Mask Arts Company Blog

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright October 2, 2012

Keith Nelson’s – Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Show that is the first Monday of every month can be great, mixed or part torture.  Keith is always refreshing to see, no matter what he does and he will do almost anything.  The show at Dixon Place is only $5 so even if you run into a few bad acts it is a good deal.  Although one famous juggling teacher did tell me after one of Keith’s Variety shows – “Yes it is only $5 but after that show Keith owes me at least $8.”  This evening was more than a $5 dollar show.

With this type of show there will usually be at least one act that you could have done without. I was not planning to review the show so here are a few of the great highlights from the October 1, 2012 Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Show, which I really enjoy.

Bathtub Jen and the Henchmen – is from the other side of the tracks.  The opening starts with an off stage argument and a fellow with a Russian accent playing an accordion enters and introduces Jen, who has one leg with an exotic wooden leg from the knee down that is a piece of art of itself.  This is of course is a very odd threesome and they all play music, sing and do this intriguing variety act.  Fighting between Jen and her husband is constant back and forth.  Yes it gets raunchy and beautifully ugly.  It comes out that Jen is having an affair with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.   We hear this strong voice singing with an orange street cone megaphone.   It is none other than one of my favorite variety and clown performers Glen Heroy who does a masterful Ray Kelly.  Doing an erotic dance with Jen and ends of course with Ray Kelly playing the spoons.   Fun performance.  The bathtub website of Jennifer Harder, Charley Layton and Glen Heroy is http://www.jenniferharder.com/bathtub.html

Sweet Soubrette, is a singer playing an electric ukulele.  She is beautiful, funny and strong performer; her two songs have an affect of melting you.  Keith’s placement of Sweet Soubrette in the show was also well balanced and perfect.   Her website is http://www.sweetsoubrette.com.

Michael Trautman – was kicking around town from the Clown Theater Festival at The Brick Theater, which just ended the day before.  Michael is a tall seriously funny man wearing a cowboy hat and has a western swing to his act.  He shoots all kind of thing.  He is a marksman.  Only thing is instead of a gun, he shoots ping-pong balls out of his mouth.  His vest is loaded with ping-pong ball as a gunslinger wears bullets.  The vest is used and at the end of the act Michael has shot about 50 ping-pong balls out of his mouth.  Hitting, cans, coins flying in the air and many other joyful fun skills.  It is Michael’s attitude that makes the whole act work.  http://www.michaeltrautman.com

Mark Hayward and Jonathan Burns are a very funny team and work well together.  One is a yo-yo champion the other just plain funny.   http://www.markandjonathan.com

Gooper Junior – by: Billy Schultz; one vital area that the Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Show serves is for performers putting a new act together and experienced ones testing out new material.  This is new material by Billy Schultz and the second time I have seen it.  The piece is getting better.  It is unusual and fun.  Gooper is a fiddler and the music is good.  Soon the audience is singing “O Susanna” while Gooper plays.  It is all about wrestling an imaginary critter, which he does.    As part of a variety show it is perfect, as we do not expect what is going to happen, differently funny.

Also on the bill were Apollo Riego, Kasia Jarosz, Ross Moreno, Justin Cooper, Kitt Sincane and a surprise.   Keith ended the show practicing his plate spinning.  Last month Keith got 7 plate or bowls spinning while flipping several spoons into to tin cans at the same time.  This night Keith went up to 8 bowls but only got 5 bowls spinning at the same time and of course he was his classic variety host. http://www.bindlestiff.org

Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Show takes place the first Monday of every month at Dixon Place 161A Chrystie St, New York NY http://www.dixonplace.org

By: Summer Shapiro

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 28, 2012

Summer has performed at several clown theater festivals, always with a partner.  Every year this young performer shows real signs of growth and change.  This is her first solo show at any of the festivals and it is a great one.  Again, another show in the NY Clown Theater Festival that is good enough for a real NYC theatrical run.  In this new world of Clown Theater this is a woman that is blazing her own trail and style of theatre.  Looking at Summer on stage her insides are alive with anything can happen energy.  Each show Summer come to NY with is totally different and this show does blow the doors off female clown insanity.  Summer is a beautiful woman and she uses her beauty and experience playing with that beauty, disappointment, power and fantasy becoming true clown reality.

This show plays on loneliness, relationship and pain.  Summer plays the true drama of this show and because it is clown it can go into the insanity that every woman most likely dreams about in her “Boudoir”.  Setting up dinner is dynamic full of style.  Summer who is wearing a kind of white wedding low cut dress she is always adjusting her breasts though out the show and it is a statement as well as pulling lipstick and other things out of her cleavage as well as putting thing in her cleavage pocket book. At one dramatically funny moment she pulls a fork out and throws it aside with that look, how did this get down there?  Her table carefully set she sits lonely and we experience the unrealizable pain of sitting alone and no one comes.  Her table is unset.  The wonderfully funny large wads of pasta on the plates go onto the floor.  Just as real life emotions all ends up rolling all over the floor.  Plastic glasses roll out to the audience a guy hands her a glass.  She is captured by him and moves on.

Her play with the audience is on many levels, both men and women.  But the guys she uses with full performer experience.  One thing that is wonderful is the constant making fun of her beauty, demanding, moodiness and real female clown performance fire.  Everything explodes full and Summer artfully tracking the flow of this insanely fun show.   Totally unique!    Yes the guy gets to kiss her cheek.  And this clown turns the table on the male clowns kiss my cheek and turns the head and it is a kiss on the lips!  She is thrilled!    It is full of all the fantasies, including taking a married man from the audience, who winds up under her dress at one point as the light go on and off.  Fighting with the lights and sound booth is all part of this show.  Then another married man Keith Nelson famous clown and master prop manipulator.   Her two guys she set up fighting over her.  First there are fights with swords, then nunchucks, and then guns and she wants to see blood.  Of course she is hit by accident in a bouncing of bullets of sound.  This clown gets to do her overly right on ultimate female clown dying scene.  That goes beyond what any diva could dream of.   There is a ton of stuff that happens I will not tell you because I do not want to spoil it for you.

This was her last show of the NY Clown Theater Festival, from San Francisco she has just decided to move and stay in this wonderful New York NY.  So there is another very dynamic and totally different female clown in town.

Only problem with the show is there was no program and no credit of all the wonderful use of music she used throughout this thrillingly funny show.   For a professional run if it happens the use of all the music is one thing she will have to address.

Welcome to New York NY Summer Shapiro.  We will be hearing from this creator clown and most likely soon. You can follow her on her website www.summershapiro.com .

For more photos of The New York Clown Theater Festival go to Jim Moore’s blog http://vaudevisuals.com/

Kallo Collective
From: Finland, France and New Zealand, two males one female
Performer names are not listed and no program was provided for either show of this bubble bill.

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 24, 2012

This is a very different and pleasantly odd collective of performers from various parts of the globe.  These three clowns have giving and sharing personalities.  Each clown has a very strong and uncommon character, which makes this piece work.   Normally miming singing to recorded music usually does not fly in a professional show.  This is its own unique type of theater the Kallo Collective has created.   Each performer fully using there own strengths and it is loads of fun. Coming out lip sinking to music these true clown characters create a fun and wonderful time being right on the music and beat.

There is the handling of the props.  Putting a rug out on the floor and trying to get the end of the rug not to curl up at the end.  One performer try’s to tap it down several times throughout the show.  Placing a simple folding table up we are in for an adventure.  This company gets at least five hysterical minutes out of putting up this simple table.  Another piece where one performer is setting something up his hand accidentally ends up on the female performers breast, which happens several times.  Each time his hand does end up on her breast she does not react and sometimes gives this big smile.   It is her smile and reaction that also gives killer laughs.  Later in the show the same male performers pants are down and she gets down taking his crotch in with her eyes.  The other male performer has a very strong but pleasant look and both male performers are overly kind.

They set up two chairs on each side of the stage.  One goes and offers the other to sit down.  Then the other gets up to have the other sit down.  This is played out until one perform tricks the other and then runs to his seat breaking the funny engaging rhythm.  One of the highlights is playing the mime piano and the other playing drums and percussion.  They are right on the notes with the keys of the piano and hitting the drums and cymbals with the exact beat.  These clowns are making everyone laugh.  Will not tell you some of the great bits with this collective, as I do not want to spoil it.  But they take some standard clown bits and put their own unique twists on them.

If you would like a lesson in one way to properly use recorded music this is one company to see.  Not for the lip sinking, which is great but for everything else they do with the music.   The music is never background music to fill in emotional lack in a piece but it is part of the piece.  For the lucky ones that saw this bubble bill it was two great shows for the price of one. The bottom line, did the audience have a great time?  Yes we had a great time!

Unfortunately this was their only show of the festival and they did not do their full show as they were on a double bill.  Only criticism is they did not do a program and credit all the wonderful music they used.  It is not right to use music and not credit it, even if you did all the music, we have no idea who created the music.  Also a program we would know all the company members names.  It was a great performance and show.

The New York Clown Theater Festival runs through Sept. 30th at the Brick Theater http://www.bricktheater.com

Created and performed by: Sean Dawson with Tanya Solomon
Sean Dawson is from New Orleans, LA

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 24, 2012

Tanya Solomon starts this show and straps on her full size accordion, which she plays throughout most of the show.  This is not a magic show, which Sean performs; it is a funny clown show that just happens to be filled with magic tricks and gags from beginning to end.   One great thing about having Tanya play live music is she is a magician herself so she can play and keep the right pace and timing with the all the magic happening on stage.

This is not at all like most magic shows where every magician does the exact same routines, the same way to the same uncredited music.  It is full of the unexpected and we do not realize he says nothing through the whole show.  His play with silence and mime are excellent, every moment of the show is filled.  Discovery and confusion of how did this happen?  Looks like I have to deal with this, which flows into the next bit and unexpected happening.  Sean also makes fun of the big flair of magic by tossing out a very tiny few fingers full of colored glitter after he does something where the audience is wowed.  He is getting things out of his suite case and finds a rope in his hand, next thing he realizes it is tied around his suspenders under his jacket and he has no idea how that happened, being surprised as we are.  It is one surprise after another with things just happening to this happy character.  Sean’s skill is so good one member of the audience was so shocked in, how did that happen she let out a very loud, “WHAT!”

You can tell how great a performer is by how they cover up a slip up.  I am talking about Tanya Solomon.  At the end of the show she goes behind the curtain back stage.  Dante has some very large cloth he is holding up.  He turns the cloth when he is not suppose to, or this was wonderfully build into the show revealing Tanya on the floor hiding.  Next thing we see after playing with the cloth is Dante bring the cloth forwards and Tanya knowing that everyone has seen her, sticks her hand out from behind the cloth and waves to the audience, which the audience loves.  Audiences always love truth.  Even though we all know what is going to happen it still seems wonderfully magical.    Great Show.  This magical show runs two more shows and was double bill from New Zealand, Members of Our Limbs, Dante’s up coming shows are double billed with Zero Boy Thursday September 27^th @ 8:30 P.M. and Friday September 28^th @ 7 P.M.  This is a not to be missed show.

The New York Clown Theater Festival runs through Sept. 30th at the Brick Theater http://www.bricktheater.com

By: Thom Monckton
From: Patea, New Zealand

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 24, 2012

This is an unusual unique solo clown piece and solo shows are really tough to do well.  You know that a lot of time went into this piece. The show is a simple premise of a guy moving up in an office going to a very high upper floor.  Starting with the elevator.  How much can you do in an elevator?  For Thom Monckton it is one comic physical bit after another using only his body, costume and props.  Thom is a top-notch mime and well trained not only in mime but prop manipulation.  He does all original refreshing material that you will not see anywhere else.  Moving Stationary is full of discovery! This clown discovers and takes advantage of every single moment!  There are games and play throughout the show, down to play with his costume and the set.  Will not give away the details because it will only spoil some of the surprises.   Thom’s clown is constantly challenged with every little task.   Just placing and unpacking four boxes are a total adventure in the comic absurd and twisted, totally funny.

There is a lot of music used well, different music and different times.  We really need to see a program with the music credited, because it was so well put together. A few moments the music seemed to get in the way a little during part of the boxes.  The rolling original bits one after another almost seemed predictable about a third of the way into the show and it could use a little more variety in the timing of the over all show.  The hot and spicy piece in the beginning of the show really shows off Thom’s high level of movement capabilities.  At moments it slipped into showing off his technique, but that is a very hard line to balance and he plays most of it right on the money.  One brilliant moment that I have never seen blended so well into a story line is his handstand and one-handed balance.  It was not Thom Monckton doing a handstand it was his clown.  It was totally in line with the story and it flowed perfectly.  The dance with the paper is beautifully done and you cannot get paper flying choreographically without practice.

This is a brilliant performance and show.  The ending needs a little more development and a show is not just one clever bit after another.  With a little more playing with the story line and the dynamics of the over all shows we would experience a much more complete and satisfying show.   Thom’s get very high praise for the development of this show.   You do not miss this delightful very original show, which has two more performances, Monday 7 P.M. September 24^th and Saturday 8:30 P.M. September 29.

The New York Clown Theater Festival runs through Sept. 30th at the Brick Theater http://www.bricktheater.com

Created and Performed by: Gabriela Mumoz
From: Mexico City, Mexico

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 21, 2012

In this new theatrical area of Clown Theater not all shows are gut twistingly funny, some are dramatic that touches the soul more than a normal drama.  Clowns can reflect on a pinpoint of life and laughingly reflect truth.  This clown breaks the bearers with actions and emotions that are normal for clowns, as clowns never lie.  Resulting in a show about emotional issues, which flies high and Perhaps, Perhaps Quizas, does hit a emotional high note.   I assume most little girls play wedding at some point as children, being a guy and having two sisters I can only guess this is a universal truth.  The majority of boys I assume never played wedding.   Gabriela’s clown takes this play to a whole new level of reality.  Being alone, wanting the magical wedding she is always in wedding mode.  The show opens to this solo woman clown in an odd wedding dress.  The show evolves from there.

Primping herself, getting ready, she notices a hole in her stocking, which she adjusts.   Versatile use of toilet paper as long rugs to walk down her isle, napkins and adornments fits this great show.  A nice touch is her humming kind of singing her grand wedding song.   Getting her walk down perfectly which takes awhile.  There is the searching for her man to be her partner.  Props are used as a substitute for her own very special man.  A rival female prop gets in her way that brings out her clowns female furry.   Which is funny and truthful.  There is that favorite issue of weight and looking perfect, Gabriela with fun and joy plays with the issues of over weight, over eating, food as a substitute for sex.   This show not only gets into a woman being alone, anyone living a life alone, but also confronts the issue there is always a better choice of man for this clown.   Which she fancies just a little more.

Jacque Lecoq said, “Solo clowns always go to the audience because they are looking for their partner.”  Here this element is used at its best.  Gabriela goes looking for her man in the audience and plays it well.  Choosing her groom as if she is in an open market of men.  Sizing them up, looking carefully which one she will choose.   Sometimes she is disappointed that a man is attached to another woman.  Sometimes she gets over it and takes him anyway.  This is another real life issue that is lightly touched on.  The male audience member is chosen and he is manipulated to be her groom.  I assume this is played differently every show, which totally depends on the audience and her choice.   Perhaps, Perhaps Quizas is loaded with realities of life clown-comedy-drama.   As one male member of the audience after the show said,  “I want to come back and see this again.”  There is one more show in The New York Clown Theater Festival 2012 for this show on Saturday Night September 22^nd at 8:30 P.M.  Brilliantly play.

The New York Clown Theater Festival runs through Sept. 30th at the Brick Theater http://www.bricktheater.com

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 21, 2012

Hosts: Jack & Diane

Hosts for past NY Clown Theater Cabarets has kind of been a nightmare of hosts at times, needing to do all of their own material and forget why they are there.  To introduce the acts, keep the show moving, pick up the shows pace when needed.  It is not an easy thing to do.  Jack & Diane get high praise as hosts.  When they first came out I was bracing for the worst, with the first thing Diane does, who is from LA is insult NYC as, “smelling like urine everywhere and everyone having bad body order.”   If this was true it would be funny but it is not.  There routines where great and they evolved and grew as wonderful clowns and hosts. www.thejackanddianeshow.com

Moving Stationery by: Thomas Monckton, from Patea, New Zealand. Thomas is one uniquely gifted movement performer.  This very funny short piece from his show was mostly about the simple task of moving boxes.  Funny and different this show goes up Sunday September 23^rd at 5:30, Monday 24^th @ 7 PM and Saturday the 29^th @ 8:30 PM.

GAZEaperte Medusa created and performed by Myles Goldin.  Myles come out in an odd Medusa head or hat and a beautiful dress with bare arms, shoulders and about knee length.  It is striped gray and somewhat see-through in places.  As she beautifully and erotically moves, relates and a certain drama begins.  Using her dress dealing with the tension she creates she exposes her breasts and times.  The audience soon begins to believe the only thing she has on is her Medusa hat and the dress.  Yes we are right.  Pulling and twisting up her dress she exposes herself.   This is part of a full piece of multi media theater dealing with Medusa and totally different than anything else in the festival.  It would be great to see the whole piece at some point.  From what we glimpsed of it is very good.

Perhaps Perhaps…Quizas with Gabriela Mumoz made an wonderful fun appearance doing a small piece of her show. Gabriela’s last show of the festival is Saturday night September 22nd at 8:30 PM.

A Pretty Girl is Like, Cloris Flap aka Tanya Solomon, directed by Deborah Kaufmann:  This is something very different for Tanya, who has been developing some great magic comedy acts.  There was music, which was recorded, unaccredited.  This is in the direction of a clown dance piece and it good to see Tanya taking chances doing something totally different.  Would like to see a lot more drama and soul of Tanya’s exposed.  If you use music a clown must really use the music.  Look forwards to seeing Tanya performing with a lot more personal emotional risk with a lot of fun and joy in her performances.

Farfalla and Pico!  Created and performed by Becca Stabile and Gentry Piper Roth.  There was lots of commercially recorded music, which is usually a major problem for clowns.  It tends to fill up the emotional space with the feelings of the musician, which is wonderful, but the performers do not get a chance to let their emotions really fly or develop except on the surface.  This was one of the problems here.  For Clown Theater we need real soul of emotions which most of time operates on many levels.   If you do use music, credit your musicians.   From the notes in the program they are fresh Dell’Arte grads and have some sparks of possibilities.  One of the first things new clowns learn is to unlearn everything so you can become your own performer.  It will be interesting to see how these to young performers grow.

Next up was excerpt from the hit show Bouffon Glass Menajorie, with the overly talented trio of Aimee German, Audrey Crabtree and Lynn Berg.  Of course this is a powerhouse of a show which would be great to see have a real run in NYC.

Members of Our Limbs, by: Kallo Collective, from Finland, France and New Zealand. Here they use music well in their piece, playing air piano and another clown playing air drums and percussion.  What is different is they are right on the notes with the music and the mime is excellent. Their clowns are reacting emotionally to what is really going on plus play the music.  The music is not at all anything they lean on.  It will be interesting and fun to see what this company does in their up coming show on Sunday September 23^rd at 8:30 PM.

Snooze, by: Francois-Guillaume Le Blanc from Quebec City, Canada.  This is another very different show Francois juggles and dances with his voice creating a unique world.  Both the movement and sounds are powerful and will be fun to see what his full show is, performing on Sunday September 23^rd at 7:00 PM.

Our great hosts wrapped up this cabaret well, as both clown characters ended up almost totally nude and nudity with blue humor was throughout this fun night.   One reason for a lot of the sexual and blue clowning in this year’s festival is the growth of the burlesque industry and unique clowns are finding it is one place where they can perform.  The more you perform the better you get.

The New York Clown Theater Festival runs through Sept. 30th at the Brick Theater http://www.bricktheater.com

The Story by: Mona Ray
Performed by: Mona Ray
Directed by: Lilli Sukula – Lindblom
Music by: Sami Sippola
From: Tampere, Finland

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 21, 2012

We first saw Mona in the Clown Cabaret as the final act and she was powerful and brilliant, unfortunately her full show falls short.   It felt like the old vain of Clown Theater of bits put together and performed in a theater.  Show opens with wonderful music, jazz by Sami Sippola, which is used through out the show.  This team gets high credit for crediting their musician; many other shows use music that should be at least credited.

This is a kind of clown lecture of some kind.  English is not her native language and she uses her broken English well in the show but possible this also could have been in the way for her as her clown talks.  There is a wedding theme in one part of this show as well, her dress works for her in this kind of tough girl clown or character.   In this era of women clowns the level of dance has gone up.  Would love see a higher level of dance, movement and substance in this show.  This is with a few shows, women playing old style men by wearing a bad costume mustache and this has never really risen to a high level of clowning but gets stuck in surface level character.  We know Mona is capable of great clowning.  Ultimately the substance of this show is lacking as well as a good over all show rhythm.  Director Lilli Sukula – Lindblom is responsible for dealing with these issues because the performer relies on the directors outside eye for exactly these things.  Sometime performers and shows have an off night.  This could have just been an off night.   Would like to see Mona Ray again in the future with a totally new show with some real issues that touch her soul.  As for great clown theater the clowns soul must be totally exposed.

The New York Clown Theater Festival runs through Sept. 30th at the Brick Theater http://www.bricktheater.com

From Los Angeles
Created & Performed by: Matthew Morgan, Tina Groff, Brandon Breault, Gilford Adams
Plus Special Guests: Julie Atlas Muz, Sweet Soubrette
Board Op: Heidi Brucker

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 20, 2012

This company usually performs regularly in bars in the LA area.  Performing in a real theater with lighting is something different for them.  It is a fun experience watching this very odd combination of clown characters.  We have a great take on the modern company of LA clowns today.  There are many sexual jokes, masturbation clowning, breaking with the normal taboos, but there is also standard clown routines which the Dingbats twist.  There is kind of a theatrical line going through this odd piece of clown theater, “Mom has just died.”

There is hat juggling, although some of their hat manipulations could be much better.  They even do the hat toss and catch on your head with one another, which most likely means that at some point, at least one of them most likely studied with Hovey Burgess.  We have many standard hat tricks and bits, but it is not the bits; it is how this company of clowns does them.

This show is high fast-paced energy with only a few slow moments to catch your breath, which are well placed in the show. There is also a burlesque dancer (Julie Atlas Muz) who takes off everything except her stockings, shoes and pasties.  She does one of the two guest bits.  But what is funny is Tina’s clown following her doing a special type of clown strip that is both sexy and very funny. I will not spoil the many standard jokes of this very athletically talented performer, who is also the top juggler in this company.  Tina is also the top person in the three or four man high acrobatic stunt throughout the show.

The stripping juggling bit is fun: every time a member of the company drops one of the juggling clubs, that clown must take off an article of clothing.  Most of the guys lost most of their clothing first with Tina being the last to lose most of hers.

There is definitely gross-out clowning involved here.  The other guest was a singer and musician (Sweet Soubrette) who played and sang as song about being adult and childless.  It seemed directed at the women in the audience and the piece was well placed within the show.

There are many really stupid bits, like ping pong with a mime ball, hangman with a rope, and other very old standard clown bits.  Yet this show is original because of how they perform this wild ride of a show.   You are not going for the high clown theater with this show, but going just to have a great time.  There are two more performances for “The Dingbat Show”, 10:00 P.M. Friday September 21^st and 10:00 P.M. Saturday December 22^nd.

For more photos of The New York Clown Theater Festival go to Jim Moore’s blog http://vaudevisuals.com/

The New York Clown Theater Festival runs through Sept. 30th at the Brick Theater http://www.bricktheater.com

Created and performed by: Will Shaw  www.willshaw.com

By Stanley Allan Sherman
© copyright September 16, 2012

This first time, untried material in front of an audience and new for those lucky ones who experienced this wonderful show. Will Shaw is known as one of New York City’s few master jugglers and prop manipulators.  Few people besides his wife and daughter knew he plays the piano, which he does most of the time in his basement.  Will Shaw comes out of his basement, and what a wonderful experience it was.

The top of the piano is loaded with all kinds of toys. All of them are used.   Music is throughout the show, which Will Shaw plays. Of course, all kinds of tricks find their way into the show while he is playing: spinning a ball on his finger, hat tricks all in rhythm with the music he is playing, and more.

He takes breaks from playing the piano and goes to play with his hat, going through almost every hat trick in the book.  He begins to leave to do the next section of the show, stopping and flip his hat to his foot and from the foot to the head saying, “All union stuff.”  (Evidently there is a jugglers union, which requires you to do all these hat tricks if you are doing a show.)  This show is full of Will Shaw one-liners.  We were laughing from beginning to end.

Cigar boxes – if you have seen variety shows, you most likely have seen the cigar box routine.  Yet this is different. Will plays the boxes musically, playing with them like a professional kid playing with blocks.  The balance combinations are wonderful and every once in a while there is an extra burst of joy within the play of the boxes.

Will spins tops, doing things you do not think of when you think of tops. The one-liners keep on coming.    He takes a volunteer from the audience; in this case it is a boy wearing a Bindlestiff Family Cirkus t-shirt.  Will spins a top and places it on the boy’s head.   Bringing out a bullwhip, Will says he is going to take the top off the boy’s head using the bullwhip.   He is excellent at cracking this powerful bullwhip but ends up totally twisted up in the whip himself.  There is some recorded music and sound effects all created by Will and another.  The result is spinning top choreography.

Juggling balls naturally are in the show and Will is a master. Everything is full of rhythm and surprise you will not find in your normal juggling show.  I am not going to reveal most of the surprises, but this is not your average juggling clown show.   For Will’s first show of Deadpan Alley: fantastic.  There is room for this show to grow and improve the over all timing and flow.  Deadpan Alley is only going to get better.

You are in luck, as there is one more show next September 29 Saturday at 5:30 PM.  Dixon Place, jugglers’ festivals and odd theaters… this is another show from the 2012 New York Clown Theater Festival to consider for your future bookings.

For more photos of The New York Clown Theater Festival go to Jim Moore’s blog http://vaudevisuals.com/

The New York Clown Theater Festival runs through Sept. 30th at the Brick Theater http://www.bricktheater.com