The Art of Make Believe: Attending Florida’s Religious Clown School

Just six months ago Alannah Wesson had never performed for anyone in her life. But after clown school that all changed. “When I first decided to give it a go, it in a moment of madness,” says Wesson, 30, a single mother who works as a psych nurse at Rozelle Hospital So when she spotted an ad for clown classes at Newton ‘s Playspace Theatre a physical theatre studio, she tried it out on a whim.

What has come as even more of a surprise to Wesson is the fact she has also been able to find a way to help others through her clowning. “Some of the best clowns make you cry,” she said.

This comes as no surprise to veteran clown and theatre director, Alan Clay, who says he is used to people knocking on his doors at all hours wanting to learn how to be a clown. “The real question then becomes this: Are you just born a clown or do you learn how to become one?” he asks. Students are first encouraged to experiment with all the crafts of clowning but then are given the artistic freedom to break off on their own and develop their own individual styles and routines.

After this session class is then relocated outside where students get the bewildered looks of pedestrians watching them practice their acts on the street. “I don’t care if I make a fool of myself,” says Olivia Stambouliali, laughing when she remembers her first time performing her act for street practice. A clown master class, exploring the physical and irreverent approach to clown developed over 20 years ago at Playspace.

“It is a class where top students are rewarded for clowning around where practical jokers practice punch lines and where disorder is the order of the day,” said Clay. Jostling for jokes and looking for laughs may seem a tough way to earn a living, however Mr. Clay said interest in clowning and clown-based entertainment was at an all-time high. Each Thursday Clay’s seven students study the theory behind clowning, such as the art of juggling and tightrope walking, before turning Newton’s streets into a classroom.

The students are each aspiring to professional clowning careers mostly working in dance clubs, with theatre groups, working at parties or in circuses.