Existential Clowns Tuning into the Audience (it's a workshop!)

Existential Clowns Tuning into the Audience (it’s a workshop!)

Michael Amendol

Workshops/Classes

“Existential Clowns Tuning into the Audience” is a two-hour workshop using group and solo games, exercises and improvisations to experiment with the comic relationship between performer and audience. We’ll explore concepts such as “playing at the speed of fun”, heightening your sensitivity to laughs, learning when to stay or go, complicity in competition, and using “failure” as your superpower. If you move in circles of clown, bouffon, drag, cabaret, stand-up, burlesque, hosting, teaching, preaching, or politics then this playtime is for YOU. Take risks, follow curiosity, and laugh your ass off in this no-stakes stupidly-fun lab guided by Michael Amendola.

Date: Sunday September 22, 2024
Time: 10:30am-12:30pm
Where: Studio A @ Pig Iron Studios
Duration: 2 hours
PWYC

With over 100 offerings – from rebellious circus, delicious dance, fearless theatre and activist art to workshops, parties, and more – Cannonball pushes the boundaries of live performance at four different venues this Fringe. Come as you are and stay past bedtime. Blaze your own trail at cannonballfestival.org.

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Details

Run Time: 120 mins

Ticket Price: $5

Venue: Pig Iron Studios (Studio A)
Dates: September 22, 2024

Buy Tickets

September 22, 2024 10.30am

1417 N 2nd St

General Admission: $5

PWYC Options

About the Artist

Michael "Dola" Amendola (he/him) is a Philadelphia & NYC-based creator-performer, writer and theatre educator who shares the language of *play* as a path to empowerment, discovery, and community.

“I believe that the fear of failure, of not knowing, of being shamed is a means of oppression that deprives us of feeling whole. I want us to be excited that we don’t know and move with curiosity over fear. I want us to embrace the fact that we are stupid animals trying our best to play “civilization” together under absurd circumstances. That’s why I make art, teach theatre and challenge perceptions using the language of play. I follow a clown ethos in order to disorient power and nourish imagination."

Some select regional productions include: "Baal" (starring Gabriel Luna and Adriene Mishler, directed by Obie and Lucille Lortel award-winning director Dustin Wills); the solo show "Every Brilliant Thing" at Mill Mountain Theatre; "Our Town" at ZACH (Austin Critics’ Table Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’), 100 performances as Puck in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" with the American Shakespeare Center, and 600 performances of the Off-Broadway award-nominated comedy hit, "Drunk Shakespeare."

He earned his BFA in Acting from Texas State University and has trained in various territories with world-renowned teachers such as Giovanni Fusetti, Lauren Lane, Aitor Basauri, Sophie Amieva, Julia Proctor, Chris Bayes, Adam Lazarus, Eric Davis and The Royal Shakespeare Company.

His desire to teach and create new work in new ways has led him to The Pig Iron School where he is pursuing an MFA in Devised Performance.

Accessibility & Content Considerations

Contact the Fringe Festival Box Office for up to date accessibility information.

This event is appropriate for ages 18+

Adult Language

Audience Interaction

Prerequisite of some performance training but prior “clown” or comedy improv experience is NOT necessary! Wear clothes you are comfortable moving in!