The Amazing Ted Show at Ars Nova (NY 10/7)

I saw a presentation of this show at the Clown Festival last year-- it was very good, and this is a re-presentation. It's probably gotten even better. It's produced by Glass Contraption. Go check it out if you have a chance. See Ted juggle fifty-six chainsaws, set himself on fire, hold his breath for twenty minutes and then turn himself inside out. Featuring renowned entertainers from The Glass Contraption, THE AMAZING TED SHOW! is full of singing, dancing, ukulele, loud noises, attempted feats of acrobatics, falling in love and falling down. Audiences of all ages will love clowning around inside the beautifully stupid and wildly funny world of Ted! Directed by Virginia Scott. To find out more, visit http://arsnovanyc.com/ or buy tickets online at smarttix.com

A Play about Clowns

The NY Times had a recent review about a play that features clowns. It's not a clown show-- it's not a clown show, it's a play, that is about a clown. Sounds really interesting. Wide-Eyed New Arrivals Falling in Love With the City By ANITA GATES Published: October 3, 2008 From Clownlink If you are a true New Yorker (something that can be measured by purity of passion as much as by length of residence), a play that begins with balloon animals talking to each other in squeaky voices may not sound like your style. That just shows how much you (and I) know. Saviana Stanescu’s “Aliens With Extraordinary Skills” is an enchanting piece of theater, a paean to New York that just happens to include balloon animals. It’s a simple two-boys-meet-two-girls story about a pretty clown from Moldova (between Romania and Ukraine), her wild-and-crazy-guy clowning partner, an aspiring Dominican actress and an all-American musician trying to find himself. As well as two immigration agents who, suspecting a green-card-motivated marriage, ask the bride questions like “What’s his mother’s bra size?” Natalia Payne is adorable as Nadia the clown. Her supporting cast (Seth Fisher, Jessica Pimentel, Kevin Isola, Shrine Babb and Gian Murray Gianino), directed with great zeal by Tea Alagic, couldn’t be sharper, and Ms. Stanescu’s dialogue is flawlessly observant. Nadia and Mr. Fisher’s Borat (yes, like the Sacha Baron Cohen character) want to perfect their English. She tries to remember the word for “when you are like really energetic and full of life.” Borat suggests “outrageous.” No, Nadia says, she thinks the word is “outgoing.” Borat says, no, “That’s when you go out a lot.” “Aliens” shows us the world of Albanian taxi drivers, the Hot Pink Pussycat club and Craigslist. But it’s Nadia’s love affair with New York that fuels the action. She wants to go to the restaurants she saw on “Sex and the City.” She plans new birthday party tricks because “the kids are smart there.” Borat’s take on New Yorkers is different. “They work like 14, 16 hours a day,” he says. “They are a bit like zombies, you know.” But Nadia is a true believer. She loves the city even when it turns out that sometimes cool guys at parties in SoHo can treat the hired help like prostitutes. I’ve always believed that the special energy people talk about as New York’s essence comes from all those newcomers’ hopes and dreams in the air. “Aliens” pays tribute to that energy and at the same time radiates tons of its own. “Aliens With Extraordinary Skills” continues through Oct. 26 at Julia Miles Theater, 424 West 55th Street, Clinton, (212) 239-6200, womensproject.org.

FW: Call for Mourners: Brick Clown Funeral

CLOWN FUNERAL PROCESSION & CLOSING NIGHT PARTY Call for mourners!!  Please meet us Sunday at 6:15 at  Bedford Ave. and North 7th Street (Bedford stop of the L Train).  We will moan, sob, wail and keen our way to The Brick.  Where there will be a short viewing before the funeral service from Dzieci.  If you would like to make a brief statement about the soon to be deceseased please come prepared. Where: Procession begins at Bedford Ave. and North 7th Street (Bedford stop of the L Train)Theatre Group Dzieci leads the funeral rite following, clown widows and widowers will remember with great passion the achievements of the festival in its 4 short weeks of life. Be sure to stay after the funeral rite for the traditional Closing Night Party. He would have wanted it so . www.dziecitheatre.org www.bricktheater.com/clown/

Festival Preview: The Birdmann

The Birdmann is an Australian circus/vaudeville/sideshow performer who combines magic, theatre, circus skills, and inspired nonsense to create a show that is unique. Acts include plastic-bag juggling, knife-throwing, and nostril tea-drinking. The act has displayed in fifteen countries internationally, and goes directly from the NY Clown Festival back home to the Melbourne Fringe in Australia. Here's what The Groggy Squirrel, an independent publication that reviews Australian comedy has to say about the Birdmann (reviewing a previous show, Birdmannifesto: The Birdmann is a curious creature. A character comic who has invested so much into the one character that you find yourself forgetting that this is just a persona. A performer who performs tricks that would normally be the domain of clowns with a straight-faced intensity that makes them as impressive as any serious circus performer. Every element of this show, from the opening “is this a dagger I see before me” (no, it’s an umbrella) to the crab impersonations and costumes screams absurdity, but the straight-faced delivery ensures that the audience never feels lost or confused. These things might seem ridiculous coming from any other performer, but here they are just part of the Birdmann experience. While this show is very tightly scripted and performed, Birdmann is also comfortable breaking out into casual improvisation to deal with any unforeseen input. Constant creaking of the roof and the late arrival of enough punters to double his audience were dealt with amusingly and without any break from the world that he has created for us. There’s something uniquely special about Birdmannifesto, a quality to it that screams “this show is a great show”. It’s not the funniest show in the festival, and the circus skills aren’t the most impressive I’ve seen, but something about it as a whole makes it stand out from the crowd. The fact that this is also one of the cheapest shows in the festival (only $10 in a laugh pack or on Tuesdays) makes this arguably the best value for money to be found in the festival. I can’t imagine how anyone, regardless of their comedy tastes, could walk out of this show and not feel thoroughly entertained. You can find out more about his work at http://www.myspace.com/trentbaumann His website http://www.thebirdmann.com.au/ is currently under construction. The Birdmann will be at the NY Clown Festival at the Brick on: Sat 9/6 at 7pm Wed 9/10 at 10pm Sat 9/13 at 9pm Tue 9/16 at 7pm

Circus Amok Summer Schedule

Circus Amok, New York’s radical, community oriented, political free Summer in the Parks Circus is up and about again for summer 2008. This year's show is called "SUB-PRIME SUBLIME" and will feature the following: Acrobatic Economists, Fantastical Free-Falling Free Markets, Tenanacious Tenants, Querelous Quarks, Neurotic Neutrons, Vaulting Villains, Stupendous Stilters, Disco Dorothy, Lions and Tigers and Zebras Oh My! They will be performing throughout the five boroughs of New York, primarily in the parks from Sept 5-28. Here's the schedule: SAT, SEPT 6 – UPPER WEST SIDE – Riverside Park - 2pm & 5pm 79th Street & Riverside Drive SUN, SEPT 7– CONEY ISLAND, BROOKLYN – Coney Island - 2pm & 5pm West 10th Street & Surf Avenue MON, SEPT 8– EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN – MLK Park - 5pm Miller & Dumont Avenues WED, SEPT 10 – FT GREENE, BROOKLYN – Ft. Greene Park - 5:30pm Myrtle Avenue & St. Edward's Street FRI, SEPT 12 – SOUTH BRONX – St. Mary's Park - 5pm St. Ann’s Avenue & St. Mary’s Street SAT, SEPT 13 – LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS – Socrates Sculpture Park - 3pm Broadway & Vernon Boulevard SUN, SEPT 14 – PROSPECT PARK, BROOKLYN – Prospect Park - 2pm & 5pm Enter @ 9th Street & Prospect Park West Show is at the base of the grassy hill near the dog beach. WED, SEPT 17 – LOWER MANHATTAN – Columbus Park - 5:30pm Mulberry & Worth Streets FRI, SEPT 19 – SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN – Sunset Park - 5:30pm 6th Avenue & 41st Street SAT, SEPT 20 – GREENWICH VILLAGE – Washington Square - 2pm & 5pm University Place & Washington Square South SUN, SEPT 21 – HARLEM – Marcus Garvey - 2pm & 5pm Madison Avenue & 122nd Street WED, SEPT 24 – WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN – Bedford Playground - 5pm Bedford Avenue & South 9th Street FRI, SEPT 26 – LOWER MANHATTAN –Battery Park - 1pm & 5pm Castle Clinton Plaza SAT, SEPT 27 – LOWER EAST SIDE – Seward Park - 4pm Canal & Essex Streets SUN, SEPT 28 – EAST VILLAGE – Tompkins Square - 12pm & 3pm Avenue A & East 7th Street Visit WWW.CIRCUSAMOK.ORG for late-breaking news and weather updates They are also seeking volunteers for each and every show. You can run away and join the circus for the day. If you'd like to join them for the day, please send an email to circusamokinfo@gmail.com, or call 802-274-0502. SEE YOU AT THE SHOW!! ================================ CIRCUS AMOK is NYC's internationally-acclaimed one-ring FREE traveling circus. Since 1994 they've been bringing fabulous, political circus spectacle to more than 10,000 diverse audience members in the parks of NYC each season. From East New York to the East Village, Jamaica to Harlem, CIRCUS AMOK dazzles audiences with their mix of circus skills and variety arts, puppetry and music, glitter, grime and glamour as they tackle tough issues that touch New Yorkers: immigration, affordable housing, quality public education, police-community relations, healthcare for all. For more info, visit http://www.circusamok.org Here's a video from YouTube:

Bill Irwin & Co. Get 5 Barrymore Nominations

Bill Irwin's show THE HAPPINESS LECTURE just received 5 Barrymore nominations. The Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre are the Greater Philadelphia region's only comprehensive theatre awards program, recognizing artists for excellence and innovation while serving to increase awareness of the richness of the local theatre community. Each year, over 100 productions produced by the region's professional theatres are reviewed by the Barrymore nominating committee. At the annual awards presentation each Fall, the Barrymore Awards are presented to honor excellence in acting, design, choreography, music, education, community service and lifetime achievement. The 5 nominations: Ensemble - Bill Irwin, Aaron Cromie, Jennifer Childs, Ephrat Asherie, Melanie Cotton, Makoto Hirano, Nichole Canuso, Cori Olinghouse and Lee Ann Etzold New Play - Bill Irwin Choreography - Bill Irwin Supporting Actress - Lee Ann Etzold Sound Design - Jorge Cousineau This year the award ceremonies are Monday, October 6, 2008 6:30PM at the Crystal Team Room Wannamaker Building, 9th Floor 100 Penn Square East, Philadelphia Tickets go on sale Thursday, August 7! MORE INFO: http://www.theatrealliance.org/barrymores/

Deborah Kaufmann- Veni Vidi Vici (NY)

Deborah Kaufmann spent her childhood in dance and acting classes. She earned a degree in Visual Art from Bennington College. After brief careers as a production potter, a sign language interpreter, a props mistress, a typesetter and an aluminum can inspector, Deborah stumbled into her life as a clown. By seeking out master teachers such as Richard Pochinko, Tony Montanaro, Bob Berky, Avner Eisenberg and John Towsen, she has studied the art of clowning in its many facets. She was part of the production team of the First and Second NY Clown Theatre Festivals presented by If Every Fool, Inc. in 1982 and 1985. Since its inception in 1986, Deborah has performed with The Big Apple Circus Clown Care (sm). “Dr. Dibble” brings her own brand of buffoonery to hospitalized children and their caregivers. As the Creative and Educational Coordinator for Clown Care, she auditions and trains new performers, and oversees the ongoing artistic development of almost 100 unique “clown doctors.” She has taught hospital clowning in Brazil, France, The Netherlands, Finland and Australia. As the tuba player for The Baltic Street Blowhards, an eccentric band, she played NYC Parks, Symphony Space and Avery Fisher Hall. Deborah has performed her original works in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Brazil and Australia. Of her performance at the 2006 New Clown Theater Festival nytheatre.com said, “this performance gleams most brightly, with true mischief and solid will operating unfettered at maximum strength.” Deborah will be performing that same work, entitled Veni Vidi Vici, for three nights only at the Access Theatre in Manhattan. Take equal parts of dance, theater, and circus clown, add Native American mask work, flavor with a pinch of bouffon, a touch of true mischief, and a nod to "Harold and the Purple Crayon, " and you get this delightful look at greed and acquisition. "An exploration of human instincts at so basic a level that thought can be put aside and impulse thoroughly enjoyed . . . this performance gleams most brightly, with true mischief . . . unfettered at maximum strength." --nytheatre.com VENI VIDI VICI Written for adults, appropriate for children over 7 Dates: Sunday-Tuesday, August 17, 18, 19, 7:30pm Place: Access Theater - 380 Broadway, 4th floor, at White Street (two blocks below Canal) Subways: A, C, E, N, R, Q, W, 6, J, M, Z to Canal St; 1, 9 to Franklin Tickets: $10.00 theatermania.com, 212-352-3101, or 1-866-811-4111

NY Times Article on Kendall Cornell's Clowns Ex Machina

Kendall Cornell & Co scored a NY Times article about their work and upcoming show! THE WHEN, WHERE AND HOW: Thursday, July 31st at 7:30 pm Friday, August 1st at 7:30 pm Saturday, August 2nd at 7:30 pm updated venue! Manhattan Children’s Theatre, 52 White Street (between Broadway and Church) in Tribeca MAP Advance tickets: $15 at theatermania.com or 212-352-3101 (or weird.org) At the door: $18 general admission/$10 students and seniors (cash only) For more info about the festival and tickets: www.weird.org And here's the beginning of the article: Exploring the Bozo Mystique, and Defining Funny on Their Own Feminine Terms Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times Amanda Barron at rehearsal with Clowns Ex Machina. Members said their creativity had been stifled in mixed-gender troupes. By APRIL DEMBOSKY Published: July 29, 2008 Judi Lewis Ockler maneuvered into a black Victorian blouse, plucking the puffed velvet sleeves into place. She rummaged through her gym bag for a long green cloak and a pair of yellow socks with daisies. Then she pulled out a pink polka-dot baggie for the final touch: a red nose. She took her place among five other women gathered in a circle — one dressed in a pink tutu, others in various combinations of red-, black- and gray-striped tights, silver sequins and puffy bloomers — as they stretched and limbered up in a dance studio in Lower Manhattan. “All right, everybody put your noses on,” said the director, Kendall Cornell, clapping her hands. Ms. Cornell founded Clowns Ex Machina in 2005, when it was known as Kendall Cornell’s Soon-to-Be-World-Famous Women’s Clown Troupe. In her own 22-year performance career, Ms. Cornell said, she continued to hit the glass ceiling of clowning: She was always pushed to be the female sidekick, had few female role models and could not find a space to explore her particular brand of humor. “You had to be like a man to do this work, to open the door,” Ms. Cornell said. “I don’t find too many people interested in investigating what women have to offer that is different.” While some clown routines are scripted — wander on stage, slip on banana peel, fall down — most are developed through improvisation. Physical humor, involving one’s own or another’s body parts, is the hallmark of clowning. And that was the main roadblock Ms. Cornell kept facing, in one professional workshop after another. “It becomes sexual for the men,” Ms. Cornell said. “I remember coming to the center of the circle, I started to dance and some guy says, ‘Take it off!’ And I said, ‘How can I work like this?’ ” Ms. Cornell’s work depends on an all-female environment to transform the taboo into the funny, the sexual into the silly. “Oh, for a world where dropping your drawers meant comedy, not promiscuity!” she wrote on her Web site, www.notjustforshockvalue.com. The troupe draws a sophisticated audience, more the theatergoing type than the slapstick Barnum & Bailey fan. “It’s not the ‘be dump bump’ here’s the laugh,” Ms. Cornell said, referring to standard rimshot humor. When people come to the show, “they have to rediscover their relationship to what’s funny.” A lot of rediscovery happens around women’s bodies. The group has developed full vignettes that rely on breasts as punch lines. It turns out, for all the fanfare they get in car ads and movies, that breasts are pretty funny. READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Historic & Triumphant Return of the Flea Circus to Coney Island

A little bit of a shameless plug, but truthfully, I've done most of my best work by being shameless. It's when I get shameful that I have to worry! Anyway, it's probably the last flea circus gig before the baby is born (unless something happens in the next week!) so come check it out if you can! Click the image for a larger poster. The Flea Circus Returns To Coney Island! ============================== WHAT: Acme Miniature Flea Circus at the Coney Island Museum WHERE: Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Ave. Brooklyn NY 11224-2816 WHEN: Sunday July 27, 2008 at 4pm. COST: $5 MORE INFO: http://www.coneyisland.com MORE INFO: http://www.trainedfleas.com/coneyisland.html CALL: 718 372 5159 ELECTRONIC PRESS RELEASE: Press Release PDF (707K: must have Adobe Reader) PUBLICITY PHOTOS: Press Images of the show ============================

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

Clown Axioms & The Bitter End

Thursday, Friday and Saturday: July 31st, August 1st & 2nd All shows: 7:30pm Created and directed by Kendall Cornell Written and performed by Kevin Draine Nine women clowns spin tales of gothic romance and gory fairy tales with high comedy and unexpected twists. Clown Axioms is a brand new work-in-progress from Kendall Cornell and Clowns Ex Machina (formerly known as Kendall Cornell's Soon-To-Be-World Famous Women's Clown Troupe). more info: www.notjustforshockvalue.com The Bitter Poet unleashes all new guitardriven high energy poetic outbursts on his search for Love in all the wrong stripclubs and over-priced cafes! more info: www.thebitterpoet.com Location: Manhattan Children's Theater 52 White St. (btw. Church and Bdwy) Tickets: $15 advance via www.weird.org or theatermania.com or 212-352-3101 At the door: $18 general admission, $10 student & senior (cash only)

Last week for Bill Irwin in Philadelphia

Bill Irwin's show The Happiness Lecture has been extended for one week in Philadelphia. If you have the opportunity, you should see it! I drove down from NY on Saturday to see it. Overall it was great (Hey, it's Bill Irwin!) And a company of 9 very talented Philadelphia area artists. (including a friend from Dell'arte, puppeteer and performer Aaron Cromie. He actually won't be in the extended week (he had other commitments) Instead, another Dell'arte friend Dawn Falato will take over as the swing.) I have some thoughts about the show, if you care to read them.... Like most of Bill's original shows, the play is a meditation on his work in the theatre, and a dialogue between tricks, fear of failure (and success), and the utility of worry. If people over time begin to resemble their dogs, it's even more true with their shows, direct reflections of what they are thinking about as artists. It's very true with this show-- in some ways it is a direct continuation, extension of Regard of Flight. Regard was newer to me of course, and Bill was even more agile then than he is now (which seems hard to believe), and there are a lot of similar elements to this show, but there are also lots of twists that will have Bill Irwin watchers riveted. I'm not as fond of the writing and directing of the show as I am of the performance of the show, which (especially for Bill) borders on the virtuosic. His use of his body is fantastic, whether it's a remote control podium gone awry, creation of two cavemen (well, let's not call them that-- let's call them early men) that illustrate a sort of Darwinian Happiness Theory, or performing a beautiful Mr. Noodle piece, Bill is always as precise as a Swiss watch. It's a pleasure to watch him work, although work is the wrong word. He glides fluidly from routine to routine, and that's his genius. An amazing piece of theatrical genius is in the staging. The use of puppets of Bill Irwin and the creation of multiple focused prosceniums of different sizes and scales borders on the fantastic. The stage shifts several times in scale, and each time does so with precision and ease- it reminded me that the most effective techniques are often the simplest. And it brings home the constant argument that Bill's shows seems to always have- I've got the clown thing going, but what does it all mean? I'm not 100% sure that there's an answer to that question-- there is a kind of constant narrative about narrative throughout the piece, and a use of theatrical conventions (the pre-show speech, the usher, the audience member placed in peril) that is always pleasant to watch but is not really linear or conducive to the "well-made play." At the end of the show, I heard a grandmother asking her two teenaged grand-children what they thought of the show. GRANDMOTHER: Wasn't that marvelous and fun? What did you think? GRAND-DAUGHTER: I liked it, but it was a little weird. I didn't quite get it. GRAND-SON: Yeah, it was cool, but I didn't really get it. It was weird. It wasn't their typical play, but they liked it. If you'd like to see the show, visit the Philadelphia Theatre Company's Website listed below: http://www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org/2008/lecture.html On a related topic-- Cirque du Soleil was just ending a run of Kooza (directed by Irwin collaborator David Shiner) down the block from the theatre. If I had known, I would have tried to have gotten tickets for both. Kooza's next stop is Chicago, then Boston, then Washington DC.

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.

Dell'arte MFA program in SF June 13-15

Although this deals with tragedy, and not circus/clowning per se-- the way that Dell'arte trains and deals with tragedy/melodrama is related enough to clown for me to include it here. If you can see the show, check it out and report back! Between Two Winters Created by the MFA Ensemble of the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre Catherine Tuttle, the accomplished and commanding mayor of Kalispell, MT, and her daughter, Naomi, travel to the deserts of Kuwait to honor a hero who was instrumental in extinguishing fires after the war in the Persian Gulf. During the course of the tribute, Catherine and this man recognize one another and now must reconcile a past they both have spent their lives running from. Between Two Winters is the culminating performance of the second year masters students in their study of the Tragic form. Tragedy is a form that, at its root, pits the rational and ordered world against the world of terror and chaos. It deals with the human drive to step out of the chorus to stand for and proceed into the hero's journey, unwilling to be passive anymore in a world that defies logic and reason. This sets the tragic hero onto an irreversible collision course with the unrelenting forces of fate that result in a crash of cosmic proportions. Fri, Jun. 13 - 8:00P Sat, Jun. 14 - 2:30P Sat, Jun. 14 - 8:00P Sun, June 15 - 2:30P At The Magic Theatre For directions to The Magic Theatre, go to: http://www.magictheatre.org/pages/location.shtml Call 707-668-5663 to inquire about student, educator and group discounts For more information, go to: http://dellarte.com/

Bouffon Glass Menajoree at Green Room NY Tuesdays at 10:30 pm

I saw this show last night, and I highly recommend it-- there are just 2 performances left. It's pretty damned fantastic. ============================== Did someone leave the blender on, or is that the sound of Tennessee Williams turning over in his grave? Why would anyone do this to an American masterpiece?!? Bouffon Glass Menajoree 2007 NY Innovative Theatre Award winner for Outstanding Production TWO PERFORMANCES LEFT Gentlemen callers beware!  Tennessee Williams' classic tale is ripped wide open as Ten Directions, Paul Lucas Productions, and The Green Room present the revival of Bouffon Glass Menajoree, a twisted and outrageous bouffon parody with a new ending determined by an audience member every night.  Winner of the NY Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Production.  "Total Theatrical sacrilege.Delicious!" -NYTheatre.com, "Must See! Hilarious!" -TimeOutNY   "Genius" - CultureBot, "Hilarious Madness" - Show Showdown, "Extremely Funny"   -NY Theatre Wire "Twisted Southern Goth! Absurdity at its best!" KAFI FM, MN Written in collaboration with the cast Lynn Berg (Tony & Tina's Wedding), Audrey Crabtree (ComedyCentral), Aimee Leigh German (Opening Baywatch Butt) and director Eric Davis (Red Bastard, Cirque du Soleil), Bouffon Glass Menajoree is a dark comedic parody of the Tennessee Williams's masterpiece, performed in the style of bouffon.   Employing this time-honored tradition of undermining the establishment through verbal and physical satire, BGM is a satire not only of traditional American theatre, but of American society, the family unit, and the audience  themselves.  The production involves direct interaction with the audience: one lucky member will even play the role of the gentleman caller every night, determining how the show ends. This show is certain to surprise, shock and delight. Performances begin April 29th and run Tuesday nights only through May 27th at 10:30pm downstairs at the newly reopened Green Room at 45 Bleecker, NYC. 2 for 1 SPECIAL DISCOUNT,  In person, use code "BGM241" at 45 Bleecker, Box Office hours Tues. - Sat 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM, Sun. 11:00 AM - 8 PM.   Online, use Code: green241 at http://www.broadwayoffers.com For directions, call 212-260-8250 For more information, visit http://www.bouffonglassmenajoree.com/

Bill Irwin in Philadelphia

Thanks to Aaron Cromie for the tip! (He's in the show too!) THE HAPPINESS LECTURE WORLD PREMIERE By Bill Irwin May 16 - June 15, 2008 Bill Irwin – a two-time Tony Award-winner, film/television star, physical comedian, playwright, director and choreographer – leads a brilliant ensemble on an adventure in the pursuit of happiness. Irwin has created a unique and imaginative evening of delightful vignettes and physical comedy. This world premiere is a wild and entertaining ride that spoofs theatrical pretensions while exploring the sheer joy of laughter. Featuring some of Philadelphia's finest actors and dancers including: Nichole Canuso, Jennifer Childs, Melanie Cotton, Aaron Cromie, Lee Ann Etzold, and Makoto Hirano, along with New York-based Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie and Cori Olinghouse. http://www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org There are ticket deals and discounts if you contact the box office, especially for the previews.

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.

The Combustibles Present Detritus

Celebrate Earth Day with the Combustibles and their new show Detritus. Here's an email I got from them: "Where does our trash go?" Research for DETRITUS began with the question, "where does our trash go?" But as we dug deeper, other questions bubbled to the surface, like "why do we have so much trash?" One thing we have learned is that nothing is simple when it comes to trash. Have a look at the Story of Stuff, a short video by Annie Leonard. It gets at the complexity of the big picture in a clear and fun way. The Story of Stuff Celebrate with us! How? Come see our work-in-progress performance this week then stick around afterwards, share your thoughts, and be a part of a conversation about sustainability. After the show we'll be at a nearby pub: The Parlour at 250 W 86th St. $4 well & drafts with your program Work-In-Progress Performances Artists of Tomorrow Festival Produced by Six Figures Theatre Company Saturday, April 26 @ 2:00 pm Sunday, April 27 @ 6:00 pm West End Theatre 263 W. 86th Street (Btwn Broadway & West End) Tickets: $15 - Buy Tickets Online Here More Info: www.detritustheplay.com Email Us: info@thecombustibles.com Reminder: The Sustainable Circus is coming! May 29th, 7-9:30pm DETRITUS / THE PLAY Conceived & Developed by the ensemble Performers: Lynn Berg, Audrey Crabtree, Jeff Seal, Anne Sorce & Liza Zapol Directed by: Larissa Lury Assistant Director: Jill Beckman Producer: Teresa Ryno Bouffon Consultant: Eric Davis Music: Dave Edson In association with Ten Directions DETRITUS is made possible in part with the public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

Nomadic Theatre: Shows & Workshops in Portland, OR

The Nomadic Theatre Co, based in Portland, Oregon, has been creating and performing original physical theatre shows since 2002. To develop a new show, Nomadic performers and directors take ideas which interest and excite them and delve into them in the studio. For example, they created How to Fly by physically exploring numerous aspects and avenues of the topic of flight. The three core company members – Michael O’Neill, Sarah Liane Foster and Heather Pearl – have performed and taught in communities across the United States as well as internationally. They are graduates of the Dell’Arte International School of Blue Lake, CA. Over the next two weeks, they will be performing and teaching in Portland, OR. WORKSHOPS THEATRICAL CLOWN Tuesday April 15th and 22nd, 7-10pm Find what is funny about you - how to create an eccentric, humorous character by using and exaggerating your own attributes. Through individual physical analysis and group improvisational exercises, we will explore the process of finding profound funniness and learn how to create original material through honest, dynamic play. $25 for one class or $45 for both PHYSICAL COMEDY WORKSHOP Saturday, April 19th, 10am-2pm This workshop will focus on character and individual analysis through physicality and movement, with a combination of group exercises and individual exploration. Comedy is many things -- you will find that it is more then just being silly. $75/$50 students All classes will be held at Theatre! Theater! (3430 SE Belmont, Portland). For more information or to register, call 971.219.5781, or visit brownpapertickets.org. And RUNNING INTO WALLS, their new, hilarious clown show is running for 2 more weekends at Theatre! Theater! Fri & Sat @ 8pm, Sat & Sun @ 3pm. Info/tickets at brownpapertickets.com & www.nomadictheatre.org. To find out more about the company, visit their website listed below: http://www.nomadictheatre.org

BAMBOUK show in NY starting April 16

Bambouk brings their Vaudeville-inspired silent comedy to NY for a limited run from April 16-27. Bambouk is the creation of two American theatre clowns, Matthew Duncan and Brian Foley. Matthew and Brian juggle plates, flip hats, ride a sixfoot unicycle, play the accordion, ukulele and musical saw, even make an audience member float in mid-air! They wear no makeup, just red noses and tuxedos. BAMBOUK has opened for the Drifters, the Platters and Charo, and shared the stage with award-winning circus artists from the Moscow Circus, Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe, Big Apple Circus and Cirque du Soleil. Together and individually they have been the featured physical comedians in stage productions, ice shows, cruise ships and theme parks since 1990. BAMBOUK has been seen multiple times in China, Japan, Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean islands, and throughout the contintental U.S. BAMBOUK Bald Comedy. In Tails. WHEN: Opens April 16 - April 27, 2008 WHERE: American Theatre of Actors located at 314 West 54th Street, 2nd Floor SCHEDULE: Tuesday-Friday at 8pm; Saturday 2pm and 8pm; Sunday 2pm and 7pm PRICE: Tickets are $30 for Adults, $20 for Children aged 8 to 13 OTHER NOTES: Not suitable for children under 8. Recommended for Adults. Call SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com Running time is 1 hour, 45 minutes with one intermission More information: http://www.bambouk.com/

Clown, Jokers, Pranksters Art Show -Eastchester NY

This is right up my alley! Literally. I won't be at the opening however, as I have a wedding to attend that night-- My Own! The Claude Gallery in Eastchester, New York is proud to present their first theme art show: Clowns, Jokers and Pranks Art Show, with a line up of over a dozen talented artists from across the United States. The curators of this show are RT Vegas and Jerry Todd. The opening festivities will commence on Saturday April 5th 2008 from 7 p.m until 1 a.m. Refreshments will include complimentary food and drink including wine, beer and tequila. A live musician jam session will coincide with art opening starting at 9 p.m. It will be held in the basement sound studio of the Claude Gallery and be hosted by gallery owner Artie Walker. Featured Artists: LEX Irmal Cannavo Mark Fox Keemo Stucky Andrew Sloan Biagio "Gino" Civale Jesse Sanchez JOS-L Jerry Todd Nicolas Caesar Katie Simpson Mike A. RT Vegas Nick Sheridan Dutch Von Spooge Clowns, Jokers and Pranks Art Show at the Claude Gallery Runs from April 5th 2008 through May 2nd 2008. The Claude Gallery 282 Main Street Eastchester, New York 10707 Artie Walker, owner For more information call (914) 779-8822 or email Artie at artjam73@gmail.com

Kendall Cornell & Co-- April 11-13

a semi-sophisticated clown cabaret with Kendall Cornell and her Soon-To-Be-World-Famous Women's Clown Troupe APRIL 11-13th 2008 (three nights only!!!) An old-fashioned music hall is overrun by clowns who, along with their slightly more serious guest artists, present music and song of all genres, madcap dance numbers and devilish surprises. Special guest artists include: The hip songstress Fiona Landers The tap dancing élan of Rod Ferrone The flamenco vocals of Alfonso Cid The rock and roll musings of The Bitter Poet

WHERE: The Club at La MaMa E.T.C. 74 A EAST 4th Street - between 2nd Avenue and The Bowery (F/V to 2nd Avenue, 6 to Astor Place, N/R to 8th St.) MAP WHEN: Friday, April 11th at 10 pm Saturday, April 12th at 10pm Sunday, April 13th at 5:30pm