I want you to know where I am coming from on this topic of the Clown, as its been quite a journey and still continues. I first began my specific research of clowns and clowning in my college years at Emerson College in Boston where I was studying theater.
My first semester of college, Fall 2003, I recall meeting with my acting teacher, Susan Main, about clown and mask performance classes or workshops. Do they offer such courses at Emerson? At that time the answer was, “No, they do not. Although we would like them to.” My professor pointed me in the direction of theatres and schools in New York, California, France – La Mama ETC, the Dell’arte School, L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq, and other places where I could broaden my education in the realm of physical theatre, clown and mask. Curiously enough, though I did investigate, I never did attend the places she suggested.
The following year, I went to Emerson’s study abroad program in the Netherlands where I was exposed not only to the theatre of the Dutch, but also to theatre in Belgium, Paris, Switzerland, Austria, London and Norway. I had the opportunity to see an epic performance by Ariane Mnouchkine’s Theatre du Soleil in Paris – a 6 hour event with Moroccan food served in the middle. The whole performance, every performer entered and exited on wheels. It was quite memorable. I also had the opportunity to visit the Lecoq School. Would I attend? At the time, I decided not to because Jacques Lecoq the person was dead and that fact made me lose interest. That was in the Fall of 2004. Now, I have a different perspective. I’m sure there is still a wealth of relevant physical theater knowledge kept alive by the teachers who currently run L’ecole Jacques Lecoq. However, at the time, I couldn’t see that.
Street theatre was boundless in all countries. I particularly recall a conversation I had with a painted bronze human statue of Vincent Van Gogh in the Dom Square of Amsterdam. Van Gogh was a lot livelier than the other statues. He would intersperse his frozen statue poses with moments of pantomime directly interacting with the audience. His choice to interact with the audience directly was what made him stand out. I was enthralled with his performance and was fortunate to speak with the performer during his lunch break. I had never talked with the human behind a human statue before. Through this interaction I realized how accessible his street art was. And I wanted to be apart of it.
In Spring 2005 I saw a clown show called All Wear Bowlers at the HERE Arts Center in New York involving two silent film actors who fall out of the film screen and onto the live theatre stage. Experiencing this show gave me a glimpse into what clowning can be. Not nose wearing, not horn honking but clowns who ask existential questions without uttering any real words. The program notes mentioned something about a Fringe Festival. After seeing All Wear Bowlers I promised myself that I would explore all there is to know about clowning and physical theatre. I also vowed that I would perform on the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland at their annual Fringe Festival.
In Fall 2005 I met with another acting teacher, Ken Cheeseman (who I knew was knowledgeable in the realm of clown and physical theatre performance) to inquire again about the possibilities of clown workshops or private lessons in the form. The following semester, Spring 2006, a friend and I designed a clown and mime directed study with Ken. It was then that I began my historical research. We watched the black and white films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Laurel and Hardy, Lucille Ball and the Marx Brothers. We were introduced to William Willeford’s The Fool and His Scepter, a classic on the subject of the clown and his societal purpose. Other students quickly learned about our directed study in clown and mime and wanted to know how they could get involved. Students were craving clown education! In March we finally got ourselves a clown workshop. It was led by Kenny Raskin a clown in Cirque Du Soleil and “Le Fou” in the first Broadway run of Beauty and the Beast. The workshop was quite successful.
In Summer 2006 I followed my dream and made a pilgrimage to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Beginning in Paris, I traveled from May to August through countries of Western Europe. I saw the adventures I had on my journey as possible material for the piece I would eventually perform in Edinburgh. I took a Musicality of the Clown workshop in Paris with Haim Isaacs a week before I was to arrive in Scotland. The workshop gave me insight into technique, which helped fuel my fire for performance. Once at the festival, I performed for six days on a human statue license. I was not, however, a human statue. Instead I was a clown who was trying her hardest to be a human statue. Everyday I tried something different, different costume, different makeup or routine. The first day on the pitch I painted myself green, put on a clown nose and sang “Amazing Grace” repeatedly. A few days later, I chose to be silent. Wearing spandex underneath a polka dot bikini, my clown nose and a woolen hat I was the clown who was trying her best to stand still. That was “the trick” and sometimes it worked!
I essentially made a fool of myself during those six days, but it did not matter. I was the Fool of the Fools! If, after falling flat on my face, I stood up with grace and confidence I considered myself successful.
Fall 2006, my senior year: in response to the amount of students demanding clown training a class was finally offered. It was a unique class. Taught by four different guest teachers – Kenny Raskin, Gregor Palawsky, Merry Conway and Davis Robinson – the class was a 14-week buffet of clown education. Outside of class, I continued my research and composed a grand bibliography including sources on everything from the clown traditions of Polynesia and Native America to books on “How to be a clown” (in the modern American tradition). This Bibliography can be found HERE. I was beginning to see how clowning had social and spiritual significance. Reading articles from The Hospital Clown Newsletter online and conducting interviews with hospital clowns Bob Widdop and Kenny Raskin furthered my idea on what a clown could be.
I had experimented with clown technique in the street and in the classroom. My research also led me to write my senior thesis on Clowning and Its Socio-Spiritual Importance. And in Spring 2007 I produced The Body A Tree, a solo show that had two manifestations: one in a black box theater and another outdoors in the Forest Hills Cemetery.
My four-year clown investigation planted the seeds for, what seems to have become, my Lifetime’s worth of investigation. After I graduated college, I attended Avner Eisenberg’s Eccentric Performance Workshop where the Opera Ventriloquist was born. Avner is very keen on skill and he was the one who encouraged me to develop the art of Ventriloquism when he saw I liked to talk/sing to puppets. I am still working on this skill. And mean while, since 2003, I had been involved with the Bread and Puppet Theater. In 2009, I joined the company as a resident puppeteer and it was there that I got to put my physical theater skills into “trial by fire” practice. More about my experience with Bread and Puppet HERE.
In 2012, I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico on a vision quest. What else did I want to do with my life? I needed to take a break from the theater and explore other aspects of myself. In the process of doing so I realized I cannot stay away from the art of performance for too long without going crazy. More about going crazy HERE. I played in a few local plays (something I hadn’t done since college), and that was fun. But it wasn’t until 2016 when a bit of hypothetical lighting struck me that I began to revisit the art of the clown.
Currently I work with Wise Fool New Mexico (a social circus here in Santa Fe), where I’ve been exploring the clown realms red-nose-style as Lalla the clown. Also, for the first time in my life, I’ve had the opportunity to teach the art of the Clown to kids, high school students and adults. Always a work in process, the investigation continues as I gather all that I have learned so far, share it with others and continue to deepen in the investigation. This special niche we call clown and eccentric performance is a vast universe of possibility and there is so much to explore. So, if you have any resources to add, or comments to share, please feel free to do so!
Sincerely,
Susie