It is with very sad heart that I relay the fact that Rob Torres, International Man of Mirth has passed away. UPDATE 12/10/2019:Â Jim Moore’s book/tribute to Rob Torres is now available. Read the review for more information. I saw him perform at the New York Clown Festival, with Big Apple a couple of times, and a few times as […]
Read moreI was at a conference the other day and somebody did an exercise that reminded me of this clown game, which is one of my favorite ones to teach. It teaches rhythm, and focus, and split focus, and being a giver and a taker all at once– in short, everything a clown needs to do his job. I think I […]
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A friend sent me an article from the Daily Beast about a German ringmaster who, dearly World War II, secretly saved Jewish acrobats and other circus performers from the Nazis. I hadn’t known about the story, although it’s apparently been widely reported upon, and I thought that it’s worth spreading wide here. I’ve collected a number of sources about Adolf […]
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Ron “Toto” Johnson has been a clown his entire life. He started in 1977 at age 10 in his hometown of Naugatuck CT. He graduated Ringling Clown College in 1985. He has since worked in circuses, theme parks, casinos, riverboats, parades, carnivals, and just about every other venue you can think of. He has performed all over the world, including […]
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I am thinking about starting collecting circus stamps. I got an article about circus stamp collecting from my father in law, who is an avid stamp collector. (When you are a clown, people send you all kinds of clown stuff that they find in their everyday life. I like it, although it also means I get a fair amount of […]
Read more“Clowning Around: InterPlay and Sacred Clown,†a workshop facilitated by Jean Carlos Claudio and Agnotti on Wednesday, will take place on March 28th from 6:30pm-9pm at Cup & Spoon 2415 W North Ave. This is a community event that happens monthly. Admission is priced on a sliding scale. This month, the event is a lighthearted evening of spontaneous connection and […]
Read moreI don’t normally give this blog over to political actions, but I want to point out that there’s a company that recently made a negative connotation for going into a life in the circus. And that really shouldn’t stand unanswered. In the commercial in question, two mean girls tell a nicer girl “We’re going to run away and join the circus. […]
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Manual Cinema , the award winning puppet/film/multimedia studio based in Chicago, is putting on a performance/workshop at the end of March. It’s part of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival. The show (and the workshop) explore poetry, puppetry, and shadow theatre, and their intersections. The Puppet Festival actually happens every two years, and the next one is scheduled for 2019, however […]
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Journey For the Sun, A SciFi Cartoon Circus from The Actors Gymnasium’s is visually stunning and well worth seeing. A couple of weeks ago I got to see the opening night of the show, and it was really great! The show features a combination of professional performers and the Actors Gym’s Teen Ensemble, as it tells the story of an […]
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The people at CloWnStePPinG have been producing a Clown Cabaret Scratch night in Edinburgh since 2014. It’s been pretty successful, and they are now looking to step it up a notch, and are looking to produce the first ever Edinburgh Clown Festival from May 3- May 5, 2018. Officially known as the Edinburgh Contemporary Clown Theatre Festival (ECCTF?), the shows will […]
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I read with a heavy heart the story about Grandma the Clown (Barry Lubin) ‘s resignation from the Big Apple Circus. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/23/nyregion/big-apple-circus-grandma-clown-resigns.html It suffices to say that this is terrible news for everyone all around. Of course, for the young girl, and for Barry, and for Barry’s friends, and for the Big Apple Circus, and of course, circus people […]
Read morePlay competitions about Environmental Justice aren’t usually a Clownlink thing, but they could be! Why not? INNER VOICES Social Issues Theater at the University of Illinois, Champaign is looking for play scripts that address the following issue: Social Justice as Environmental Justice. The possible topics might include such things as the following: • food deserts • environmental hazards • […]
Read moreI shot this video at the recent 50th anniversary of Clown College reunion. Jeff Gordon (Gordoon) did this fantastic bubble act, and I captured it on film. With his permission, I’m sharing it via Youtube! Enjoy!
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Chicago Puppet Cabaret Nasty Brutish and Short is performing at Links Hall on Monday December 11 at 7:30 pm. This show features some of the best puppeteers in the area putting on new work, experimental work, and samples of their work. Nasty Brutish & Short is an evening of contemporary short-form puppet and object based theater for adult audiences. The […]
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I’ve recently joined a new social network. If you are reading this blogpost, you may be interested in it also. It’s called CircusTalk, and it’s a professional social network for circus performers worldwide. The basic idea is to use the same kinds of digital tools that other professions use, but gear it towards circus. It’s LinkedIn for circus! Once you […]
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PHYSICAL FESTIVAL CHICAGO is calling for proposals of physical theater plays for its 5th edition of the festival that will run in June 2018. An annual contemporary, visual, and physical theater festival based in Chicago, Physical Festival presents new forms of theater that are being performed around the world and in our backyard. In 2014, Alice da Cunha and Marc Frost […]
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