John Towsen and Jan Greenfield in their “Conflict/No Resolution – A Clown Expose”
Performed in March 1982 at BACA, Downtown Brooklyn. Directed by Ron Wilson
“This is an old-fashioned (neo-Brechtian)(semi-structuralist)private eye investigation into the angst of modern man as reflected in the dilated eyes of ten clown-offenders”
Photograph originally published in the 1983 program for The New York Clown Theater Festival.
Merril Garrick and his assistant Emmett take the audience on a roller coaster ride of hilarity by presenting absurdly reinvented seven-minute versions of the world’s greatest operas.
Johnnie Niel (Emmett) and Joe Kolbow (Merril Garrick) perform their wonderful OPERA tribute…
Emmett helps Merril Garrick with his coat. (all thru the show)
They perform complete operas ranging from Carmen to La Boheme to …
….Madame Butterfly
Emmet (with his traveling poncho) and Merril are ready to finish the show.
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For more information on the Donovan Ensemble go HERE!
Thinking about the upcoming 2012 Edition of the NY Clown Theatre Festival I remembered doing lots of photographs at the 2010 Festival. Here are some of the highlights from that great, fun Festival. Hope you will come out to this years!
Eric Davis hosting an evening of Clown Cabaret at the Festival.
Peter Musante and Summer Shapiro performing in the 2010 Clown Theatre Festival
Gabriela Munoz performing at the 2010 Clown Theatre Festival
Butt Kapinsky performing on location for the 2010 Clown Theatre Festival
Will Shaw performing at the 2010 Clown Theatre Festival
There were lots more clowns at the 2010 Festival and you can see them all here.
Consider attending this year’s shows as they are all new, from all over the world in a very intimate theater. THE BRICK.
In the early 1980’s I became famaliar with a lovely cafe on a quiet short block in NY’s West Village. The Cornelia Street Cafe was a hotbed of creative people performing, reading poetry and prose and exhibiting their art on the walls of the cafe. One of the performers I met was a lovely, tall and fire eyed woman named Caroline Simonds. Born in Washington DC she immigrated to France at the age of 20 after having graduated from Bennington. Having just come to NY from Paris, she exuded a unique ‘wonderous’ spirit which manifested itself in her performing character ‘Ratapuce’.
Caroline as ‘RATAPUCE’.
She had a new daughter Lailah Melusine Cordiere Simonds that modeled for me a few years later to become the ‘poster child’ of The New York Clown Theatre Festival in 1983.
Laila – Poster Child for NY International Festival of Clown Theatre 1983
In 1971, in Paris, she co-founded ‘The Palace of Wonders’ with street performer, eccentric Jules Cordiere. Her character Ratapuce traveled the globe for 10 years with The Palace of Wonders. After coming to New York she started ‘Pandemonium and the Dragonfly’ performing as a singer, musician, clown and actress.
Being awestruck by Baudelaire,and Camembert she (with a few grants) moved back to Paris to create Le Rire Medicin, the first group of it’s kind in Europe. This highly improvisational team was interactive with the healthcare professionals and had ongoing medical and artistic training. (Read more about Clown Doctors in France here!) Today Le Rire Medicin is present in 15 French hospitals and employs 80 specially trained professional hopiclowns. Caroline and Le Rire Medicin are presently creating a school to train future hospital clowns. Caroline co-wrote with Dr. Bernie Warren The Clown Doctor Chronicles (Albin Michel 2001, Rodopi 2003and Les Editions Rire Medecin in 2008). She also received one of France’s most prestigious awards in 2002 The Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.