Tuesdays 6pm-8pm, April 1 - May 6
$110 - $150 - $210 Sliding Scale
You can choose the scale at which you’d be most comfortable paying when you register for the series in the link below.
Spring is here, the world is waking up, and what better way to shake off the winter blues than with a dose of play, laughter, and absurdity? Our April Fools Clown Series is a workshop series of six 2-hour class sessions designed for all levels—whether you're new to clowning or looking to refresh your skills with a little extra springtime mischief.
Clowning is a vibrant, physical, and deeply human art form that goes beyond slapstick and gags. It invites us to embrace spontaneity, connect with our audience, and find joy in the ridiculous. Through improvisation, movement, and learning to playfully embrace failure, each class will help you tap into your unique comic voice and take bold creative risks.
By registering for the series you are signing up to all six sessions every Tuesday 6-8pm.
Tuesday April 1 - 6pm-8pm
Tuesday April 8 - 6pm-8pm
Tuesday April 15 - 6pm-8pm
Tuesday April 22 - 6pm-8pm
Tuesday April 29 - 6pm-8pm
Tuesday May 6 - 6pm-8pm
All classes will take place at Katherine and Ashley's Place (Unit. #, Floor 2) 250 Cumberland Street, Rochester, NY, 14605
The series Suitable for clowns (beginners and experienced), actors, directors, dancers, writers, artists/performers in any field, as well as the playful and the curious from all walks of life. (Ages 18
+)
About Clown
Clowning is a performance tradition which has developed over the last few hundred years. Over the last century, ‘theatre’ or ‘character’ clowning developed alongside circus clowning. In recent decades, theatre clowning has been linked with the development of other art forms, such as physical theatre and mime. Its focus is character, feelings, meanings, and ways of seeing the world, alongside the more familiar slapstick or ‘gags’. Clowning is a rich tool for actors and performers of any discipline. Come ready to stretch your imagination, connect with your silly side and celebrate your mistakes.
About the Series
In this series physical theatre artist extraordinaire’s Ashley Jones and Katherine Marino will help you shed your self-consciousness and heighten your natural sense of play. Using their extensively honed and utilised practice in clowning and improvisation, these six-week series will sharpen your skills as a performer and give you the tools to create your own original work. Be ready to move, have fun, and majorly mess around.
Exploring a range of tools that exercise the performer’s imagination and provide you with a much needed reenergising of the essential practical skills to develop a comic character/clown. We will spend time learning how to connect, listen and respond to the audience and through the use of improvisational games we will explore your individual clown, shedding light on the parts of us which make us funny, ridiculous, rebellious, and unique.
About the Teachers
Katherine Marino
Katherine Marino is a physical theater artist based in Rochester, NY where she creates original multi-disciplinary performances incorporating contemporary dance, clowning, and theater. She is known and loved in her community for her big hair, her unique movement style, and her hat juggling and clowning work, including her solo clown show titled A Show with Cookies. In addition to writing and performing, Marino finds great joy in teaching classes and workshops in contact improvisation, physical theater, and clown.
@katherine.dances
Ashley Jones
Ashley is an award winning physical performer, clown, teacher and director. Having trained across Europe at clown schools in Switzerland, France and his home country of England he has spent years honing and continues to develop his theatrical clown practice based on the principles of creative provocation and play. He has taught for renowned drama schools in the UK and on college campuses across North America.