Your clown is unique and specific to you, they are the regretless and enthusiastic expression of your comic nature, and they cannot be crafted but must be discovered. And once they are discovered they will weasel their way into every performance you give, bringing newfound abandon, specificity and playfulness.

In this class we will begin by strengthening the muscles necessary to prepare the performer to discover this clown. Through physically oriented exercises, games and improvisations we will begin to use the whole body in performance and find a unity of psychological and physical intention. We will encourage the impulse to seek the pleasure and playful spirit of performance and find expression on a grand scale. We will learn how to enter the comic world without tricks or text and in complicity with the audience, find hilarity. Ultimately, there will be the creation of something(s) funny and beautiful that serves the clown rather than forcing the clown to serve a formula that we devise with our big and powerful brains.This workshop will use the pedagogy developed by Christopher Bayes (Head of Physical Acting at Yale School of Drama) from the work begun by Jacques Lecoq in his Paris School. This technique focuses on helping the performer to become more physically alive, grandly expressive and ferociously honest on the stage; qualities they can translate to theatrical performance of all kinds. It is less focused on developing the skills associated with circus clowns.

• Hours: July 8th - 12th, 10 - 4 p.m. (with an hour off for lunch)

• Location: Brooklyn College Campus