PERFECT BEASTS: Bouffon Fundamentals Workshop
EVENT INFO
This one-day workshop led by Jay Dunn, Stephen Daytime, and Joshua Kilcoyne will provide an introduction to the art of Bouffon for performers of all stripes, with any level of training and experience. Beginners are welcome. Adults 18+ only.
This workshop is being presented in conjunction with performances by Stephen Daytime & Joshua Kilcoyne on Friday, April 24 & Saturday, April 25. Tickets & show info can be found at https://events.humanitix.com/perfect-beasts-show. Workshop students will be granted free admission to the show.
WHAT IS BOUFFON?
Bouffon is a form of modern clown and physical theater rooted in the art of satire and mockery. Bouffons are voracious, lustful, mischievous creatures to whom nothing and no one is sacred. They are seductive mimics and shameless provocateurs who revel in taking the piss out of everyone and everything around them.
Compared to the more widely known "red-nose" style of clown, Bouffon is more pointed, mysterious, and masked. A Clown charms an audience with their ineptitude and vulnerability. Bouffons don't charm so much as they seduce: they are shape-shifting tricksters and manipulators, always looking for the next rug to pull. They may play at foolishness or failure, but only as a means to an end. The audience laughs at the Clown - the Bouffon laughs at the audience.
SCHEDULE & DESCRIPTION
The workshop will run from 2-6pm.
Exercises will focus on:
The Bouffon "state" or "gaze": elevated awareness and physical activation
Flocking: group play and collective movement
Mimo-Dynamics: embodied mirroring and mimicry
The Art of Mockery: tools and dynamics of satire
BOUNDARIES & EXPECTATIONS
Our work together will be physical and energy-intensive, but everyone will be able to set their own pace. We ask that you arrive with an open mind, a willingness to play, and a fundamental respect for the work, the space, and your fellow students.
INSTRUCTORS
Jay Dunn
Jay Dunn is an actor, director, writer and teacher based in Brooklyn, NY. An alum of Lincoln Center Directors Lab 2018 and the SDC Foundation Observership class of 2018, he is also a graduate of L'Ecole Jacques Lecoq and teaches Acting, Movement and Physical Comedy for BA and BFA students at SUNY Purchase.
Stephen Daytime
Stephen Daytime is a playwright, puppeteer, clown and actor based in Montreal.
Joshua Kilcoyne
Joshua Kilcoyne is an interdisciplinary performance artist currently based in the Catskills. He was a founding member of Los Angeles-based Bouffon troupe iL Fungo and has studied with Giovanni Fusetti, Dean Evans, Eric Davis, Sophie Amieva, and Aitor Basauri. He is a graduate of Hampshire College, where a DVD of his Div III clown film "No Fortunate One" remains available for loan from the campus library.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity