Clown for the Actor – Guest Post by Philip Cuomo

WHY study Clown?!?

Philip Cuomo, PAC Associate Director, faculty member and clown, answers this question with his top five reasons:

5) Clown is fun. It demands silly hats, colorful costumes, energetic music and lots of dancing.

4) Clown is extreme. This form demands commitment and energy, while breaking down psychological barriers and inhibitions.

3) Clown is laughter and tears. Between ying and yang, a clown can’t have the joy of laughter without the pathos of tears.

2) Clown is exaggeration. These timehonored techniques are stagecraft, magnified.

1) Clown is character development.

Clowning demands digging deep into one’s unique psychology and physicality, and revealing the self the actor chooses to present to the world. That self is then held up for celebration and derision and its inherent ridiculousness.

Using heightened stagecraft and dynamic physical exercise, patterns of behavior and attitudes are revealed without judgment. As the actor gives attention to his or her unique imaginative associations, the shape of the individual clown emerges. This is an intimate, internal exploration, exaggerated in a fantastical theatrical world. Actors who learn clown must develop skills to be vulnerable and intimate, while expanding expression and dynamics - skills appropriate for any style of character development and theatre.

My ongoing clown workshop through the Studio Program at Portland Actors Conservatory is intended for both the actor who has never clowned before and clowns who are looking to refresh characterizations or further develop bits. Exercises for both the beginner and the street wise professional are the same: starting with dancing, basic stage/streetcraft such as entrances and exits, the take, the rule of three, the three second rule, and other fundamentals. Elements (earth, air, water, fire), materials (glass, oil, steel etc.), and Laban effort actions (dab, flick, glide, etc.) are also explored in an exaggerated form, demanding both the new comer and the old timer to stretch and extend physicality. This strenuous approach demands commitment and focus, concentration and energy, which break down psychological barriers and inhibitions revealing deeper truths about the individual.

These moments of revelation lead the performer to make choices about who he is and how he presents himself to the world. This presentation is then exaggerated for effect and an opposite truth is chosen to offset her psychology. All clowns are all things and can be in one moment vulgar and in the next elegant, or sweet and sour, or prude and lusty or arrogant and humble. The ying and yang of the clown, the primary quality and its opposite comprise the clown character. In the creation and execution of bits the performer in the clown world is required to shift from one extreme to the next and back again one moment to the next.

It is in the distance traveled between the extremes that moment-to-moment reality is elevated into a clown reality. The skill to travel in an exaggerated way from one extreme to the next translates to good moment-to-moment behavior on stage in any style or form. The requirements to stay connected and organic in the clown world are demanding, and amazing exercise for the actor in developing the skill to stay organically connected and in character from one moment to the next.

Last reason to take a clown class: Clown is demand.
Are you ready to demand something of yourself?