The Fun of Failure (a clown class)

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Soften your brain, relinquish the pressure of living in an adult body, let loose and come PLAY!

Who would you be if no one had ever told you to be quiet, to settle down, to stop playing and sit still? In other words, who would you be if you had never been diminished? In this 8-week class, participants will have the opportunity to rediscover their wonder, play without shame, make a beautiful mess and an uproarious ruckus in a safe and supportive space. As we investigate the comic, tragic and poetic world of the Clown, participants will also be able to explore what it might be like to live in an undiminished body – maybe for the very first time. Whatever happens, it’s going to be fun, like a lot of fun, maybe too much and then a little more. And laughter, lots and lots of laughter - all in pursuit of unfettered joy, radical acceptance of what is, and Empathic Vulnerability: the willingness to fully see and be fully seen, all while staying open to the possibility of transformation.

This class is perfect for:

• Anyone who wants to jump back into their body and reclaim their fun

• Movers and dancers looking to bring more freedom and play into their work

• Parents envious of how much fun their kids had during PIC’s Summer Clown class

• College students who want to get off campus and experience something new

• Actors looking to stretch out of their comfort zone and rediscover the simple joy of playing in front of any audience

• Humans hoping to open their hearts and live a full, undiminished life

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 * No performance experience is necessary to participate. All you need is a dash of enthusiastic curiosity and an appetite for fun.

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Acting as Play (a scene study class)

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Get out of your head and into your body! Give your chorus of critics a break and rediscover the simple pleasure of playing pretend!

In this 8-week class, participants will be provided with a safe, brave space to:

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• Take big risks before feeling “ready”

• Put logic aside to make way for a highly imaginative physical appetite/objective

• Embrace the precarious pleasure of not needing to know what’s coming next

• Find fun in whatever given circumstances the character has no choice but to endure

• Always lead with hope, regardless of the inevitable disasters laid out in the text

Building on the work of master teachers Christopher Bayes (Head of Movement, Yale School of Drama), Ron Van Lieu (former chair of NYU Grad Acting and the Yale School of Drama) and Evan Yionoulis (former chair of the Yale School of Drama and current chair of The Juilliard School), Acting as Play is a wholly unique approach to text and scene work, centering imagination, play and vulnerability as the foundation of all performance. Over the course of the class, all participants will have the opportunity to work on a monologue and/or a scene, depending on their interests.

This class is perfect for

• Anyone interested in a physical approach acting

• Anyone interested in acting in general

• Anyone curious about the relationship between improvisation and scripted text

• Anyone with a movement, or music background interested in other modes of performance

• Anyone

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**The Fun of Failure and Acting as Play are built to be taken in sequence, or separately**

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