Arts in the Family: A Family of Artists Just Trying to Make a Living in the Wilds of Texas

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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Clown College Chronicles Part 7

There aren't that many teachers out there that are willing to present their own work in front of their students but our fearless and talented Clown College faculty and staff did. I wish I had had photos and I'm pretty sure someone took some as well shot video of it. That evening we saw a wide variety of performance styles in mime and clowning.

Up until that moment most of my exposure to the world of physical comedy came from watching the films of the silent and sound film comedy stars of the past and present. In terms of live performances I'd seen circus clowns and on a rare occasion seen a touring mime troupe like the Theatre Beyond Words. But now, in a single evening, I got to see Steve Smith as create a whole world in pantomime as T.J. Tatters. Greg DeSanto and Jay Stewart played wonderfully destructive plumbers, Jeff Jenkins was a frenetic slap and fall fly killer, Alexander Jeromski mimed a ride on a crowded, bumpy train, Karen Hoyer performed a headless mime character, etc.

I enjoyed all the acts that night and I also learned something very important: comedy comes in many forms and it's up to you to choose the one that suits you. If it doesn't exist then make it up! If anybody out there has any footage of the 1993 Faculty/Staff performance put it on youtube if you don't mind.

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