Clown and Audience

Catalog description

In this physical acting course you will learn how to develop trust with your audience and create work through that relationship using tools of theatrical clown. Tools of clown include playing with an expansive emotional and physical range, making bold improvisational choices, acknowledging when those choices are not working, trying again, celebrating triumphs, playing with hope and empathy, and authentically sharing yourself on stage with an audience. By learning how to impact and be impacted by an audience during the artistic process, you will create work with more specificity, clarity, relevance, and empathy, no matter the medium. This approach will provide new perspectives for your creative process; help you build unique live experiences with an audience; and make you more resilient, adaptable, playful, and brave. In-class work will include a rigorous physical exploration of the material through a progression of ensemble and individual exercises. Throughout the course of the semester you will workshop original performance material culminating in a final performance. You will also get to know the alternative clown scene in NYC by attending shows and interviewing a professional clown.