This workshop is a 3-hour masterclass led by Ashley Jones and Katherine Marino at the MuCCC - 142 Atlantic Ave
Friday December 6, 2024, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
It is designed for any and all clowns that have trained with Ashley and Katherine or participated in any of the previous workshops as part of RocHaha 2024.*
We will explore how games and exercises are utilised within the creation of pieces, entrees and acts. How does a seed of an idea turn into a scene? Even without an idea, we will explore how to use seemingly very simple rules to construct dialogue, narrative and performances.
Devising clown often times appears incredible complicated, let’s start demystifying it.
In an effort to make this workshop accessible, we are offering a sliding scale.
$30: All clowns welcome
$50: Average Joey
$75: Pay it fool-ward
You can choose the scale at which you’d be most comfortable paying when you register for the booster in the link below.
Prerequisite: at least one previous clown workshop with Ashley and/or Katherine or participated in any of the previous workshops at RocHaha
OR
*Alternate previous experience may be accepted, send an email to katherine@rochaha.com if interested in signing up to introduce yourself with a brief description of your clown performance experience to request permission to enroll.
About this Masterclass
Participants build on their previous work in clown and delve deeper into the serious play that is devising for performance. Participants will use the skills necessary to sustain rapport with their audience as a solo clown and in duos and trios. We will discover methods to create material, learning how status, tension, and rhythm can all be used as tools for the clown. We continue to expose our own sense of the ridiculous, encouraging us to become riskier with our choices, bolder with our decisions, and braver in our pursuit of failure.
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 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.