Clownmommy

THE ROTTEN PLANTAINS presents FRENCH CONNECTION (via Texas & Brazil)

ONE NIGHT ONLY

45 Bleecker: Bleecker Street Theatre

Recommended for 18 +
Children under the age of 4 are not permitted in the theatre.

Fred Blin, Claudio Carneiro, Julie Ferrier, Patrick de Valette, and Wayne Wilson are THE ROTTEN PLANTAINS…

Never before have you seen such a gathering of clowns, comedians, and a Brazilian alcoholic (who happens to be our roommate) take the stage. A mix of clowns and circus, cultures and experiences, together, form this new comedy show. Here, they will meet on the stage together for the first time.

From Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai/ Love/Banana Shpeel/Dralion, Jean Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs, Franco Dragone’s Le Reve, and the Betty Ford Clinic – comes this flawlessly rehearsed production of beautiful idiots attempting to make you laugh.

This is the beginning of their collaboration together, this one night only show, will plan their world tour – from NYC, London, Paris, Rio, Calcutta, Nigeria, Osasco (SP), Australia, Beirut, and the Netherlands. Come join in on this ground-breaking event.

For me, experience of a fourth distinct style of clowning in one week.  Kendall Cornell’s Clowns Ex Machina experimental studies of women and riffing off cultural images.  Jef Johnson’s esoteric deconstruction of the performers exploration of an object in front of an audience.  The New York Goofs with Jay Stewart and Joel Jeske perpetuating the stylized movement of circus clowns and silent movie comedians and finally Patrick de Vallette and his French compatriots from street performance, cabaret and Cirque du Soleil.

My head is spinning as I sort out from all of this what is familiar and comfortable for me.  A colleague at a bar told me she that piece I did about a mother waiting for a subway train resonated with her enough that she still remembers it years later after hundreds of pieces she has seen.  I would like to work on that again.  Puppeteer friend is coming into town this week for an audition and we will have a chance to talk and brainstorm if not actually work together.  Some friends and I are putting together a proposal for a low-stakes evening of clown at Theaterlab later this fall.  I hope to use my nervous energy to advantage by approaching the performance as hosting a party.  I want to generate an energy in the room akin to the memories I have giddy slumber party excitement practicing trust falls and playing games like “Light as a feather, Stiff as a board”.  I don’t know if I can make that happen but that is my intent after this exciting week of many clown styles and time now to process what I have experienced and to distill from all that what is mine to own.

So here I am at the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, plugged in to a power source provided complements of Chevy and feeling a little disoriented because in addition to the blogging mommies, the clown voices of the friends I saw after the show last night are still echoing in my head.  I loved it when one of them said: The idea of a clown who is happy on the outside and sad on the inside is bullshit.   People are happy when they are good at their work and clowns who know how to work an audience and get a laugh are happy people because they know they are good at what they do.

Sooooooo… anyway since I’m not compartmentalizing I will transition for no apparent reason to the BlogHer Conference and say that I came uptown right after I got up this morning and wandered around like Goldilocks in the Three Bears house.  I found some conference room sessions and decided to taste them.  First I tried PROFESSIONAL: Professional Blogging: Your Stats are a Business Asset. But, they wanted to funnel their site traffic into clients and customers.  Then I followed the laughter to  CHANGE AGENTS: Radical Blog Moms: Don’t Even Think About Not Taking These Moms Seriously. But they were so committed to making the world better I was intimidated.  Then I tried PERSONAL:  Where is the Line or the Lie: Storytelling, Memoir and Poetic License. And that room was just right… because they were funny and that’s what they wanted to be.  So I stayed and listened until they were all done.  The End.

Press Release:

The New York Goofs return to The Flea Theatre with the premiere of NEW YORK GOOF SHOW, written and directed by Dick Monday. The three-night-only evens begins on Thursday, August 5 for a limited engagement through Saturday, August 7 at The Flea Theater (41 White Street, between Broadway and Church.)

The performance schedule is Thursday – Saturday at 7 PM. The regular ticket price is $20. Student Rush tickets are available for $15, 30 minutes prior to the performance. For tickets, call 212-352-3101 or visit www.theflea.org. For more information, visit www.nygoofs.com.

The New York Goofs, called a “demented Ed Sullivan Show” by the New York Times, are back in New York for three nights only, presenting their unique brand of comic lunacy at the renowned Flea Theater in Tribeca.

Surrounded by clowns who juggle, play bizarre instruments and cross dress, an unsuspecting man is handed a life of surprises, u-turns and crash endings until he finally gives in to the lunacy. NEW YORK GOOFS SHOW upends everyone’s expectation of the Clown!

Rooted in the beliefs that every human is unique and special, this group of career clowns prove that nothing is more comedic (or tragic) than human nature itself. Surrounded by eccentrics, this Everyman forges his way through a world where normality is abnormal, and the abnormal is normal. A Concertina, Tuba, Banjo-uke, and musical saw take the chaos of noise and turn it into music, while juggling, balancing and feats of absurdity bring urgency to the human condition.

These seven clowns explore seven points of view on how each of us approach life. As Goof’s founder Dick Monday explains, “Remember, a clown is artist who is also an orangutan!”

Led by Dick Monday, the Goofs received the 2009 Golden Nose Award for Best Clowns, and have appeared worldwide in festivals, theaters and circuses, including Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. The cast includes some of America’s most accomplished physical comedians: Larry Pisoni (founder of the Pickle Family Circus), Hilary Chaplain, Jay Stewart, Joel Jeske (2008 Drama Desk nominated for This Way That Way with Parallel Exit; Live! with Regis and Kelly), Evelyn Tuths, Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday (Late Show with David Letterman; The Tonight Show; Sweet & Lowdown). NEW YORK GOOF SHOW also features the NYC premiere of 10-year-old professional clown Chet Monday.

NEW YORK GOOF SHOW marks the grand finale of their training intensive, NY Goofs’ Ultimate School, which is the premiere professional training ground for aspiring clowns in the United States, which runs from August 2 – August 7, also at The Flea. In 1998, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College closed its doors, leaving a void in the legacy of this ancient, somewhat mysterious, art form we call clowning. The last Dean of this fabled institution, Dick Monday, knew that there were people who needed a means to develop their craft, so he and his partner, Tiffany Riley, created the NY Goofs’ Ultimate School to fill that void.

Tiffany Riley and Dick Monday (co-founders and artistic directors of the New York Goofs) have been partners for nearly 15 years. In that time, they have trained all the clowns for the Greatest Show on Earth, created the clown troupe The New York Goofs, and opened Slappy’s Puppet Playhouse in Dallas. In performance, they are the clown team Slappy & Monday who have appeared from China to Mexico, Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, and lots of circuses and festivals in between. As Director of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, Dick traveled to 30 cities each year to help find and train clowns for producer Kenneth Feld. He was awarded this job because of his lifelong commitment to the art of clowning and his illustrious background in circus and clowning in films and television. He has been seen as a funnyman in such classic films as Brain Donors, My Life and Sweet & Lowdown. His teaching has been recognized in the book “Guiding Lights” where he is celebrated as a mentor, or someone who helps guide people toward their purpose in life. Tiffany has been the driving force behind the NY Goofs’ Ultimate School, cultivating students each year from all corners of the world. The finest faculty in physical comedy is assembled every summer to impart their skill to a new generation of clowns and physical comedians. Aside from teaching, Tiffany & Dick create shows for theatrical clowning, circuses, festivals, and even for marionettes. Their goal is to inspire laughter wherever they go, and to prove that laughter is not just for the kids.

I thought this year’s show was better than last year, tighter and faster paced.

Some of the pieces were real gems.

My absolute favorite moment of the show happened privately when the six-year-old daughter of two of the clowns on stage leaned towards me during an audience participation number and said:  “He’s going to play musical chairs and then he’s going to cheat.  I saw it last night.”

And I had even more fun after the show with the former circus clowns telling clown college stories and tales from the road in the bar after the show.

The Husband and My Kid enjoyed the show as well.

The apartment is dark and quiet.  My family is in bed.

I am wound up after five hours in the studio with Jef Johnson and a dozen other clowns.

Since we were at Theatrelab and a few of us decided to put together an application for their Open Frames Series which had a deadline of 6 o’clock this evening.  So we’ll see what that brings.

On the way home I talked with another clown about writing and clowning and she asked about my Clownmommy stuff which I have kind of let slide, although Lorraine and I are hoping to get together to brainstorm and play later this month.

I’m excited to see the New York Goofs which I haven’t gotten tickets for yet, because we haven’t decided yet if it should be a family outing or if I will be going by myself.  And Patrick de Valette and his friends have their cabaret on Saturday night.

So there is a lot of clown stuff spinning around in my head at this time of day when I am supposed to be asleep with the rest of my family after midnight on a weeknight.

My body wants to keep theater hours.

This morning, in Park Slope, Brooklyn, I watched a woman struggle onto a bus, apologize to the bus driver for the stroller that was not yet folded up, put down her bag, grab the stroller that was rolling, bend down for her bag, catch the baby that was starting to fall out of the front carrier she wore, set down her bag again, deal with the baby, pick up the bag, look for her MTA card, set down the bag, catch the rolling stroller…her mother who was with her keeping the toddler in one place offered two fingers to keep the stroller from rolling away.  After the mother with dark circles under her eyes and half her hair shoved into a rubber band on the back of her head sat down and folded the stroller, her mother said to her admiringly; “You are so adept.”

Then I went to met Jef Johnson on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and we sat at Think Coffee in the Bowery and talked about clowns and clowning for over two hours.

Tonight, more Touch the Moon clownlab at Theatrelab in Chelsea.

I was so excited about making new clown pieces after the clown lab today that I was making The Husband dizzy while talking to him.

There is a way of being as a clown.

There is a clown mind.

Sounds like Zen.

It’s not.

So at dinner tonight I was telling The Husband about something Jef said at the clown workshop today and My Kid piped up:  “Is that the Jeff, who is a clown, that was throwing beer into his mouth when I was with the babysitter?”

“No, it’s not that Jef it’s a different Jeff clown that I know.”

“That’s too many Jeffs.”

“You know, I have a cousin named Jeff too!”

I think this exchange is really funny–possibly because there are very few people who know exactly which 4 clowns I am referring to.

Workshop Posting:

Touch the Moon
A Workshop for Clowns and Creative Artists

Jef Johnson returns to New York City for this special workshop.

The most difficult challenge facing all of us is overcoming the programming of our upbringing. Growing up you were constantly told to DO things that should occur spontaneously.

“Relax.” “Smile.” “Sleep.” “Eat.” “Love.”

This idea of “doing” has polluted almost every field of creative expression. It has polluted almost every school.

* Reconnect with your creative consciousness.

* Rediscover the wonder in the amazing, the simple, the absurd.

* Unlock your heart and discover what is really possible.

Today was the first day of Jef Johnson’s Touch the Moon workshop at Theatrelab.  There were about 10 of us there, some clowns, some dancers, some people from other countries, the usual suspects.

Jef has been away for quite a while.  He’s been busy with Jango Edwards Nouveau Clown Institute in Barcelona and mask work in Mexico and now he’s back in NYC, but not for long.  He’s teaching the same workshop in LA at the end of the week.

So anyway, there we were, and there he was and I can’t write much about it because what happens in clownlab stays in clownlab.  But, it’s a positive experience and an exploration of what is unique and funny about each performer.  Patrick de Vallette said something similar this weekend when he  was in the studio with the clown women of Clowns Ex Machina for some exploration.

I think that the more tethered to our laptops and cellphones and other technology, the more important clowning is going to become as an art form of human connection.

One of my Clown College classmates talking about another of my Clown College classmates:

Clownlink: Links To All things Clown and Wonderful: Front Page

Whew!  It’s been a while.

Trust yourself.

I need to trust myself more as a clown. That’s the lesson I got out of this weekend. I have a style and an aesthetic and I don’t hold onto it hard enough. I allow myself to be blown this way and that. Tim Holst said I had “one foot on the ground”. That’s the foot I have been focusing on.

The foot that is not on the ground is the one that is doing all the dancing and the head in the clouds can see so much.