Finding Your Funny Bone! by Nancy Gold

In 1991, I traveled to Philadelphia to the International Clown Congress.  There I met a number of other clowns, many of whom I continue to be friendly with to this day (I also met a guy who was from Rhode Island, and we had a number of friends in common, but strangely had never met– and we’ve worked on a number of projects together, including 3 original circuses and a large-scale festival.  But that’s a different story!)

While I was there, I took workshops with Bolek Polivka and Fred Curchack.  I also met Ctibor Turba, who intrigued me enough that in 1992, I went to Czechoslovakia to study with him.

One of the people I met there was Nancy Gold, a clown teacher and performer from San Francisco.  She was taking Turba’s week long workshop, (which was opposite my Polivka/Curchak classes)  and I asked for (and received) her meticulous notes about the class.  I think I gave her my much less meticulous notes about Polivka and Curchak back too. I got a much better bargain out of the deal.

Lo and behold, she’s got a recent book out, Finding Your Funny Bone!, about learning physical comedy for actors.  Nancy has been teaching at A.C.T. and Berkeley Rep for a number of years, and has compacted all of her teaching into this book.  I haven’t delved into the book yet, (she’s promised me a review copy though, and when I get it, I will review it right here.)

 The little that I’ve seen of the book from her website, it looks like it’s going to be very good.  Nancy writes and teaches with a lot of enthusiasm, and the excerpts from the book show it clearly.

If you’ve read the book, feel free to write a comment and tell us what you think about it.

WEBSITE:  http://www.findingyourfunnybone.com
BUY THE BOOK ON AMAZON.COM:  Finding Your Funny Bone!