Unsolicited Suggestions for Acts

Ideas for clown acts/material are offered to me on a regular basis.  (This differs from advice on how to execute a techincal feat, or feedback/directorial notes from colleagues.)  The person describes what he or she is seeing in the mind’s eye, imagining how it will be funny.  These unsolicited ideas can be seeds or bits to be developed, while others may be more detailed.  Very few of them actually become realized in my acts.  The explanation as to why they are not appropriate or useful to me is this:  Many times the suggestion is made with no knowledge of my particular clown character.  More importantly, the person conceiving the idea does not realize that it is in fact, their own clown from which the material springs.  There are always exceptions.  Some weeks ago, a six-year old friend of mine gave me a clown name that I fell in love with as soon as I heard it.  In this instance, I hope to find a way to incorporate it because it is a really silly name.  It makes me laugh whenever I think of it.  Forgive me for not revealing here.  I’d like to try it out on an audience and see how it flies.  Although ideas offered may never materialize in my acts, I love that people take an interest in my clowning, and that it inspires their imagination.  I am always happy to hear all suggestions.

I mentioned in a previous post that I would write about how I do source my material.  That requires a more long-winded post.  Still to come…

Long Time No Post

 Recently, when my website host changed format, my previous posts were added here as “the story so far.” 

Life has been keeping me busy this year.  My aim is to catch up with a few separate posts, starting here and now…

I was proud to be part of a recent photo exhibit in June 2011 entitled “The Clown Unmasked” by Jim Moore.  It is comprised of a series of postcard-sized photos of clowns in black and white, out of costume and make up; each coupled with a full color, fully-costumed photo of the clown in performance.  The diminutive  scale of the photos was pure genius on the part of the photographer.  The smaller-than-life dimensions are a non-theatening way to represent clowns in a world where many people are afraid of us.  There will be more to come of this series, as there are many more clowns in the community to be represented.  At present, I do not possess a copy of the b&w “unmasked” photo.  I hope to obtain a copy for the website.