready to produce a festival of my own- the Fifth Annual Bright Night Providence, RI's Largest New Year's Eve Celebration. So I'm busy. In fact, although the clown festival did not choose to hire any of my shows for this year (bad festival, bad!) they did ask me to perform in one of the cabarets. Unfortunately, I'm unavailable on the days of the cabaret, due to aforementioned play (which goes up October 31-November 4) (I'm not seeing the Cabarets on their schedule, even)

There's so much going on, and I'd like to feature each and every clown in the festival, but I can't quite promise I'll have the time (or the money) to see every show, or even close. Your best bet is to check out the Brick website
http://www.bricktheater.com/clown for the full scoop (or at least as full a scoop as you are going to get.)

If you see a show, and you'd like to write a review of it, send me the review, and I'll post it as a guest post. I will only publish reviews that I like, and that I think give a fair and accurate view of the artist.

I couldn't find a chronological schedule of the festival, so I made my own. If you are like me, this will help you figure out what you can see and can't see.

Have fun seeing shows! (and if there are any errors in this table, let me know and I'll fix them. I am a clown after all!)


UPDATE: It turns out the calendar view of the festival (and much better than mine) is available online through OVATION TIX Of course, I just spent 40 minutes doing all this work, so I am leaving it up as a testament of sorts. (to what, I'm not sure!)


NY INTERNATIONAL CLOWN FESTIVAL (Chronological)

	DATE	NAME OF ACT	TIME	COMPANY WEBSITE (IF AVAILABLE)
1	Sat, Oct 6, 2007	No Place Like Home by Rob Torres (FuneeeStuff)	12:00 PM	CLICK HERE
3	Sat, Oct 6, 2007	Zen Cabaret: A Contemplative Burlesque: MC Nina Rolle	2:00 PM
4	Sat, Oct 6, 2007	Bubkus by Jesse Buck and Michael Doubue	3:30 PM	CLICK HERE
5	Sat, Oct 6, 2007	Dill & Diger by Vestlandske Teatersenter	6:00 PM
6	Sat, Oct 6, 2007	Moving Target by Flam St. Cyr (Erin Bouvey)	8:00 PM	CLICK HERE
7	Sat, Oct 6, 2007	Cops by EFS	10:00 PM	CLICK HERE
8	Sun, Oct 7, 2007	Cops by EFS	2:00 PM	CLICK HERE
9	Sun, Oct 7, 2007	Moving Target by Flam St. Cyr (Erin Bouvey)	4:00 PM	CLICK HERE
10	Sun, Oct 7, 2007	No Place Like Home by Rob Torres (FuneeeStuff)	5:30 PM	CLICK HERE
11	Sun, Oct 7, 2007	Clownifornia by The Damsels & Jeff Seal	7:00 PM
12	Sun, Oct 7, 2007	Dill & Diger by Vestlandske Teatersenter	7:00 PM
13	Sun, Oct 7, 2007	Zen Cabaret: A Contemplative Burlesque: MC Nina Rolle	7:00 PM
14	Sun, Oct 7, 2007	Bubkus by Jesse Buck and Michael Doubue	8:30 PM	CLICK HERE
15	Mon, Oct 8, 2007	Bubkus by Jesse Buck and Michael Doubue	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
16	Mon, Oct 8, 2007	Cops by EFS	8:30 PM	CLICK HERE
17	Tue, Oct 9, 2007	Moving Target by Flam St. Cyr (Erin Bouvey)	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
18	Tue, Oct 9, 2007	Under The Skiff by Three Times Nothing/Interaction	8:30 PM	CLICK HERE
19	Wed, Oct 10, 2007	No Place Like Home by Rob Torres (FuneeeStuff)	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
20	Wed, Oct 10, 2007	Cops by EFS	9:00 PM	CLICK HERE
21	Thu, Oct 11, 2007	Zen Cabaret: A Contemplative Burlesque: MC Nina Rolle	7:00 PM
22	Thu, Oct 11, 2007	Moving Target by Flam St. Cyr (Erin Bouvey)	8:30 PM	CLICK HERE
22A	Fri, Oct 12, 2007	Bouffon Glass Menajerie by Ten Directions	8:30 PM	CLICK HERE
23	Fri, Oct 12, 2007	Chiche Capon's Cabaret by Les Nouveaux Gitans	10:30 PM	CLICK HERE
24	Sat, Oct 13, 2007	Circus Minimus by Kevin O'Keefe	12:00 PM	CLICK HERE
25	Sat, Oct 13, 2007	The Art of Silent Film Comedy (Lecture) by Ben Model	1:30 PM	CLICK HERE
26	Sat, Oct 13, 2007	Clownifornia by The Damsels & Jeff Seal	4:00 PM
27	Sat, Oct 13, 2007	Under The Skiff by Three Times Nothing/Interaction	5:30 PM	CLICK HERE
28	Sat, Oct 13, 2007	Red Bastard by Eric Davis	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
29	Sat, Oct 13, 2007	Chiche Capon's Cabaret by Les Nouveaux Gitans	8:30 PM	CLICK HERE
30	Sat, Oct 13, 2007	Bouffon Glass Menajerie by Ten Directions	10:30 PM	CLICK HERE
31	Sun, Oct 14, 2007	Circus Minimus by Kevin O'Keefe	12:00 PM	CLICK HERE
32	Sun, Oct 14, 2007	Patatrac (Crash, Crack, Bang) by Delikatessenduo	2:00 PM	CLICK HERE
33	Sun, Oct 14, 2007	Chiche Capon's Cabaret by Les Nouveaux Gitans	3:30 PM	CLICK HERE
34	Sun, Oct 14, 2007	Burnt Umber by the Combustibles	5:30 PM	CLICK HERE
35	Sun, Oct 14, 2007	Under The Skiff by Three Times Nothing/Interaction	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
36	Sun, Oct 14, 2007	Zen Cabaret: A Contemplative Burlesque: MC Nina Rolle	8:30 PM
37	Sun, Oct 14, 2007	Clownifornia by The Damsels & Jeff Seal	10:00 PM
38	Tue, Oct 16, 2007	Burnt Umber by the Combustibles	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
39	Tue, Oct 16, 2007	Patatrac (Crash, Crack, Bang) by Delikatessenduo	8:30 PM	CLICK HERE
40	Tue, Oct 16, 2007	Chiche Capon's Cabaret by Les Nouveaux Gitans	10:00 PM	CLICK HERE
41	Wed, Oct 17, 2007	Chiche Capon's Cabaret by Les Nouveaux Gitans (IN FRENCH)	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
42	Fri, Oct 19, 2007	Ridiculosity by The Glass Contraption	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
43	Fri, Oct 19, 2007	Lester and Louis Save the World by FreeWheelin' Theatre	8:30 PM
44	Fri, Oct 19, 2007	Patatrac (Crash, Crack, Bang) by Delikatessenduo	10:00 PM	CLICK HERE
45	Sat, Oct 20, 2007	Ridiculosity by The Glass Contraption	12:00 PM	CLICK HERE
46	Sat, Oct 20, 2007	Patatrac (Crash, Crack, Bang) by Delikatessenduo	2:00 PM	CLICK HERE
47	Sat, Oct 20, 2007	Lester and Louis Save the World by FreeWheelin' Theatre	5:00 PM
48	Sat, Oct 20, 2007	Savage Amusements by Daredevil Chicken Club	6:30 PM	CLICK HERE
49	Sat, Oct 20, 2007	Burnt Umber by the Combustibles	10:30 PM	CLICK HERE
50	Sun, Oct 21, 2007	Savage Amusements by Daredevil Chicken Club	12:00 PM	CLICK HERE
51	Sun, Oct 21, 2007	Lester and Louis Save the World by FreeWheelin' Theatre	2:00 PM
52	Sun, Oct 21, 2007	Solo: A Two Person Show by Under The Table Theatre	3:30 PM	CLICK HERE
53	Sun, Oct 21, 2007	The Glories of Gloria Revue by Mooky	3:30 PM
54	Sun, Oct 21, 2007	Ridiculosity by The Glass Contraption	5:00 PM	CLICK HERE
55	Sun, Oct 21, 2007	Solo: A Two Person Show by Under The Table Theatre	8:00 PM	CLICK HERE
56	Tue, Oct 23, 2007	Savage Amusements by Daredevil Chicken Club	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
57	Wed, Oct 24, 2007	The Maestrosities: The Coolest Band Ever	7:00 PM	CLICK HERE
58	Wed, Oct 24, 2007	The Glories of Gloria Revue by Mooky	9:00 PM
59	Thu, Oct 25, 2007	Cover Yourself (Tapate) by Pez En Raya	7:00 PM
60	Thu, Oct 25, 2007	A Jerk in Progress by Trav S.D.	9:00 PM	CLICK HERE
61	Fri, Oct 26, 2007	Cover Yourself (Tapate) by Pez En Raya	7:00 PM
62	Fri, Oct 26, 2007	The Maestrosities: The Coolest Band Ever	9:00 PM	CLICK HERE
63	Fri, Oct 26, 2007	Solo: A Two Person Show by Under The Table Theatre	10:30 PM	CLICK HERE
64	Sat, Oct 27, 2007	The Maestrosities: The Coolest Band Ever	12:00 PM	CLICK HERE
65	Sat, Oct 27, 2007	The Clowns of Vaudeville (Lecture) by Trav. S. D	2:00 PM	CLICK HERE
66	Sat, Oct 27, 2007	Cover Yourself (Tapate) by Pez En Raya (IN SPANISH)	6:00 PM
67	Sat, Oct 27, 2007	The Glories of Gloria Revue by Mooky	8:00 PM
68	Sun, Oct 28, 2007	The Glories of Gloria Revue by Mooky	3:30 PM
69	Sun, Oct 28, 2007	The Maestrosities: The Coolest Band Ever	5:00 PM	CLICK HERE

NY Clown Festival Free Events

DAY PARADE PIE FIGHT & CABARET
Friday October 5^th will kick off the NY CLOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL with their 2^nd annual opening day parade! Anyone and everyone is invited to join the city's finest clowns, jugglers, stilt-walkers, and more as they gather at Union Square between 4:30 & 5pm and ride the "L" train to Bedford stop. Everyone will then march to The Brick Theater for a massive public pie fight. Red noses and pies will be handed out. The pie fight will be followed by a FREE ClownCabaret previewing festival highlights at 10:30pm. www.bricktheater.com/clown

THE CLOWN OLYMPICS
The NY Clown Theatre Festival in conjunction with Downtown Clown Review, present the first-ever CLOWN OLYMPICS!! Watch world-class clowns compete for 'gold' and 'glory'. Event highlights will include Slapstick, Eccentric Dance, and, of course, Synchronized Kiddy Pool Swimming. FREE at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Thurs., October the 18th at 8:00 pm. The Olympics will be followed by a FREE Clown Cabaret at 10:30 pm, featuring festival highlights as well as a bevy of outstanding original acts. www.bricktheater.com/clown

CLOWN BAR HOP
Put on your best nose or don your big shoes and celebrate the 2nd annual NY Clown Theatre Festival in style! Join these red nosed pros as they spread the mirth and merriment with a massive bar crawl. Be prepared for high-jinx, antics and hilarity as this horde of clowns drinks their way through Williamsburg. Drinking will commence on Friday, October 19th at 11pm in Williamsburg. Macri Park Bar, 462 Union Ave. (between Metropolitan Ave. and Conselyea St.) Brooklyn, NY 11211 on the website. www.bricktheater.com/clown

CLOWN FUNERAL
All good things must come to an end, and the 2nd annual NY Clown Theatre Festival is no exception. The end of the 2007 festival will be mourned by all with a clown funeral. Sunday October 28th, join in as a mourner and pay your respects and be ready for a knock-out wake. The Maestrosities will provide suitably somber clown music. www.bricktheater.com/clown

NY Clown Festival Classes

The New York International Clown Festival has a lot of great classes coming up. Most of the teachers are well-known clown pedagogues (and for those of you with a small vocabulary-- it doesn't mean what you think it means! To the best of my knowledge, none of these teachers have ever been convicted (although I am sure they all have convictions of one sort or another)

What the festival doesn't have is a good online schedule. At least I can't find it. I've broken it down so that at least it's chronological. Sadly, most of these classes are out of my schedule (that's what I get for directing a play, teaching a university clowning class, and directing a festival all at once) All work and no learning makes Adam a sad boy! Or to borrow more directly from the movie — "KITS PALS KITS PALS KITS PALS"

I don't have the time or space to write up each teacher individually-- click on the MORE INFO LINK if you need to know more about the class. Also, each one will take you to a PURCHASE THIS CLASS LINK.

My recommendations: Eric Davis, Sue Morrison, and Dominique Jando are all excellent-- I've done some of the Jando work previously, and Eric and Sue are supposed to both be great teachers. Stanley Allan Sherman's class is great. The others are also supposed to be good, but I've heard less about them. Fusetti has taught at Dell'arte (my alma mater) but I never studied with him.

SAT & SUN Oct 6 & 7 9 AM- 3PM (1/2 HOUR BREAK FOR LUNCH)
Bouffon taught by Sue Morrison
COST: $300
MORE INFO

TUE & WED OCT 9 & 10 9:30 AM- 1:30 PM
Introduction to Clown Through Mask taught by Sue Morrison
COST: $200
MORE INFO

SAT OCT 13 1:30-3:30 PM
Circus Yoga taught by Kevin and Erin O'Keefe (Good for Whole Family!)
COST: $25 FOR ADULTS, $15 FOR KIDS
MORE INFO

MON OCT 15 6:30-10:30 PM
Finding your Clown and Beginning to Write for Clown taught by Patrick de Valette
COST: $100
MORE INFO

MON OCT 15 & WED OCT 17 2-5 PM
Leather Clown Nose Making Workshop
taught by Stanley Allan Sherman
COST: $182
MORE INFO

SAT & SUN OCT 20 & 21 9 AM-1PM, 2-4PM
Working on Your Own Clown: A coaching workshop for clowns taught by Giovanni Fusetti
COST: $300
MORE INFO

MON OCT 22 6:30-10:30 PM
Dynamics of Comedy: Space, Weight and Time in the Comic Situation
taught by Eric Davis
COST: $100
MORE INFO

SAT OCT 27 10 AM- NOON & 1-3 PM
Classic Clown Entrées taught by Dominique Jando
COST:$100
MORE INFO

Steve Russell-- In Capable Hands

A good article recently appeared in the Dunn County News about Clown College Graduate Steve Russell, and how he got a job with the NY City Opera through clown-networking. I'm a member of that network, and saw the whole thing happen!

Steve and his wife Kobi Shaw form a juggling duo called In Capable Hands. Both are graduates of Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Clown College, and Steve has trained over 100 Ringling Bros. clowns in juggling and clowning. Their talents have taken them all over the country, as well as all over the world. Between the two of them, Steve and Kobi have appeared at Disney World, Disneyland, London's Covent Garden, and renaissance festivals from Florida to Texas. Their skills have been seen on national television for Good Morning America, Nickelodeon T.V., and the Tonight Show.

They have juggled on more than 15 cruise ships, traveling throughout Europe, Hawaii, Alaska, South America and the Caribbean. Regionally, they entertain audiences at numerous fairs and festivals, including the Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, Ohio, and Northern Wisconsin State Fairs. In addition, they do a corporate presentation entitled The Art of Ooomph.

Russell and Shaw are married and have been a juggling duo since 1996. Their two sons, Tate and Quinn, were born in January, 2001 and November, 2002, respectively. They spend their time trying to avoid being juggled..

You can find out more about In Capable Hands by visiting their website (listed below)
http://www.incapablehands.com/

I've also included a portion of that article, but to read the rest, read the article on the original website

Specialty act - Talent with fire lands Russell with Big Apple opera gig

By LeAnn R. Ralph, Reporter

When you have a specialized skill and no one else applies, you're bound to get the job.

And that's exactly how Colfax resident Steve Russell, of the comedy juggling duo In Capable Hands, ended up as the understudy to the fire-breathing juggling clown in the production of "Pagliacci" at the New York City Opera.

"Pagliacci" is scheduled to be performed at Lincoln Center from Sept. 28 to Oct. 27. Russell began rehearsals Sept 13, after learning only five days earlier that he had gotten the job.

"I'm a graduate of Ringling Brothers Clown College, and I'm on an e-mail list of about 400 other people who graduated from clown school and clown college," Russell said.

People on the e-mail list exchange information about jobs that are available. Russell's wife and show business partner (and Dunn County News correspondent), Kobi Shaw, had seen the listing asking for a juggler/fire eater to be an understudy for Pagliacci the day before Russell called about the job.

"Kobi said, 'this is something you should do,' " Russell recalled.

By the time he was able to make a telephone call on Friday afternoon, he was certain that the New York City Opera would have already found someone else.

"I gave them a call mid-afternoon on Friday. Within five minutes, he was talking as if I already had the job," Russell said. "It turns out that it's hard to find a fire-breathing juggler who could make the dates of the show. I wish all my jobs were this easy and this glamorous."

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Clown Parade! October 5, 2007

The 2nd Annual New York International Clown Festival is looking for any and all type of performing artists for it's opening day parade. Jugglers, acrobats, stilt-walkers, unicyclists, clowns, mimes, buffoons and musicians are all encouraged to participate. The parade will gather at Union Square on Friday, October 5th at 4:30 where we will all take the "L" train (at 5:30) to the Bedford Avenue stop. From there we will march to the Brick Theater on Metropolitan and Lorimer where two huge pie fights -- one choreographed, the other open to anyone -- will end the parade and begin the festival.

If you're interested in being involved prior to the parade, want to choreograph a particular section of the parade or just want to help out send an email to Jeffseal237@gmail.com with your contact info and how you would like to participate. Or just show up the day of and bring your friends.

To find out more about the 2nd Annual New York International Clown Festival, visit

http://www.bricktheater.com/clown/

Ciao, Pagliacci.

If you haven't heard, the amazing tenor Luciano Pavarotti has recently died. As a singer, he was a real talent. And for opera fans around the world, he was the only clown they really cared about (or maybe even seen)

Pagliacci the opera was first made famous by the tenor Enrico Caruso, and since has become one of the standards by which tenors are judged. Caruso singing Pagliacci was the first record to sell one million copies.

Pavarotti made his indelible mark on the role as well, and was seen by some to be the ultimate Canio (who is the murderous clown/commedia performer in the play)

The most famous aria that he sings is Vesti La Giubba (Put on the costumes) Which he sings while heartbroken. Vesti la Giubba is the conclusion of the first act, where Canio (Pagliaccio) discovers his wife's infidelity, but must prepare for performance as the 'show must go on'.

Here is the Wikipedia translation of the original text.

To recite! While taken with delirium,
I no longer know what I say,
or that which I do!
And yet you must, force yourself!
Bah! Are you not a man?
You are a clown!

Put on your costume,
and powder your face.
The people pay, and laugh when they please.
And if Harlequin steals from you Colombina,
laugh, Pagliaccio, and everyone will applaud!
Change into laughs the spasms of pain;
into a grimace the tears of pain, Ah!

Laugh, Pagliaccio,
for your love is broken!
Laugh of the pain, that poisons your heart!

To find out more about Pagliacci or Pavarotti, visit the websites listed below.

PAVAROTTI: Obituary
PAVAROTTI: Official Website
PAGLIACCI: Wikipedia

Laughing Gravy Commedia Workshop

Laughing Gravy Theatre Company is a company based in the UK that has recently moved to Brooklyn, NY. They aim to utilize the principles of Commedia dell' Arte to create both masked and unmasked theatre that is accessible to modern audiences. (and if you don't know, their company is named after a great Laurel and Hardy Short. You can see a scene from the movie on Youtube

The founders of the company are Laura Rikard & Paul Attmere. Paul most recently performed in the UK and Europe in the Commedia play Mozart's Music to a Carnival Pantamine with Antonio Fava and in Ur-Hamlet with Eugieno Barba's Odin Teatret in Denmark. He studied at the Desmond Jones School of Mime and Physical Theatre and with Antonio Fava in Italy. He was recently seen in Spacedog's Production of Sinster and The Haunt (nominated Best in Fringe at the 2006 Brighton Festival) and performed in and helped produced Scavenger with Wildstep Theatre for New Zealand Fringe in 2004, which won Best in Fringe.

Laura just returned from touring with the Chamber Theatre Company and was in NYC's first ever Sonnet Walk. She is currently rehearsing the role of Lady Macbeth for New Perspectives Theatre Company. She graduated from the graduate program at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts where Paul and she have taught Commedia workshops for the past two years. She trained in Commedia with Antonio Fava. She has also taught acting and Commedia for theatres and schools in NYC, South Carolina and Florida. She can be seen in Magnolia Pictures upcoming film The Great World of Sound.


They are offering their first Commedia workshop in NY on September 30 and October 1, 2007. The class is a one day intensive for beginners designed to guide students through the physicality and motivations of all the basic stock characters from Commedia dell' Arte. Students will also work with authentic leather commedia masks. Attendance in the class may possibly lead to future performance opportunities.

The workshop will be from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM with a one hour lunch break. The cost of the workshop is $50, and will be held at Playwrights Horizons,
416 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th avenues,
North rehearsal room, 5th floor.

For more information, please contact Laura at commediaworkshop@gmail.com
or call 347-689-4907.

You can also find out more about Laughing Gravy by visiting their myspace page listed below:

www.myspace.com/laughinggravytheatre

Parallel Exit at Freshly Tossed October 1, 2007

Wendy Seyb (Walmartopia, School Daze, But I'm a Cheerleader) and Mark Lonergan This Way That Way, Velocity) are creating a night of cutting-edge musical theatre comedy called Freshly Tossed for the New York Musical Theatre Festival. There will be 2 performances on October 1, 2007 at 7:00pm and 9:30pm at the Theater at St. Clement’s, 423 West 46th Street, at a price of $20. Wendy and Mark are co-producing this series with Erich Jungwirth and Robyn Pottorff.

ON THE BILL:

• Wendy Seyb presents two excerpts from her repertoire including her latest works Catch and Supernovas, a Golden Nose award-winning dance comedy piece created with performers Mark Gindick and Kathryn Fraggos.
• Mark Lonergan presents excerpts from his company Parallel Exit’s tap comedy Time Step, featuring performers and co-creators Ryan Kasprzak, Brent McBeth, and Derek Roland.
• Performer Hilary Chaplain, one of America’s leading professional physical comediennes, presents her variety piece Classically Trained Musician.
• Exploding Puppet Productions/Blue River Productions present a montage from their hilarious NYMF production Die Hard: The Puppet Musical.
• Jessica Green and Tami Stronach present an excerpt from their acclaimed physical comedy piece The Birds.
• Choreographer Ray Hesselink (Billy Elliot, Imagine Tap) rounds out the evening with a work of brand new choreography called Lulu’s (New) in Town.

Tickets are $20 each and available by telephone at 212-352-3101 and via the internet at www.nymf.org.

Bindlestiff Family Cirkus

Since 1995 the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus has traveled the world, bringing its unique hybrid of vaudeville, circus, burlesque, and sideshow to theaters, clubs, colleges, and festivals. The company has produced innumerable cabaret shows, custom performances for special audiences, all-ages and family productions, and sophisticated adult shows. Over the last five years the company has begun developing more theatrical productions, including 2001's Buckaroo Bindlestiff's Wild West Gender Bender Jamboree, 2003's High Heels & Red Noses, and 2005's From the Gutter to the Glitter: A Night Out with the Bindlestiffs. In 2004 Bindlestiff instituted its annual children's performance program, the Cavalcade of Youth, in which young performers and technical staff (ages 8-20) have the opportunity to hone their skills with variety arts professionals.

The Bindlestiff Family co-founders are Stephanie Monseu and Keith Nelson, who over the last decade have hosted a variety of outrageous talent under the Bindlestiff banner. Individually both Keith and Stephanie provide a vast array of talents, from public relations to booking to performing. Their personal dedication to the variety arts, circus, vaudeville, sideshow, and burlesque has made the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus famous both among audiences and within the variety performance community.

From 2002 to 2004 the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus operated the "last vaudeville house in Times Square." In conjunction with chashama, Bindlestiff opened Bindlestiff's Palace of Variety and the Free Museum of Times Square. The Palace presented up to five performances a day, presenting continuous vaudeville shows on 42nd Street and hosting nearly thirty other productions. [NOTE: During this time, I performed with the Bindlestiff's performing my flea circus on weekends, and working as the Outside Talker during night shows]

The size of the Cirkus can range from two to sixteen performers, depending on the show. Over 200 performers from a multitude of disciplines have entertained Bindlestiff audiences across the country and around the world. Bindlestiff has brought its grand spectacle to hundreds of thousands from a live stage, and over a million through television. Dedicated fans come back again and again expecting the very best and most original acts working today.

In 2006 the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and Magic Hat Summer Variety Show made its debut tour. Co-sponsored by Magic Hat Brewing Company, this production sought to bring circus to festivals and music stages up and down the East Coast.

For the next two weeks, the Bindlestiffs will finish their 2007 Magic Hat Tour. The
show currently features some of the Bindlestiff's best and brightest, including juggler and clown Adam Kuchler, funambulist Ariele Ebacher, cowboy extraordinaire A.J. Silver, organist Frederik Iversen, and of course Philomena Bindlestiff and Mr. Pennygaff (the founders of the show)

To find out more about the Bindlestiffs, visit their website listed below, or call their Hotline.

WEBSITE: http://www.bindlestiff.org
HOTLINE: 1-877-BINDLES

TOUR SCHEDULE:

September 5
Tink's
519 Linden St
Scranton, PA 18503
(570) 346-8465
http://www.clubtinks.com/index.php
Showtime 9

September 6
The Chameleon
223 N. Water St.
Lancaster, PA 17603
http://www.chameleonclub.net/
HOTLINE: 717.393.7133
Showtime: 9

Friday Sept 7th
Zipper Factory
336 W. 37th Street
NYC 10018
212-563-0480
http://www.thezipperfactory.com
showtime 9pm

September 8 - 9
Boston Tattoo Convention
Boston Center for The Arts
539 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116
http://www.bcaonline.org
Doors at noon Saturday & Sunday
Shows throughout the day

September 10
The Lucky Dog Music Hall
89 Green St
Worcester, MA 01604
508-363-1888
Start Time: 8:00 PM

Sept 12
The Red Square
388 Broadway
Albany, NY 12210
(518) 465-0444
www.redsquarealbany.com
show 9pm

September 13
Hops in the Square
100 East Genesee St
Downtown Syracuse
event begins at 5pm show 6pm-7pm

September 14
The Rex Theater
1602 East Carson St
Pittsburgh, PA
venue phone 412-381-6811
http://www.elkoconcerts.com/rextheater.htm
Show 8pm

September 15
World Cafe Live
3025 Walnut Street
Philadelphia PA
http://www.worldcafelive.com/
tix and info 215 222-1400
Show 8:00 pm

Jennifer Miller & Circus Amok

Circus Amok is a New York City based circus-theater company whose mission is to provide free public art addressing contemporary issues of social justice to the people of New York City. The group has been together since 1989 bringing its funny, queer, caustic and sexy, political one-ring spectacles to diverse neighborhoods from East New York to the East Village. The company is comprised of seven ring-performers, a 7 member live band, 3-roustabouts, and a trucker/technician extraordinaire. The performers in the ring are trained in traditional circus skills - tight rope walking, juggling, acrobatics, stilt walking, clowning - as well as experimental dance, theater, and gender-bending performance art and improvisational techniques. Over the years the traditional circus techniques have been combined with dance, lifesize puppetry, music old and new, and dramatic monologues creating new meanings for circus while continuing to entertain the crowds of all ages throughout the city streets, gardens, parks, and playgrounds.

The troupe was founded by Jennifer Miller, a real-life bearded woman (although she prefers the sobriquet "woman with a beard") and a superb circus/sideshow artist. Jennifer has received an Obie and Bessie Award for her work. In addition to performing, Jennifer has taught performance and other subjects at several universities, including UCLA, Cal Arts, Scripps College and NYU.

Along with a number of other artists, Jennifer and company each year create a new show that talks about one of the tough issues that New Yorkers face. This year, the show is called Bee-dazzled, and while I'm not sure of the content yet, I am pretty positive some mention of the curious lack of bees, and the environmental havoc being caused by industry, will feature heavily into the show.

If you'd like more information about the company, please visit their website listed below. Also below is the 2007 schedule for Circus Amok. Please check their website for additional information.

http://www.circusamok.org

=============
BEE-DAZZLED SCHEDULE
=============
*** FREE FREE FREE *** ALL REAL *** ALL ALIVE *** FREE FREE FREE

Glamorous, Gritty, Dangerous, Glorious, Acrobatic Entomologists, Querelous Quandaries, Fantastical Fruits, Incredible Insects, Vaulting Villains, Stupendous Sideshow Spectacular.

2007 Tour Schedule:

[but be sure to check http://www.circusamok.org for weather updates and late-breaking news!]

SAT 9/1 -- RIVERSIDE PARK -- 2PM and 5PM -- Enter at 79th St. and Riverside Drive, NYC
SUN 9/2 -- WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK -- 1PM, 3PM and 5PM -- University Ave. and Washington Square North, NYC
MON 9/3 -- CONEY ISLAND -- 2PM and 5PM -- West 10th St. and Surf Ave., BROOKLYN

THURS 9/6 -- UNION SQUARE PARK -- 12:30PM, 3PM, 5:30PM -- Union Square West and 17th St., NYC
FRI 9/7 -- COLUMBUS PARK -- 12:30PM and 5:30PM -- Mulberry St. btwn Worth and Bayard, NYC
SAT 9/8 -- ST MARY'S PARK -- 3PM -- St. Ann's Ave. and St. Mary's St., BRONX
SUN 9/9 -- PROSPECT PARK -- 1PM, 3PM and 5PM -- behind the Tennis House, enter at 9th St. and Prospect Park West, BROOKLYN

FRI 9/14 -- MARCUS GARVEY PARK -- 5:30PM -- Madison Ave and 124th St, NYC
SAT 9/15 -- FT GREENE PARK 2PM and 5PM -- Dekalb and Washington Park.,BROOKLYN
SUN 9/16 -- TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK -- 1PM, 3PM and 5PM -- 77th St. and Ave. A, NYC

Visit http://www.circusamok.org for late-breaking news and weather updates!