New York Clown Theatre Festival Review - Friday, September 19th

Amy G EnterSHAMEment

Typically I am not a fan of cabaret acts, but Amy Gordon (aka Amy G)'s show is very unlike any typical cabaret act. How many have you seen where the lead performer dons a full chicken mask and costume? Yeah, there was nothing traditional about this show.

Amy began the evening by explaining to us how her life has been full of "shameful" moments. However, rather than let them get her down, she has chosen to highlight and showcase them as part of her show. Personal catharsis through performance. And whether her embarrassment was based on her physical self (she opened with an act where she kept removing layer after layer of fake breasts) or based on pissing off the judges on Germany's Got Talent, Amy truly lets it all hang out.

Her overall level of skill was masterful. She sang beautifully, kicked higher than a Rockette and performed some amazing clown work on roller-skates, convincingly pretending to almost fall on her face. Her audience interaction was also hysterical, as she repeatedly calls back to the one special (and in this show's case, gay) man who she designates as her love interest throughout the show. She embraces the ridiculous, which is the overall theme of her show: to accept and celebrate the shameful parts of your life. She is clearly unafraid of playing to the extreme as her closing act displays, when she casually begins to play America the Beautiful on a kazoo in a very non-traditional way.

If there was one thing that seemed lacking, at times it appeared that the character of "Amy G" was so strong that I didn't really believe that she suffers from any shame. Her larger than life personality has so absorbed these embarrassments that she doesn't really seem affected by them. One true moment of vulnerability appeared when her wireless mic started to break down during a song. For a minute, I felt I glimpsed the real Amy Gordon. However, instead of really sharing her frustration, she tried to hide it behind a bigger smile and because of that her performance felt more like an act than a true sharing of shame. That is far from a complaint, as Amy G overall kept me laughing, fully entertained and challenged to bring a much stronger A-game to any performance work I do from here on.

Life After Death

Of all the shows I saw in the festival, Mary and Harry Johnson succeeded most in keeping me on the literal edge of my seat. Their jokes were hilarious, their acrobatics impressive and they expertly kept the audience unsure of the reality that they were watching. The show began with an almost too-cute strobe driven, silent movie style car scene, where our two main characters get into a deadly accident. They have an artistic death, that hints at the crudeness that is to come, and lands them in heaven? hell? purgatory? we don't really know. It's their after-life, which ironically enough is a theatre with an audience. Great, with those plot points out of the way, it's time to play. And I haven't seen two clowns play to the extreme onstage more than Mary and Harry.

They pushed deep into the land of the taboo, and took the entire audience along with them on the ride. Many of their acts involved audience interaction and through intimidation, bribery and affection they encouraged their "volunteers" to join in their world of insanity. So as not to be defined as a merely obscene show, many of their pieces were balanced out with skills in acrobatics, movement, music and performance art. My favorite moments were when we dropped out of the world of the lewd (which were gut-wrenchingly hysterical) and suddenly found ourselves in these beautiful moments of real art. The juxtaposition of incest jokes with Shakespearean poetry itself had such wonderful incongruity that I was left paralyzed to watch, impulsively react, and be taken for a joyous ride.

It is often said that clowns bear a striking similarity to children.  Mary and Harry definitely feel like the misfit troublemakers who were just a little too aggressive and mature to be the class clown. Yet even when running around the audience completely naked and fuming with anger, you couldn't help but laugh at their youthful ignorance and innocence. As I said, they appeared onstage ready to play, and we were lucky enough to be there to share in the fun.

New York Clown Theatre Festival Review - Thursday, September 25th

Big Shoes Short Tales

While this piece was definitely performed by a clown, to me it did not feel like a "clown show."  It was an autobiographical solo show based on real life stories of former Cirque du Soleil performer, Michelle Nicole Matlock.

The piece had some hilarious moments, specifically a section where Michelle gambles away the last bit of survival money sent to her by her mother. . . and wins the lottery! It was great fun watching her switch back and forth between the smart, cautious person who intends to use her winnings for good, and the wild party girl who ultimately blows it all in a single week. Michelle's stories are full of wonderful surprises and mini misdirections. Her large "shocked" eyes place the perfect emphasis on her tales of working at the fabulous Jekyll and Hyde restaurant, her desperate need to keep returning to her mother for money, and her realization that she would walk away from her first pride parade no longer a virgin.

Unfortunately, as a whole the show seemed unfinished. I felt that the performance, while energized and passionate, was a bit unpolished. For example, I enjoyed watching Michelle share with us the joy she received from ribbon dancing, but after her initial discovery the joke began to lag as her moves did not seem to heighten either in skill or in their absurdity. Also, at the end of the show, there's a beautiful moment where Michelle finds her oversized clown shoes and understands that this is her new direction in life, but then she bows and ends the show. This is the moment to finally show us the clown that she became. We are all primed to see this newly discovered clown persona that we have caught hints of throughout the show. Instead by ending the show abruptly, I was left feeling unresolved. The night had some great laughs, but overall I think this show needs a bit more work before it is a finished product.

Clown Cabaret with Summer Shapiro

One of the saddest parts of the festival being over is that there will be no more Thursday night Clown Cabarets. What a wonderful experience it has been sitting in a theatre and getting to see so many different acts that truly run the gamut of style. This final cabaret was wonderfully hosted by Summer Shapiro. She kept the evening balanced and moving, throwing herself into each moment as it unfolded. I feel as if this night had the most acts of any of the cabarets, but a few were most memorable to me.

(NB: I am leaving out two of the acts that I loved, because they had full shows, with individual reviews to come).

Anna and Amy

What a fantastic way to start a show. These two cowgirls had loads of energy that immediately hyped the audience up. Their mixture of goofy fun and dangerous violence seemed to only speed up as their choreographed dance spun them out of control. Whether they were flipping, fighting, punching or literally frightening the audience with some close-call whip cracking, their giant smiles infected the crowd with laughter and delight.

Mik Kuhlman

Mik is a performer who truly knows how to command a stage with silence and subtlety of movement. Her "tiny prince" clown is not overly outlandish, wearing merely a crown, a flesh-toned nose, a mustache and an oversized coat. But with just an incredulous look to an unresponsive audience member, we are in love with this tiny-big character. When she finally began to "melt" into the floor, there was little logic and it was not the grand spectacle one might expect from a clown, but her specificity and emotional connection kept us riveted and laughing.

Zero boy

And speaking of specificity, Zero Boy must have an internal file cabinet of thousands of different sound effects at his disposal. Having never seen this main-stay of the downtown comedy scene, I was blown away at his mime and vocal skills. He quickly painted a picture onstage with his voice and actions, and seemed to improvise his way through scene after scene. There was something almost alien about him, and maybe that's why he fits so well into the world of clowns.

New York Clown Theatre Festival Review - Sunday, September 21st

Last week was full of seeing shows, which has meant a week of getting backed up on blogs. Let's chase it back to the beginning with the Sunday night line-up.

Locked Up

Two clowns, Tiny (Sophia Knox-Miller) and Tall (Cara McClendon), are trapped in a single cell, forced to find ways to keep themselves entertained. With the limited resources at hand, a piece of string, a spoon, their seats, they concoct games to play and worlds to explore. Much of the fun in the piece comes from the clowns switching from antagonizing to befriending each other. As one clown loses herself in a game, she fails to notice the injury she is causing to the other. However, these clowns are truly a team, as they share their fun, sorrow and eventually root for each other's much dreamed of escape.

As the clowns defined their confined space abstractly, and handled the sound effects for both the actual events occurring in their space, and those that occurred only in their minds, I found it occasionally confusing as to what I was supposed to believe was literally happening. One possible interpretation that I toyed around with was that the entire play was just one big imagined game. However, that scenario takes away from what I felt to be the most effective scene in the show. After a complex and imagined escape from prison involving thunderstorms, giant birds and a prolonged (possibly too long) period alone adrift in the ocean, the clowns found that they were really still in prison, this first escape was all imagined. The sadness of this realization breaks each clowns spirit, and while this part was not necessarily funny, I felt the clowns' vulnerability shine through. If not for that moment of tears, I do not think I would have been as invested in the clown's actual escape later.

All in all, I had fun watching these clowns mischievously giggle at their self-induced merriment, and would be eager to see more work from these two performers.

tinyDANGEROUS-POPCORN!

I had a lot of fun at this showcase of clown and physical comedy short films, mostly driven by the insane antics of the two hosts John Leo and Andy Sapora. Having never experienced one of their tinyDANGEROUSfun shows, it was hilarious to see their "Best Of" lineup of silly, stupid and sometimes scary stunts. I'm still surprised that after watching them juggle X-Acto blades and set their arms on fire, I was so easily suckered into joining them onstage with the offer of just a cookie (In my defense, it was a very tasty cookie). I was brought up to perform as part of their traditional "13th Act." Since this was a movie night, instead of performing an impromptu scene, we had to go outside and film an impromptu short film in the style of Kung Fu and Psychodrama; one shot. It was very satisfying to pull it off and get the immediate reaction of the audience's laughs.

There were some other great films shown that night. I loved Willie Jones: Trouble with Love, an extended black and white piece about a man and woman who literally bump into each other and fall for each other. They are pursued and their relationship challenged by the police, her father and a couple of no good henchmen. This was easily one of the best pieces of the night on all levels, style, acting, plot. However, some of the less stylistically clean pieces were just as funny. An extended Humor Seminar had everyone in stitches and repeating the tag-line into the next act. There were also some great musically driven films and a very funny modern clown piece with Jeff Seal chasing a laser pointer all across Brooklyn.

I am excited to catch tinyDANGEROUSfun in one of their regularly scheduled shows once they land a new theatre, with what I'm told will be "higher ceilings."

New York Clown Theatre Festival Review - Friday, September 19th

After spending my Thursday night at the Clown Cabaret, there was one show that I was more excited to see than any other.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Jeroen Bouwhuis is one of the most skilled modern day mimes that I have seen. In his performance, he makes use of only a few props, but through a litany of music and self-created sound effects, he brings to life an entire universe around him. Jeoen's ability goes far beyond comic timing, as every move he makes is accompanied by a perfectly timed sound cue. With this level of specificity you would imagine that there is no way that Jeroen could spend equal time engaging with the audience. However, more than many other shows I have seen in the festival, Jeroen is super conscious of the crowd around him, and appears to have an ongoing conversation with them throughout, sharing how he feels about the events of the show, as well as checking in with the audience's response to the material.

There was no clear plot to A Few of My Favorite Things, which did not bother me, but it did create the occasional wandering moments, where it seemed Jeroen was just killing time between bits. As the sequences unfolded though. the show consistently came to life in new and unexpected ways. The opening scene, where Jeroen shoots his imaginary gun at every one and thing in his make believe universe could have been seen as dark if not for the sheer joy he takes and shares with the audience throughout. Another section which I had seen in the previous night's cabaret was even more engaging and funny within the context of the emotional life he had endowed on the silverware in the earlier scene. And his universe's capabilities grew even funnier in a section where he brought up an unsuspecting audience member for a date. She, being a clown as well, knew how to play along and add even more details. I almost expected to hear sound effects partnered up with her made up gesture of clicking her seat belt.

This was a fantastic show, and should it come back to New York, I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in expanding their definition of mime beyond the white faced, black clothed standard.

New York Clown Theatre Festival Review - Thursday, September 18th

After a long weekend of no shows, it was great to get back to the Brick for a double whammy of hilarious and touching clown performances.

Pompo and Pipo

Despite its deceptive name, Pompo and Pipo is a solo clown performance. We are immediately introduced to Pompo, a musically inclined clown with a vivid imagination. She appears as a modern day hobo-style clown, happily living amongst discarded boxes, garbage and her assorted "keepers." As we see her pass through her day, she interacts with Pipo, what appears to be a small urn, and turns out to be someone she has lost in a tragic accident. The darkness of this piece is revealed, as we understand that the imaginary world of Pompo is not so much a clown at play, but someone living in denial and hiding from reality.

This piece depends on the ability of Pompo, played by Z Smith, to create an imaginative reality that is inviting to the audience. We are introduced to Pompo's universe as a place of fun and games. Trash becomes musical instruments, plastic bags are balloons, and newspapers are hats. Through Pompo's miming of preparing a delicious breakfast, we begin to believe in this clown's ability to create her own universe. This made it believable that she had the power to conjure an entire audience to attend her birthday party, a scene that had the potential to feel like a contrived "clown" moment instead of an invitation into the world of Pompo.

It was nice to see a clown show that attempts to balance both a light and dark reality. We take for granted that clowns interact at times with their audience, and it was satisfying to see a show that places that interaction within a specific context. We are a part of Pompo's created universe, and she speaks to us to escape the empty place that her loss has created.

Clown Cabaret hosted by Deenie Nast

I had never met Deenie Nast before. Wow. Although she might object to the term, this is a clown who knows how to handle herself onstage. Played expertly by Audrey Crabtree, Deenie hosted the hell out of this evening of clowns and comedy. When she was onstage, whether it was singing, talking to the audience, or bossing around her team of assistants, she owned every inch of the stage. As much fun as each of the acts were, Deenie filled every segue with so much laughter, that you almost forgot that anyone else was there.

Here is a quick description of two of the hilarious and notable acts that stood out to me.

Jeroen Bouwhuis

A truly skilled clown and mime, Jeroen immediately grabbed my attention by taking a moment to engage in eye contact with every person in the room before beginning. With our full attention, he dove into a piece where he brought a spoon to life with amazing realism. The spoon, feeling insulted for being used to pick up hot soup, began an epic battle with Jeroen. This puppetry battle switched speeds, direction and emotional levels keeping the audience consistently surprised and laughing heartily. Jeroen has unbelievable physical control of his body, and his timing and specificity made this piece a true stand-out.

Dimitri Hatton

If Jeroen's act was sharp and specific, Dimitri was wandering and chaotic, but just as pleasurable and satisfying. Dimitri began his act with a simple lighting trick, trying to get the stage lit. However, this devolved into what felt like a 15 minute act of mayhem and disarray. It was hard to tell what was improvised or scripted as Dimitri fumbled and fell all over the stage, pulling props from offstage, onstage and tearing down the very curtains of the space. Several times in the festival, I have seen talented clowns make their deliberate actions seem like blunders for comic potential, but none of them have been able to keep the routine going for as long, or with such great detail as Dimitri.

There is one more cabaret next Thursday (September 25th), and I can't wait to see the smorgasbord of talent that will be served up at that one.

New York Clown Theatre Festival Review - Friday, September 12th

After an intense week of seeing shows, taking classes and running workshops, I had a somewhat light weekend, only seeing one very energetic show.

Jeff and Buttons

Ever want to see a comedy duo where both members refuse to play the "straight man?" Well, that is Jeff and Buttons.  These guys definitely utilize their whole bodies, literally flinging themselves around the stage, but the true energy of the show comes from their text. Almost as if trying to fit a 3 hour production into their allotted 60 minute slot, they take off at the top of the show and only speed up until its conclusion.

Jeff Seal (Jeff) and Chris Manley (Buttons) know and love their style of quick Vaudevillian riffs and gimmicks. However, rather than get caught up for too long in a single game, they quickly devolve their jokes to the silly, then absurd, then ludicrous, strange, bizarre, and sometimes just for fun confusing and utterly nonsensical. Most enjoyable is when they return back to square one to remind the audience that all of their tangents are still part of one elaborate bit. They used this to great effect in their opening, which involved testing out their microphones and the sound system (watching an empty stage has never been so funny), and in their telling of the basics of a knock knock joke that was far from "basic."

It was a lot of fun trying to keep up with this show. I do feel though that both performers could have spent slightly more time tending to their audience. While the majority of the show was delivered out to the audience, it seemed more presentational than personal. A few more moments of really checking in with the crowd might give the show some room to breathe and make the laughs more intimate. Either way, this turbo-charged show was a welcome change from some of the slower, more deliberate pieces I have seen this week. A great element of clown is the hilarity of chaos, and these two are a verbal and physical maelstrom.

A Day of Play - No Make-up and New York Clown Theatre Festival, Thursday September 11th

No Make-up (Guest Teacher Aitor Basauri)

For the 4th week in a row, my Thursday evening has begun with my Clown Jam. What is a Clown Jam? Right now, it's whatever I want it to be, and I've enjoyed watching it evolve for the past month.

Thanks to Kevin Laibson, Ali Farahnakian and my good friends at the People's Improv Theater (The PIT), I have been granted full reign of their theater every Thursday from 6pm-7pm to host No Make-Up. For only $1, anyone can drop in and get some stage-time working on their clown craft. And that is the form it has taken for the past month; a Drop-In. Most of the people who have attended have little to no clown experience, or took a class in college and always loved it. Each class begins with a basic warm-up, and then focuses on 1-2 exercises that allow everyone to discover their clown, or be more comfortable just playing without judgment. It has been wonderful watching people who have no idea what they are in for, get up onstage and play with reckless abandon.

One of my loftier goals was reached this past Thursday, as we had our first Special Guest instructor; Aitor Basauri. Those who are unfamiliar with Aitor can read my review of his recent Q&A session as part of the New York Clown Theatre Festival. I did not overly publicize his visit, as he was coming straight from teaching a full day workshop, and we were not sure if he could make it. He did, and the lucky few who were in attendance benefitted from a very unique No-Make-up session.

Aitor felt that with only four people in attendance, we could skip working on exercises and instead jump straight to creation. He gave us ten minutes to quickly come up with a "play" that we would have to perform for him. The only requirement; that we make him laugh. The four of us stared into each other's eyes and started planning, plotting and over complicating our mission. A love scene, in an elevator, in a hospital. You know, comic gold.

When our time was up, Aitor gave us a wonderful pep-talk. "What you're going to do will be bad. It's inevitable. You cannot write a good piece in ten minutes. So just have fun, and we will play with it." What followed was a horrific improv set. It was painful to be in, and very painful to watch. And then Aitor began giving us notes. He saw all of these tiny elements that we blew right past that could be mined for humor. On our second turn, he had characters introduce the show, made us reduce the elevator to the size of a phone booth, helped us define our comic relationships, and it all made the piece not only funnier, but more fun to play. By the end of the 3rd and 4th time, he kept focusing in on the ridiculous logic of the scene and still individually coached each of us to better clown performances.

I hope to have a new guest teacher come by each month to help lead a workshop. I've enjoyed proctoring the jam so far, and I learn every time I do it, but it was so nice to get up on my feet and just play.

If you want to do the same, come down to the People's Improv Theater (123 East 24th Street between Park Ave and Lexington Ave) any Thursday from 6pm-7pm (no jam on October 9th, Thanksgiving and Christmas).

Clown Cabaret hosted by Adira Amram 
Watching the New York Theatre Festival's Thursday night Clown Cabaret instilled in me the importance of workshopping material and testing material in front of a crowd.  New York, has a strong comedy scene where improvisers, sketch comedians and stand-ups can play almost any night of the week at an open-mic, jam or as part of a variety show. For clowns, our opportunities feel a little smaller. That's why it was so wonderful to see an entire evening of clowns showing off a quick 5 minutes of something different.

I will say this, the night had a very awkward feel to it. Some pieces landed, some did not, some were classic clown routines, some I am still trying to figure out what exactly they were. What was great though was this was an audience of clown performers, teachers, enthusiasts watching each other and sharing their laughter, when the clowns earned it, in a comfortable and supportive manner. There were some pieces that clearly have more to grow, and since I think we generally learn better from observing our successes than attacking our failures, I want to highlight the three acts that stood out to me the most.

Becca Bernard
I'll say this, Becca kept things moving. Her piece had a very simple set-up. She was going to play a piece of music on her cello. However, everything that could go wrong, did. The piece was full of problem after problem, both expected and unexpected. What impressed me most about Becca's performance were the moments when the clown suddenly found herself stuck in a problem that Becca had obviously set-up without the audience noticing. Some of her moves seemed so chaotic that it was hard to tell that she was performing a carefully choreographed dance of sorts. It was especially satisfying that the piece ended in an actual skill; cello playing and soft shoe tap.

Felipe Ortiz/Sebastian Sero
I thoroughly enjoyed watching these gentlemen perform in La Cita, and was thrilled that they brought a completely different piece to the cabaret. I am a big fan of successfully finding humor in places that may be labelled "inappropriate." Once I recognized that this scene was taking place at a funeral/wake, I was geared up for some comedy. Felipe magnificently got himself in trouble, and brought the audience on such a wonderful journey as he moved through the emotional range of guilt, curiosity, fear and ultimately sheer joy. This silent piece could be a lesson for any clown new or old on timing, vulnerability and pleasure. It was definitely my favorite of the night.

Eric Davis
Red Bastard was one of the first shows I saw that excited me to study clown. However, having now seen the show twice and as the program only listed that Eric Davis was performing, I thought this might be something different. Eric must have known that not only I, but the rest of the audience might hold these same feelings. So what did he do? He played the situation honestly. Why perform a show for an audience who has seen it before and probably knows it by heart? Why not create a new game where that very audience competes to see who can perform Red Bastard as well as the master? As a testament to how well Eric knows this character he jumped in and out of script, and in and out of character to play with the energy in the room. He explored his text in a way that he had never used before and gave a room of people expecting a re-run an exciting re-boot instead. Just like seeing the show for the first time, we all felt a sense of danger and excitement. It was a truly honest performance that was an excellent way to close out the cabaret.

A second goal I have for No-Make-up is as a showcase/workshop for clowns who are developing new work. As any clown performer can attest, you cannot really tell if a piece is successful or not until you have seen it in front of an audience. They are the ultimate judge. I invite any clown who wants to workshop a small piece of a show to join us at No Make-up where I can provide such a crowd. Anyone who is interested can e-mail me at NoMakeupClownJam@gmail.com.