Stanley Allan Sherman will teach another one of his Roving Classical Commedia University workshops Dec 26-30, 2016. Stanley is a well-known commedia mask maker and expert on commedia.  We’ve featured Stanley a number of times here on clownlink, and he wrote a great guest post about what makes a great commedia mask. He’s been teaching workshops like this one since 2001, […]
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Sad news: Â Julie Goell, the renowned musician, clown, and theatre teacher, passed away on Sunday. She was a teacher of mine (along with her husband Avner Eisenberg.) Â She and Avner taught worldwide for a number of years, and I took at least two workshops with them at the Celebration Barn in Maine and at MotionFest.(If you read the obit below, […]
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I had the chance to see a great production recently at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. The show is called The Complete Deaths by Spymonkey, a British troupe of clowns/physical comedians. Â If you’ve been to Las Vegas, you may have seen their work, as they created all of the comedy numbers in the Cirque du Soleil show Zumanity. Â They are known […]
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Hilary Chaplain is teaching another physical comedy class in NY. Â If you haven’t studied with her, you should! This class will explore physical comedy from a clown point of view. Expand your physical vocabulary, develop tools for playing comedy using the techniques of slapstick, improvisation, partnership, comic timing, and accidents in solo, duo, and group exercises. Through active games and […]
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We saw the opening night of Cirque du Soleil last night.  As I wrote in my preview article, the show is not a tent show, it’s an arena show, full of puppets, projections, and acrobatics, based on the movie Avatar by James Cameron.  Here’s the plot summary I wrote in my previous article: When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy […]
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I’m feeling very down. My friend Pat Cashin unexpectedly died yesterday. He hadn’t been feeling well for about 10 days, doctors thought it was a viral infection of some sort but couldn’t find anything definitely wrong, his wife and kids went out to get groceries and when they came back he had passed away. He was a very funny clown, an […]
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The new Cirque du Soleil touring show TORUK – The First Flight will be at the United Center in Chicago August 3-7, 2016. And you can win a 4 pack of tickets to Opening night on August 3! Scroll down to see how! Inspired by James Cameron’s record-breaking movie AVATAR, TORUK – The First Flight transports the audience to a far away […]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE LIST, POST, AND DISSEMINATE KILL DATE AUGUST 12, 2016 Tiny Performers To Entertain in Chicago Parks The Acme Miniature Flea Circus featuring Midge and Madge, Trained Fleas, will perform in four Chicago Parks this summer. All performances are free in association with the Night Out in the Parks Program. Chicago IL July 12, 2016 This summer, […]
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I have studied with Christopher Bayes in NY about 15 years ago– he’s a great teacher, and you are sure to learn a lot from him! Â (I studied with him and Bill Irwin AT THE SAME TIME! Well, different hours, but the same week) Take Clown in Chicago with Christopher Bayes Christopher Bayes, current head physical acting teacher at the […]
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I received this notice of a class taking place at the Neo-Futurists, and while I can’t take part (stupid family life!) it sounds good.  The teacher (Josh Mathews) is a graduate of Dell’Arte and works with a great ensemble Under The Table (which was founded by Matt Chapman, also of Dell’arte, and featured in the previous link) The description is from […]
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Returning to the New Vic May 6 – 15 In a stunning display of enchanting artistry, Carlo Colla & Sons Marionette Company (Sleeping Beauty, New Vic 2013) will tell  the story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin. It is a cautionary tale of a town overrun by greed, corruption and rats.  The show will make its  U.S. Premiere from May 6 […]
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My good friend (and noted beloved curmudgeon) Trav S.D. has gotten up in arms about the short shrift that Harold Lloyd has received among silent film comedians. Â He waxed(Â hmmm… what’s the opposite of rhapsodic? Â ( I think it might be philippic) ) on Facebook about the lack of love for Harold Lloyd. Apparently Keaton and Chaplin outnumber his google search […]
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Julie Goell is a well-known performer and teacher of comedy and physical theatre, (and the wife of renowned Eccentric Avner.) Â She has written a book about clowning and performing. Â The book, entitled Life In A Clownhouse is part teaching manual, part memoir, Â and all about her and Avner’s theories of performance and clowning. I have taken a couple of classes […]
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Often what remains of the work of the clown are sawdust and memories and maybe old playbills. Such is the case of Frank “Slivers” Oakley. Â He was one of the top American circus clowns of the early 20th century. He performed an unheard of 15 minute solo baseball routine with the Ringling Circus that made him one of the premier […]
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Hilary Chaplain’s Physical Comedy Intensive Apr 2-3 Â What makes it funny? What makes it repeatable? How do we approach writing the funny? These are great questions that any clown should be able to answer about their work. (And even if you can’t answer these questions, you should at the very least be asking them.) Hilary Chaplain will teach another of […]
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Today is the last day to watch Simon McBurney (director of Theatre Complicite) perform his amazing solo show The Encounter. UPDATE: Â It looks like they took this private. Â It is no longer available. Sorry if you missed it. Â It was great! Here’s the youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghc-DM1TVWU The show sold out at the Barbican in London, and they streamed the show […]
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