NY Clown Theatre Festival in Review

nytheatre.com is asking two of its contributors to spend an evening at the NY CLOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL. Their impressions of these evenings are being posted here. http://www.indietheater.org/clownreview.php

Evening 1: September 7, 2008 - DANIEL KELLEY

The grim reaper in his long black cloak rows a poor dead soul into the depths of the underworld, while Mozart's Requiem fills the theatre. An eccentric homemaker does her morning exercises by pumping her kneecaps and chanting the opening chords to "Eye of the Tiger." These are moments in two very different clown shows now playing at the Brick Theatre's 3rd Annual Clown Theatre Festival. One show is pure escapism—a frolicsome, light-hearted romp, full of gags and slapstick. The other uses the elements of clown theatre to probe deeper, exploring the very nature of living and dying. Which is which, however, may surprise you.

The first is Ten West, a self-titled show from the LA-based comedy duo of Jon Monastero and Stephen Simon. The subject of the show is as dark you as you get: it's a show about death, featuring scenes of pallbearers, funerals and of course, the grim reaper himself. Ten West's take on this most depressing of topics, however, is decidedly sunny—the road to Ten West's hell is paved with goofing off. That is exactly what happens in one scene as a lost soul (Monastero) starts playing around on his trip across the river Styx—making faces, splashing water, and bopping about. The Grim Reaper (Simon) then becomes his straight man, and hilarity ensues as the dead soul becomes sillier and sillier and grim reaper becomes angrier and angrier. It also doesn't hurt that Simon is about two or three heads taller than Monastero, completing the classic comic paring. This is world of Ten West—whimsical, fun loving and classically vaudevillian.

Perhaps the most impressive part of Ten West's performance, however, is that it is almost completely silent, relying instead on the performers' bodies and faces to communicate. The elasticity of both of these performers and the clarity of their choreography make this feat seem easy and natural. Their communication is so complete, however, that occasionally I found myself getting a little ahead of where the performers were going. But these moments were few and far between. Ultimately, Ten West's goal in presenting this show about death is to entertain, and that they do with great style and skill.

The second show is a one-woman piece from France entitled C'est La Nuit Qu'il Faut Attraper La Lumiere (It's the Night That You Have to Catch the Light). The show's subject matter seems to be the eccentric life of a homemaker, Miss Oberniche, who lives her life hour by hour doing chores around the house. One can almost imagine the hijinks that will unfold. However, from the onset, it is clear that Orianne Bernard's performance is not trying to be anything of the kind.

The piece opens with Miss Oberniche waking up at seven o'clock—one hour before she has to actually get up and start her day. The knowledge that she still has an hour to sleep brings Miss Oberniche into a state of intense euphoria. She responds as though she has just won the lottery. A moment later, she finds her alarm telling her its eight o'clock. At this point, Miss Oberniche experiences a kind of horrific dread that she has to get up, as though this were some awful kind of flesh-rending torture. She forces herself to get up, literally kicking and screaming, trying with all her might to stay in bed. Throughout the piece, Bernard's Miss Oberniche experiences these kinds of grotesque exaggerations of feeling, moving from ecstasy to despair in seconds. Through it all, though, Miss Oberniche is always alone—save for the flowers she talks to as her girlfriends, and her imaginary boyfriend Redwood. As the piece progresses, we begin to see Miss Oberniche deteriorate: things once done with a spring and a leap become less interesting and less easy to accomplish. By seeing this character live so extremely through the tiniest things—having coffee, exercising, knitting, eating lunch—and then watching her deteriorate, the audience is able to see the grotesque sadness of a life spent completely alone, isolated from the world. The show then becomes a metaphor for a kind of global living—the need to live beyond the minutiae of day-to-day life, and reach out to help people in need. This point is hit home powerfully late in the show and is obviously a message that is felt very deeply by Bernard, who uses her clowning skills in hospitals around the world. C'est La Nuit Qu'il Faut Attraper La Lumiere is at once hysterically funny and deeply moving, using the larger-than-life stylization of clown performance to send a profound message about real-world living.

Following one after the other, these two shows are emblematic of the power of clown theatre to turn the expected on its head. Clowns have the power to take the somber and make it silly, and to take the silly and make it brutally heartbreaking. Whichever side of the coin you're in the mood for, you're bound to find it in among the host of offerings at the Brick Theatre's Clown Theatre Festival.

We were also mentioned in a festival BlogSpot by renowned mask maker, actor, mime, Commedia dell'Arte performer and clown, Stanley Allan Sherman: http://www.commediau.com/ and http://www.maskarts.com/

http://nyclowntheaterfestivalstanley.blogspot.com/

Saturday, September 6, 2008

NY Clown Theatre Festival

at The Brick Theatre 

We just had to cancel a trip to perform in beautiful Portland, Oregon - for the THIRD YEAR IN A ROW. Talk about bad breaks.

We LOVE Portland. We've met some wonderful people there and The Best of the Best Festival hosted by Portland's resident comedy geniuses The Third Floor is always such an incredible experience. Plus it's an honor to be hand-picked to go perform with extremely talented comedians from around the US.

The reason for the cancellation is that Ten West's Jon Monastero has to have surgery. Thursday, July 24th is the date. He was informed by the surgeon that it will be three weeks before he can resume light activities and six weeks before he is fully recovered and able to do pratfalls again. Alas, alas, alack!

Thanks for extending a welcoming hand, Portland. Sorry to disappoint AGAIN!

We shall return.

Love,

Ten West

This year we made our second appearance at the Topanga Children's Festival.

See us interviewed here:

Topanga Children's Festival interview (we're towards the end of the segment)

If you have trouble with that link just paste this into your browser:

Ten West performed with the Velvet Hammer Burlesque throughout 2005-06 at the El Rey Theatre. We had a lot of great times and many special memories.

Announcing The Velvet Hammer Burlesque Book signing and group photo exhibition.

*Thanks to our friend, the incredibly talented photographer, Don Spiro for the content of this blog.

Book signing and reception
Saturday, February 23, 2008, 6 - 9 pm
Photo exhibition remains open until Mar 2, 2008

La Luz de Jesus
4633 Hollywood Bl.
Los Angeles California 90027
(323) 666-7667
http://laluzdejesus.com

Velvet Hammer Burlesque photographic exhibition
The Velvet Hammer Burlesque photographic exhibition will feature images spanning the entirety of the Burlesque troupe's existence and features works by Don Spiro, Richard Edson, Jody Ake, Manuel Vason, Andrea Oliviera, Hussein Katz, Marie Astrid Gonzalez, Austin Young, Victoria Renard, Susan Anderson, Deborah Samantha, Annie Sperling, Valerie Davis, Patrick Morrisson, Kevin Merrill, W.T. Nelson, Charchi Stinson, Carmen Luceno and Scott Lindgren. The exhibition remains open until March 5.

About La Luz de Jesus:
One of the most important and influential art galleries in Los Angeles, La Luz was at the forefront in promoting the counterculture art now described as "lowbrow" art. "Some of the past shows have been groundbreaking, introducing unknown artists who have become great names in the modern art world. La Luz de Jesus helped to establish artists such as Manuel Ocampo and Joe Coleman, and hosted Robert Williams' art exhibits before he became a household name."

About The Velvet Hammer Burlesque:
Based in Los Angeles and founded in 1995 by Michelle Carr, Velvet Hammer kick-started the current era of Neo-Burlesque and caused a furor on stages worldwide. The infamous troupe's ever changing crew of male and female performers, acrobats, dancers, comedians and musicians included a wide range of talent:

Pioneering legends Tura Satana, Haji, Mamie Van Doren, and Kitten Natavidad and too many more than will fit in one bulletin!

About the book:
"The Velvet Hammer Burlesque:" Published by Die Gestalten Verlag, Germany, 144 pages,hardcover, $60.00, ISBN: 978-3-89955-202-7. Publisher
contact: http://www.die-gestalten.de

Buy the video documentary "The Velvet Hammer Burlesque" at http://www.itsachick.com/TVHB.html

Stephen and Jon of Ten West play bumbling toxic waste truck drivers in this zombie flick.

Mann's Chinese 6 Theatre on Hollywood Blvd.

Tuesday, October 16th at 9:30pm

Wasting Away by Matt and Sean Kohnen.

Director:  Matthew Kohnen

Producer:  Sean Kohnen

Zombies. You know 'em, you love 'em. But what do they think of you?

In this hilarious twist on the Classic Zombie Tale, we see the world through Zombie eyes when a barrelful of Toxic Goo transforms four friends into the Walking Dead, and suddenly, it seems everyone else has gone mad.

In the most unique Zombie story in years, the Zombies embark on a bumbling quest to find the "Truth", completely unaware of their Rotting Undeadness.

After all, Zombies are people too.

http://www.screamfestla.com/schedule16th.mann.html

The Los Angeles Physical Theatre Arts Festival
Presented by [via]Corpora, a Performance R&D Center

Ten West performs
NOVEMBER 29 - DECEMBER 23, 2007
THURS @ 8pm / SUN @ 7pm
(Double-Bill with "The Big Bang & Other Small Things")

Art/Works Theatre
6569 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90038

Pay What You Want From $15-$25
Reservations & info: 323.666.8666

The Physical Arts Festival Features:
Le Grand Guignol - Debbie McMahon and Co. (Fri-Sat @ 9pm)
Ten West - Jon Monastero and Stephen Simon (Thurs @ 8pm / Sun @ 7pm)
The Big Bang and Other Small Things - Mitchel Evans and Ensemble (Thurs @ 8pm / Sun @ 7pm)

Jon and Stephen joined forces with Sean Kinney and up and coming Director Sergio Pinheiro on this project. It's a suspense thriller. Classic Ten West as you can imagine!

Post is going very well and the release of the film is expected in the near future.

In the meanwhile, check out the trailer:

http://www.thedonnybrook.com/