RIP, Mr. Snot

Joe Kudla, half of the team of Puke and Snot, passed away on Monday. He was 58 years old, and had been performing Ren Faire stages for over 30 years, including letting young upstarts Penn and Teller open for them. Read more below (obit from the Pioneer Press) or visit the Puke and Snot website, listed below for more details. At the website listed below, Joe's partner Mark Sieve shares stories and fan email about Joe. PUKE AND SNOT WEBSITE: http://www.magaga.com Actor Joe Kudla of 'Puke and Snot' team dies at 58 By Dominic P. Papatola dpapatola@pioneerpress.com Article Last Updated: 08/11/2008 06:30:56 PM CDT Minneapolis actor Joe Kudla - half of the "Puke and Snot" comedy team that entertained crowds at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival for more than three decades - died Monday at the age of 58. Kudla died at his home in Northeast Minneapolis, according to his performing partner, Mark Sieve. A cause of death was not immediately available. "I'm wondering if Bud Abbott felt this way when Lou Costello died," said Mark Sieve, who played Puke in the popular comic duo that mixed swordplay and groaner jokes. Sieve said he and Kudla were supposed to go over some new material Monday, but that Kudla wasn't returning phone calls. "I was complaining to my wife about my irresponsible partner not answering his phone," Sieve said, honoring his late partner with a bit of gallows humor. "Turns out he had a good excuse." Kudla was already a fixture on the local performing scene when he and Sieve conjured the idea of a pair of medieval types who would crack wise and cross swords. The first iteration of the duo, dubbed Mouldy and Wart, premiered at the 1973 festival. Puke and Snot appeared the next year. At the height of their fame, the opening act for their routine was a young pair of comic-magicians named Penn and Teller. Kudla and Sieve trained others their shtick, and have been a fixture at Renaissance festivals across the country ever since. In 2007, Kudla took a break from playing Thomas Snot, earning rave reviews in the History Theatre production of "The Baron," a paean to old-school professional wrestling in which he played, among other famous grapplers, Maurice "Mad Dog" Vachon. Sieve intends for the show to go on when the Minnesota Renaissance Festival opens later this month. "It would be a great tribute to Joe to keep it going," he said, "but I don't know. I might break down in the middle of the routine."

Bindlestiffs Reality Show on the web

Add another show to your summer web watching schedule. The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus has a new reality show that is being broadcast on the web. Each week will feature a mini-sode that is a different aspect of working with the Bindlestiffs-- booking, rehearsing, performing, touring. The trailers look like they are taken from all over the last 10 years or so (or at least incorporate footage from that time period.) The whole thing is supposed to start on 8/1/08, but there's some pretty good footage/trailers up on the site now. Here are some screengrabs from the trailers. For more information or to watch the show, visit the websites listed below: WEBISODES: http://www.thebindlestiffs.com WEBSITE/INFO: http://www.bindlestiff.org

Didier Danthois

Didier Danthois is a clown and clown teacher based in London, England. Didier first trained in Clowning and Circus skills 24 years ago at the Fratellini Circus School(Paris). He studied Expressionist Dance, Clowning, and then, Indian Raga singing with an Indian master. He is the founder of the Fool at Heart School of Sacred Clowning and teaches, performs, & directs internationally. The school offers Mime Clown & Musical Clown trainings with a focus on bringing out the healing potential of the fool and the clown for today’s world. Didier is also the spiritual director of ClownCare & Co., an organisation bringing Sacred Clowning into healthcare. Didier describes Sacred Clowning as follows: The clown is allowing himself to be vulnerable, to become truly naked to the present, to become empty. Then openness, an unstained perception can manifest, a veil is lifted to the realm of innocence and wonder. A sense of gratitude and a reverence for all things and all people emerge. Love and compassion fill the heart, carrying him, he feels held, as by an infinitively loving mother, holding her child. In that sacred space, everything is alive, and becomes a source of creativity. A dull face in the audience, a balloon exploding, a light-shadow on the floor, dust flying in the air, a bald head shining…Everything around him starts to tell a story, taking him on a journey into the unknown... A forgotten microphone stand takes over the stage. He feels left out, laughter in the audience calls him, he waves his hand, the stand is now looking at him severe and grave, and he shrinks under its power… A story unfolds, where every object speaks, where everybody contributes, where there is an invisible link between all things and all people. Enchanted, he becomes an instrument being played, in service of the unseen. This is Magic. This is Sacred Art. This is the Sacred Clown. Didier has been inspired by the teachings of the Buddha for the last thirteen years. He works towards creating an art which celebrates the beauty of authenticity, compassion & the interdependence of all things and all people. His dedication is to encourage a greater understanding of the Wisdom of the Child. His present work explores the field of emotional and spiritual resonance through the Fool at Heart in mime - dance - music & play, and also through Indian Raga singing, for both adults & children. To find out more about Didier's work, including workshops with him. visit his website listed below: http://www.sacred-clown-as-healer.co.uk

FUNAMBOLIKA 2008 (Italy July 5-8)

Funambolika 2008 is the 2nd edition of the summer circus arts festival particularly focused on clowns, and conceived by Italian clown and director Raffaele De Ritis. It takes places in Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy, in the open-air Teatro D’Annunzio on the Adriatic beach. This is the same 2000-seats arena where Pescara Jazz, one of the oldest and most prestigious jazz festivals in the world takes place (www.pescarajazz.com). Funambolika is organized by the same company Last year's festival featured Jango Edwards and David Larible. This year's festival will have three evenings of entertainment: July 5 DUEL (Paul Staicu, piano – Laurent Cirade, cello) The comedy musical revelation of last year’s Edimburgh and Avignon Festival July 7 PETER SHUB The legendary clown with his solo theatre show “Nice Night for an Evening” July 8 GRAN GALA DU CIRQUE Guest star: Andrei Jigalov An evening of international circus acts (from Monte Carlo Festival, Kiev School, Moscow Circus, Cirque du Soleil appearances) including among others juggler Boul, acrobat Maxim Popazov, contorsionist-swimmer Aqua and others, around a special guest star: clown ANDREI JIGALOV, the king of contemporary russian laughmakers. Pescara is a ten minute drive from Aereoporto d’Abruzzo (www.abruzzo-airport.it ), and is easily connected to via many major cities. For all other destinations, the Rome Fiumicino airport is 2 hours drive. For more information visit the following websites: Funambolika blog: www.funambolika.blogspot.com General program: www.entemanifestazionipescaresi.it Myspace: www.myspace.com/funambolika Tickets: (39) 085-6920057 – (39) 085-4221463 Organization: (39) 085-693093 • (39) 085-4503036 Email: info@entemanifestazionipescaresi.it Artistic direction: rderitis@hotmail.com

Slapsticon- Virginia (July 17-20)

SLAPSTICON is a four-day, international film festival dedicated to classic motion picture comedy! This year, the sixth annual festival will be held from Thursday July 17, through Sunday July 20, at Arlington county's spacious Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. The 6th Annual SLAPSTICON will start off with a triple slap when "The 3 Stooges Rarities Show", begins on Thursday July 17 at 7:00pm. This never-before-seen compendium of home movies, TV clips and other Stooge ephemera (with a few classics thrown in) is not to be missed. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: W.C. Fields' first starring feature, Sally of the Sawdust (1925), directed by D.W. Griffith from Fields' Broadway hit, Poppy (Thursday, July 17 at 9:00 p.m.) Buster Keaton's rarely screened The Silent Partner made for TV in 1955 and The Scribe (1966), a Canadian industrial film in which 70-year-old Buster walks on construction girders on a windy autumn day just months before his death. (Saturday July 19 at 2:00 p.m.). Ladies Night in a Turkish Bath (1928) shows how silents could sizzle even before the talkies. Forgotten comedienne Dorothy Mackaill is ripe for a modern-day rediscovery, with Laurel & Hardy foil James ("Doh!") Finlayson in support. (Saturday July 19 at 8:00 p.m.). The venue, Rosslyn Spectrum was originally built as a movie house in the early 1960's. The newly-renovated theater now has 387 cushioned theater seats - each with folding tables for note-taking critics, or for refreshments (which are allowed inside the theatre)!! All silent films shown at SLAPSTICON feature LIVE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT by accomplished musicians, Dr. Philip Carli, Ben Model and Andrew Simpson. Each utilize different styles and both have many years of experience in the art of silent film accompaniment. SLAPSTICON Screenings will occur: Thursday, July 17, 1:00 p.m. - 12:00 mid. Friday, July 18 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 mid. Sat., July 19, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 mid. Sunday, July 20, 10:00am - 5:00pm. COST: $99 for the full four-day festival; $30 per day; $16 half-day. For more information about Slapstickon 2008 (including a registration form), visit www.slapsticon.org. You may also e-mail info@slapsticon.org or call 703-228-1841.

The Sprockets Circus

Great article on NPR's website about the Sprockets, a family circus of three that tours the world in a 1962 Bristol double decker bus with a top speed of 33 miles per hour. The show features Scott Harrison, his wife Issabelle Feraud, and their 11 year old son Theo, who have been touring continuously since 1997. They ship their bus between continents, and have performed in 48 countries, and 6 continents. They are currently in the states, and are starting the process of writing a book about their journey. Their shows are full of magic, juggling, acrobatics, daredevil unicycling and lots of slapstick humor. Scott was a juggling entrepreneur for a while in England, and then became a performer. Find out more about the Sprockets on the websites listed below: SPROCKETS WEBSITE: http://www.thesprockets.com NPR Article/story: Circus Family Is Ready for a Safety Net SPROCKETS FLICKR site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesprockets/

Daniel Stein workshop July 21-Aug 7 Berkeley, CA

I took this workshop 10 years ago at Dell'arte and it was fantastic then-- I'm sure it's gotten even better now. More information at http://www.berkeleyrep.org/school/adult_index.asp ==================================== generating new material: heart of a poet / mind of an actor / body of a gymnast Instructor: Daniel Stein Give your imagination a whack on the side of the head! Discover concrete ways to get beyond "STUCK" when you're creating new work. Practice ways to think, see and create without the auto-critique shutting you down. This is a hands-on course in generating new material dealing with the emotions of shape, the excitement of rhythms (tempo, architectural, dynamic) and finding ideas from untapped and unconventional sources. Otherwise put: it's training in juggling the juxtaposition of the physical world on stage and the metaphysical world that the audience will eventually take home with them. You, the artist, will go back to your studio with concrete ideas and a running start at building your next project. This work is great for performers, directors, teachers and anyone else looking for freedom and empowerment in their own creativity. Daniel Stein studied in the Professional Actors Training Program at Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked with Jewel Walker. He then studied with Etienne Decroux in Paris, becoming M. Decroux's translator, and began his professional career as an actor with the French National Theatre—a relationship which lasted 20 years. His solo performances have toured in more than 30 countries, and have been seen in the US in venues such as the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center. He has taught master classes throughout the world at institutions such as Juilliard School and The Institute of Dramatic Arts, Tokyo. Daniel has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow. Daniel served for five years as Dean of Students and another five years as School Director, of The Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. The fall of '08 has him slated to direct in Philadelphia and act in Clown Show for Bruno Shultz in Israel and Germany. Books published that talk about his work: Le Theatre du Geste by Jacques Lecoq, Bordas–Paris Modern and Post Modern Mime by Thomas Leabhart, Modern Dramatists The Origins and Development of the Art of Mime by Annette Lust, Scarecrow Press Monday–Thursday, 7–10PM • 7/21–8/7 • $500

Tom Sgouros at Maker's Faire- San Mateo May 3.

Adam writes: My good friend and collaborator Tom Sgouros has a fantastic show that he'll be performing in the Bay Area on Saturday May 3 at the Maker's Faire. A fun and engaging show that asks the question: What is it like to be a robot? It's not quite clowning, but Tom is a very good clown, and the show is all about obstacle (and philosophy) Judy the Robot will return once more to sunny California this coming weekend, at the Make Magazine "Maker Faire" at the San Mateo Event Center (I think it used to be called the Fairgrounds). This is a very strange, but altogether delightful event that calls together people from all over the place who like to make stuff, ranging from robot giraffes to bicycle-driven generators to catapults and sweaters that blink. So Judy will fit right in. Judy will provide the Saturday night entertainment for the festival, 6:30 in the Fiesta Hall, May 3. There's more about the festival at http://makerfaire.com . PRESS RELEASE AT http://sgouros.com/judy/judyrel.pdf Judy -or- What Is It Like To Be A Robot? Written and Performed by Tom Sgouros Since the dawn of the computer age, oceans of ink have been spilt writing about the intelligence of computers. Some researchers say that computers will eventually attain super-human intelligence. Others call these claims... um, poppycock. Oddly, in the search for the truth of the matter, both camps have overlooked an obvious strategy: interviewing a computer and asking its opinion. Intrepid researcher Sgouros has leapt into this lacuna, and presents some preliminary findings in a new not-quite-solo show. (You could call it "My Dinner with Android.") The central question is: if you build a robot smart enough to do the dishes, will it also be smart enough to find them boring? Judy herself was built in Tom's basement, over the course of several months, from pieces of some old computers, a couple of bicycles, a copy machine, marine stove, and yes, someone's kitchen sink. After literally weeks of intensive tutoring in phonics, elocution, and the elements of logic, Judy made her public debut in January, 2000, at Providence's Perishable Theatre. The seventh in a series of possibly comic monologues and solo dialogues, Judy is a story of a man and his, um, companion, discussing such topics as imagination, consciousness, stage magic, the uses of eyes, and what it's really like to wake up in the morning and confront your aluminum-and-steel face in the mirror each day.

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.

Circus Action International

Inspired by the success of Cirque du Soleil’s “Cirque du Monde”, Ethiopia’s “Circus of Hope” and Cambodia’s Phare Ponleu Selpak, Canadian director Jerry Snell has founded another institution for Youth at Risk using Circus and Performing Arts as a tool for helping migrant and street children, working children, freed bonded labor children, trafficked and victims of slave labor in Asia and Africa. In collaboration with co founder James Tanabe, they have begun to set up CIRCUS ACTION INTERNATIONAL which is currently a network of teachers, programs, companies using performing arts and circus as an educational tool or simply a way to build confidence and resolve feelings of isolation and abandon in youth cornered by complex problems such as human trafficking, war, AIDS/HIV, poverty and political corruption. The first conference of Circus Action International will be hosted by Cambodian Arts & Circus Company Phare Ponleu Selpak in Cambodia at their Circus Festival 3 to 6 of April, 2008 in Battambang. If you are interested in helping to organize communications (they currently need an english to french translator) or interested in becoming a teacher in the projects in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and India, please contact Jerry Snell. The teaching projects are set to begin in July 2008. Send him your background and availability for the future, especially if you already have plans to come to Asia. For more information about Jerry Snell or Circus Action International, visit his website http://www.jerrysnell.com or email info@jerrysnell.com For more information about Phare Ponleu Selpak, visit their website http://www.phareps.org It's in French, but there's an English translation.

Director's Note for We Won't Pay

Here is the director's note I wrote for the production I just directed of Dario Fo's We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! Overall, the play went very well. The set was fantastic, the lighting and costumes were great, the actors really stepped up to the considerable challenge.(In fact, Ron Jenkins, translator of the play, Dario's onstage translator and collaborator, and a clown college graduate and theatre professor) told me that he thought we really got the rhythms of Dario Fo in the play-- something that he has seen a lot of professional companies fail at. And later told the people that hired me that they really picked the right guy! -- Ron, the check is in the mail! ) Considering that I was in rehearsal beating the rhythm of the play out with a stick, I feel pretty vindicated and happy. And a lot of the clown routines I added in (including a three minute chase sequence, complete with Chariots of Fire Slow Motion) were very well received. There were of course notes I could have given to the end (and continued to work on) but I am very pleased with how the show came out. Anyway, here's the director's note: DIRECTOR'S NOTE I met Dario Fo in 1996 in Copenhagen as part of ISTA (the International School of Theatre Anthropology). Dario and Franca Rame (his wife) were presenting at the conference. I'd known who he was, and was excited to meet him of course, but I didn't really get how great he was until he spoke/performed. He was recovering from a stroke, and he apologized for his weakened state. But with each sentence he spoke he drew strength from the audience’s reactions, until 45 minutes laughter (I mean later), he had transformed into seventeen or eighteen different characters, had us eating out of the palms of his hand, and looked and sounded as strong as an ox. He spoke in Italian, and although I speak nothing more than "Ciao Bella", I felt like I understood Italian perfectly. He was that clear at communicating. I ended up following Dario to every performance, lecture, and art exhibit he attended for the next two weeks, listening to him speak, watching him drink coffee. I'm lucky I wasn't arrested for stalking. Dario was (and is) my ideal theatre artist -- a hybrid playwright/actor/director/artist/theater owner/social activist who was (and is) equally adept at all of them, and just plain hilarious. I realized that I wanted to become Dario Fo when I grew up. Eleven years later, I haven't managed it, not by a long shot, but Dario Fo is still at the root of my thoughts about what makes compelling theatre. We Won't Pay! We Won't Pay! is perhaps Dario’s most produced play and is emblematic of his work-- a story that starts simply, but quickly gets outrageously complicated. His stories and plots have tangents, embellishments, digs at authority (the pope, the cops, and big business among them) and concrete visual images that are logical and absurd, both at once. These tangents and images push the actors to constantly engage the audience, to charm them, to conspire with them, and to entertain them. It is amazing how relevant this 35 year old play is today. It's a story about two couples pushed to the edge by rising prices, shrinking jobs, skyrocketing crime (both real and imagined), an uncaring government, and an inability to pay for the necessities of living. In the age of the $3 gallon of gas, the $4 cup of coffee, and the $5 gallon of milk, does this sound familiar? I thought so. I want to say thank you to EVERYONE at Theatre Fairfield. Everybody I’ve met from students to professors to other guest artists, have acted like real professionals. And of course, I must thank my talented, talented cast, who have generously given of their creativity and talent to make this show the wonderful working experience that it's been. Enjoy the show! And to quote Dario and Franca (who are quoting Moliere) “Laughter opens the mind of the audience so that the nails of reason can be hammered in. " I hope you leave the theater with your head full of nails. Adam

Brian Foley's Commedia Links

Brian Foley (of Circus Bambouk) has started a very nice Commedia Link blog-- he's putting up all sorts of great video regarding commedia, as well as book reviews, photographs, pictures of masks, thoughts, philosophy,etc. I highly recommend checking it out. Visit the blog at http://cdalinks.blogspot.com/ He posted two video links that I was especially interested in-- both feature Ferrucio Soleri. I studied with Soleri in 1996 in Copenhagen. (I had gone to Denmark because Dario Fo, Eugenio Barba, and Jerzy Grotowski were all in the same place at the same time. I was able to meet all three. While I was there, there was a large commedia festival. I snuck into Soleri's class, and afterwards introduced myself, and he graciously allowed me to stay and observe. (I also ended up doing a few exercises as well! The class was taught in broken english, so I ended up translating some, because I had the best command of English in the room.) In the first, Soleri is teaching commedia on some kind of Italian reality show. In the second, Soleri is performing a piece as Arlechino. His clarity, and his ability to carry us along in his performance is just wonderful. Enjoy! Soleri teaching on Italian TV Soleri as Arlechino

Stanley Allan Sherman

Stanley Allan Sherman is a graduate of Ecole Jacque Lecoq in Paris France and has been making leather theatre masks since 1976. He was in the original cast of the Off Broadway Show, Grandma Sylvia's Funeral that ran for 3+ years. On NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien he has been in over 40 comedy bits. Stanley is co-director and founder along with Hovey Burgess of Roving Classical Commedia University* (Totally Unaccredited). He is also known for his solo clown and commedia style shows that toured around the country and has been the featured show at many festivals for over 25 years, Stanley Allan Sherman's AERO SHOW Featuring The Star Spangled Banner was critic's choice in the Los Angles Times. He was a teacher and mask maker in the late 1970's under the direction of the master of Commedia dell'Arte, Carlo Mazzone-Clementi at his school the Dell'Arte School of Mime and Comedy in Blue Lake, California. (http://www.dellarte.com ) As a master leather craftsman he created the world famous Mankind Mask (the Arlecchino of the WWF) for the World Wrestling Federation. He had the longest running exhibition in the history of the NY Lincoln Center Museum of the Performing Arts. As a leather craftsman he has traded leather techniques and secrets with leather workers from around the world. Stanley directed and developed the children's show Bride of Beowulf, which toured for over 6 years. He has written three plays, teaches mask masking, performing, commedia, mime, clown and mask. Stanley's websites: MASK-MAKING: www.maskarts.com COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE: www.commediau.com. CLOWN FESTIVAL BLOG: Stanley's Clown Theater Festival Blog Stanley is another of the official bloggers of the NY Clown Theater Festival. In addition, he's teaching a class at the festival! (I told you he was classy!) Leather Clown Nose Making Workshop WHEN: Monday October 15th 2-5pm & Wednesday October 17th 2-5pm COST: $182 (includes material and tool fee. You get to keep the 7 tools.) * WHERE: Mask Arts Studio 203 West 14th St Studio 5F, New York NY 10011-7138 WHAT ELSE: Maximum of 6 students. To reserve your spot you must pay the full fee in advance, because Stanley needs to buy the tools and supplies in advance. To find out more about the class, visit http://www.bricktheater.com/Sherman * Past Clowns Nose Students of November or January who would like to take the class again may for a reduced fee of $58 including supplies. === If you like this post-- consider subscribing to the RSS Feed. ===

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

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

Shoebox Tour- Jugglers

The Shoebox Tour was founded by Jay Gilligan, who had been performing in Berlin with Les Sept Doights de la Main. While performing in a very showy environment, he felt less connected to his audience and to his reasons for performing. He decided to produce a tour with a few friends that would get away from the glitz, and focus on the fun of performing with his very talented friends. Now, the Shoebox Tour is committed to making contemporary and experimental juggling performance and techniques accessible to interested audiences around the world. Their final aim is to establish a cohesive and self-sustaining network of venues and areas of public interest that can support up and coming jugglers and help foster international exchange. Regional tours of various countries will be launched in an effort to get a grass roots organization secured, which can relieve and streamline the challenges in producing annual events that both artists and audiences can count on as a concrete and reliable source of inspiration, information, and community. This year's tour features, Jay Gilligan, Erik Aberg, Marcus Monroe, along with special guests Komei Aoki, Masaki Hirano, and Sean Blue. All of them are fabulous jugglers and are well worth checking out. Most of these guys have wn IJA and other Juggling awards, and if they haven't, they probably should have! They'll be performing in NY on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 7:00pm at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn Campus. Memorial Hall The show is free and open to the public. OTHER TOUR DATES BETWEEN NOW AND THE END OF THE MONTH August 22 NYC- Pratt Institute Memorial Hall, 200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn 7 pm FREE August 23 Boston -MIT, Room 10-250 77 Mass Ave, Cambridge 8 pm $10 August 24 Philadelphia- Greg Kennedy's Studio, 6122 Greene St 7:30 pm $10 August 25 Pittsburgh- U.Pittsburgh, Frick Fine Arts Building 7 pm $5 August 26 Toledo, OH-- Toledo Zoo-- Amphitheater 7 pm FREE August 27 Toledo, OH- Performer's School of Dance, 6801 W. Central, Suite 7 8 pm $10. August 28 Louisville, KY- 1211 Long Ridge Trace, 7 pm price TBD For more info about the Shoebox Tour, visit the websites listed below:: http://www.shoeboxtour.com http://www.myspace.com/shoeboxtour Thanks to Jeff Seal for the heads up!

Sxip Shirey and his Hour of Charm

Sxip Shirey is a sound designer, performer, story-teller, curator, and real-life circus composer. He performs on a number of unique and bizarre instruments, some of his own devising, including the Obnoxiophone, the Industrial Flute, Mutant Harmonicas, and more. He is also the world's foremost champion of the Tampon as a musical instrument. Sxip Shirey came to New York City when he joined The Bindlestiff Family Cirkus in the year 2000, This started him in a circus/theater direction and he composed music for Anti-Gravity and for the pyro-technic clowns of the Daredevil Opera Company, performing, composing and appearing at The New Victory Theater on Broadway, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Kennedy Center and the Sydney Opera House. His gypsy-tango-klezmer-punk band The Luminescent Orchestrii tours internationally and is part of the wild Balkan scene in New York City, their track "Amaritzi" is featured on the new Putumayo compilation "Balkan Groove". Sxip has toured the U.S. as support act for the Dresden Dolls and performed at their two days festival at the Round House in London England. In Adelaide Australia, his show was a hit at their biannual Fringe Festival. In New York City he performs and curates a high powered variety night called Sxip's Hour of Charm at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater. Last winter he composed music for Marsupial Girl by Lisa D'Amour for The Children's Theater Company of Minneapolis in a project developed with New Dramatists in NYC. He has also composed for works at the Ohio Theater, HERE, the Southern Theater and Inter-Media Arts in Minneapolis and has toured East Coast Colleges with the puppet theater piece Savage Nursery by Erin Orr developed through a grant from the Henson Foundation. He has also performed at The Knitting Factory, Tonic, Makor and many underground parties in Brooklyn. Sxip's Hour of Charm will be making an early fall appearance at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. The show will feature a number of New York variety entertainers, including the fabulous Una Mimnagh doing aerial stunts, Scott Davis as the "Red Bastard", and Bronx Cowboy AJ Silver. among others. Shows will run weekends from Sept. 14-30 Sept. 14-30 (Friday and Sunday at 8pm, Saturday at 7pm & 10pm) at the Zero Arrow Theater. For tickets call (617) 547-8300 or visit http://www.amrep.org For more information about Sxip's work, please visit his websites listed below. http://www.sxipshirey.com http://www.myspace.com/sxipshirey http://sxip.blogspot.com/

Sue Morrison

Sue Morrison has been teaching, directing and collaborating on Clown and Bouffon across the globe for more than 20 years. Her students are currently featured in Cirque du Soleil, Slava's Snow Show, Blue Man Group, Second City and on other international stages. Sue trained with Second City and Keith Johnstone and performed improvisation throughout Canada and later became a Second City main stage writer/performer. On a 'quest to work from her heart', she met Clown through Mask visionary Richard Pochinko, and after working with him for many years, he asked her to be his apprentice. Today, Morrison's unique and powerful work brings together the diverse elements of Native American and European Clowning, Bouffon, le Jeu, and Improvisation, ultimately creating dynamic performance spectacles. Sue has been Artistic Director of the Theatre Resouce Centre since 1993. She has taught at the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre, and works regularly with the LUME company of Brazil. During the past 3 years, she has been a presenter at International Theatre Conferences in Brazil and Argentina. The Bravo Arts Channel aired Burnt Tongue, directed and co-written by Morrison and her work has been the focus of several international documentaries. Sue collaborated on Absence of Magic, which was acclaimed by Time Out NY and the Village Voice. Other recent works in NYC include John Brown theatre's, The Bastard American Show, and creator of the popular bouffon, Red Bastard. Sue regularly teaches workshops in Toronto, London, and the US. To find out more about her work, please visit her website listed below: http://canadianclowning.com/

Peter Daniel Straus

Peter Daniel Straus is an entertainer with multiple identities- clown, sketch comedian, writer, director, published author, illustrator, and probably a few other ones that I am leaving out. He has performed with a number of illustrious institutions, including the Metropolitan Opera, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, Dance Theater Workshop, the National Theatre of Norway, and on Late Night With David Letterman, to name a few. As the rear-half of the comedy duo, Dapo & Straus, he has appeared all around New York City and on Royal Carribean cruise ships. Previous to that, he worked as a clown-doctor with New York’s “Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit”. And as a stage actor, he has recently been touring his new solo comedy show, BiG TiME in Norway. He is also the lead in a developing stage adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s The First Shlemiel, with music by Elizabeth Swados. Peter also works as a creative consultant, director, and teacher. he has lent his experience as the “slapstick konsulent” to the National Theatre of Norway’s production of Alice i Eventryland. He created and directed the theatrical family comedy show, Dill og Diger, which toured Norway in the Fall of 2006, and is currently in development as a television program. Peter also has taught physical comedy, with students ranging from interested teens to the seasoned actors of the National Theatre of Norway. Wearing a very different hat, Peter is also a published author. He is the illustrator-designer and co-author of MenOpop, the world’s first menopause pop-up and activity book. The book has been featured on a number of television programs and magazine articles. Peter is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College, The British American Drama Academy, and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College. To find out more about Peter's work, please visit his website listed below. http://www.peterdanielstraus.com

Lawrence Smythe

Lawrence Smythe is a Canadian clown that has performed and traveled all over the world. He is a rubber faced prankster with a number of different characters and entrees that he can perform. From mewling baby to over-strict Canadian Mounty to obtuse caveman, Lawrence approaches all of his characters with an earnestness that wins audiences over. Lawrence likes to think of his clown character as a mix between a poet and an orangutan. Lawrence grew up in a large Irish/Catholic Canadian military family, and his love of comedy was evident from an early age. Lawrence began his career in the theatre in 1978, and has studied extensively with a wide range of eclectic artists. He has held a variety of jobs as well, including, bus driver, baker, door-maker, car washer, waiter, janitor, tree planter etc. Parallel with these jobs he began his world travels, from France to Greece, on through Afghanistan to India and back to Mexico and Hawaii, on and on from here to there. His comedy heroes are the silent film classics-- Keaton, Chaplin, and Laurel and Hardy. From 1999-2006, Lawrence toured with Canadian circus artiste Jean Saucier in a show titled Circo Comedia. Saucier & Smythe were a great and classic circus team-- Saucier playing the elegant white faced clown and equilibrist and Smythe the Auguste orangutan. In 2006 Lawrence set off on his own to tour his solo show The Caretaker, which will feature an amalgamation of illusion, mask, puppetry, music, clowning, and audience participation. To find out more about Lawrence's work, please visit his website listed below: http://www.mrsmythecomedy.com/

Housch-Ma-Housch (Semen Schuster)

Semen Schuster (whose clown character is Housch-Ma-Housch) is an eccentric clown who has been wowing audiences since graduating from the Circus School of Kiev. A winner of a number of prizes (including the Grockland "Golden Grock") at the 26th Festival Mondial de Cirque de Demain and the Silver Lion at the China Wuqiao International Circus Festival, Housch combines juggling, magic, dance, mime, and a whole lot of charm to create circus and cabaret acts that are inventive and memorable.