Each class is limited to 14 students.

In this one-day introduction to physical comedy you will be exposed to a few elements of physical comedy vocabulary involving everyday objects, learning new skills that you probably didn't even know existed. With every skill we explore, we will immediately be searching for comedy applications involving character and situation as a stepping stone to creating material. From there we will go on to exploring gag structures such as the escalating gag, the visual gag, the 3-part gag, and the oblivious gag, Participants will get to work on short pieces together since the whole point of the workshop is the integration of technique with story and character. No particular skill level, body type, or background is needed to be in the workshop, which I hope will be useful and FUN for everyone.

Drop-in Class: Saturday, November 21st, 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM.

Where: BCC Mouse Trap (168A Johnson Ave, Brooklyn)

Teacher: John Towsen

Bio:

John Towsen is a performer, teacher, author, and scholar specializing in physical comedy and clowning. He began performing at age seven on The Red Skelton Show alongside Red Skelton and Jackie Gleason, and is the author of Clowns: A Panoramic History. He holds a Ph.D. in Drama from NYU.

Towsen developed a college course in physical comedy at Ohio University and taught in the Acting Program at The Juilliard School for six years. His students have included Laura Linney, Andre Braugher, Jane Adams, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Michael Stuhlbarg. He served as a professor at Bloomfield College, retiring as Professor Emeritus, and has taught workshops internationally. He was artistic director of the New York International Festival of Clown-Theatre and founded the (Very) Physical Comedy Institute at Celebration Barn Theatre. He co-founded the NYC Physical Comedy Lab and continues to lead its ongoing weekly sessions in Brooklyn.

If this class is sold out, sign-up for the wait list here.