Karl
Baumann
Karl Baumann
originated featured character dancer roles in the Cirque du Soleil production of
“Mystere’in Las Vegas and in the touring production of “Quidam”
He has performed “Quidam” over 1,000 times all
over the United States and Canada.
Trained at The Julliard
School,he has toured with Momix as a principal Performer/Choreographer,and has
appeared on the “Rosie O Donell Show and the “Tonight Show”.His Credits include
the 3-D Imax film “Imagine”,the film “FX2”,and numerous music videos including
Aerosmith’s “Jaded”.He recently acted for the NC-Shakespearfestival as Puck in
“A Midsummer Nights Dream”
Tom
Casciero
Tom Casciero holds a Ph.D. in Theatre from The Union Institute
Graduate School. He is certified as a Movement Analyst (CMA) by the Laban/Bartenieff
Institute of Movement Studies in New York and has received post-certificate
training in Advanced Teaching Methods from the same institute. He has taken
Laban workshops with Warren Lamb, Janis Pforsich, Peggy Hackney, and many others
and presented his research at International Laban Conferences in Amherst,
Minneapolis, and Baltimore.
In physical
theatre, Tom is trained in mime, acting, and improvisation by Tony Montanaro and
has taken workshops or master classes with Kabuki Master Shozo Sato; Jacques
Lecoq and Daniel Stein of Paris; Rymond Kleckot of the Polish Mime Theatre; Tmu-Na
of Israel; and Ronlin Foreman of the Dell Arte School. He also studied anatomy
and has taken workshops in stage combat, clowning, and psychobiology. In the
area of voice, he studied with Arthur Lessac, Shakespeare & Co. and has taken
workshops with Bonnie Raphael, Neil Freeman, Patrick Tucker, and Robert Sataloff.
He studied the singing voice with Charlotte Anderson and together they developed
voice/movement integration methods for singers.
Mr. Casciero is
currently an Assistant Professor of Theatre at Towson University in Maryland,
where he teaches Movement for the Actor, Mime and Movement Theatre Techniques
and Styles, Beginning Acting, Voice & Movement Integration, and Movement Theatre
Improvisation and Production.
Mr. Casciero is
also a performer, director, and workshop presenter. He has toured his solo
performances of comedy and physical theatre nationally and internationally;
directed regional and university theatre; and taught for colleges, theaters,
conferences, and festivals.
Having served as
a producer, promoter and director within the theatre community, and as founder
and board member of several organizations in the larger community, Mr. Casciero
also brings a wealth of organizational, personal communication, and business
skills to his work.
Alan Clay
New Zealand born, Alan Clay, has been
performing for 27 years and teaching clown for over 20 years, since first
attending a clown school in Sweden in 1977. He has performed extensively in the
streets, in schools, at festivals and in theatres. Alan has worked both as a
solo performer, in several duos and ensembles, and has run classes under the
banner of Playspace Studio in New Zealand and Australia since 1983, where he has
championed a more open, irreverent and playful form of clown.
Alan started teaching clown in Oslo, Norway, in 1981, and subsequently taught
workshops at festivals and arts centres in Germany and Denmark. In the early
eighties he established Playspace Studio in Auckland, New Zealand, and was then
invited to teach residencies at the Drill Hall Arts Centre in London, and the
Aarhus Teatre Akademi in Denmark, before settling in Adelaide, Australia, where
he taught youth theatre and adult education classes over three years. Through
out the nineties, Alan taught comedy and acting at the Actors Centre, in Sydney.
Then In 1998 he re-established Playspace Studio in Sydney, where the reputation
of his clown classes have since attracted students worldwide, and resulted in a
couple of recent tours, teaching Clown Masterclasses in Canada and USA.
Alan also publishes the Artmedia web site, and produces the email Artmedia
Physical Theatre Newsletter, which has been linking the international physical
theatre community for the past three years, as well as publishing a number of
his own books. He is currently completing a new book on clown, 'Angels can Fly,
A Modern Clown User Guide', which will be previewed this year at MotionFest.
"In the best clown tradition Alan held up a window mirror for us to step through
and reflect on the patterns, habits and rituals of our days. It was funny,
moving and excellent theatre." New Zealand Herald
Bob
Fitch
Bob Fitch is a professional actor, dancer, singer, magician, director and
choreographer. His extensive performing career includes roles in 27 productions
on Broadway as well as in films and on television. As a magic consultant and
director, he's worked with (among many others) David Copperfield and Jeff
McBride. He is also well-known for his coin and topit work. In this workshop he
will offer performers the unique opportunity to learn and to integrate acting,
movement and basic theatre techniques into their work.
Geoff Hoyle
Geoff Hoyle created the role of
Zazu, the hornbill in the original Broadway cast of The Lion King. He has
clowned with Cirque du Soleil, Circus Flora and with Bill Irwin and Larry Pisoni
in San Francisco’s Pickle Family Circus. He created Spare, the three-legged man
as part of a benefit performance for the Pickle Family Circus in 1982. He
trained with Marcel Marceau’s teacher, Etienne Decroux and at the Gymnase du
Cirque in Paris under Tudor Bono. His original solo shows, including Feast of
Fools, The Convict’s Return and The First Hundred Years have been seen in
NewYork, San Francisco, Paris, London, the former Soviet Union, and at various
regional theatres in the US and England.
He has created comic roles at the Berkeley Rep, (notably Mosca in Volpone and
Face in The Alchemist by Ben Jonson as well as Clov in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame,
Dogberry In Much Ado About Nothing and Berenger in Rhinoceros) American
Conservatory Theatre (including Stephano in The Tempest, and Joxer in Juno and
the Paycock), Eureka Theatre, American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, (with
Dario Fo and Franca Rame), Seattle Rep, Arena Stage and La Jolla Playhouse and
has received several NEA mime grants as well as an ArtsLink grant to visit
circuses in Latvia and Russia.
For Stanford Summer Theatre in California he played Vladimir in Waiting for
Godot and the Old Lady in Eugene Ionesco's The Chairs. He was recently awarded a
TCG/Pew National Theatre Artist Residency Grant to work with the Arizona Theatre
Company, to give workshops in mask, clown and mime and translate and perform in
the late plays of Georges Feydeau. He is most proud of his three children,
Jonah, Daniel and Kailey all of whom have appeared with him, onstage or in the
ring.
Dominique
Jando
Director of S.F. School of Circus Arts/History
of Clowning began his involvement with the circus four decades ago, in his
native France, as a clown at the legendary Cirque Medrano in Paris. In 1974, as
General Secretary of the Paris Cultural Center, he participated with Alexis
Gruss in the creation of France's first professional circus school, and of "Le
Cirque a l'Ancienne", which eventually became the French National Circus.
Dominique joined New York's Big Apple Circus in 1983, where he served as
Associate Artistic Director for nineteen years. A circus and popular
entertainment historian, he has published five books and written many articles
on these subjects both in Europe and the US. The Russian translation of his
"Histoire Mondiale du Cirque" is the official circus history textbook of both
Moscow's Circus School and Theater Institute. He is also co-founder of the
Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain, one of the world's two major circus arts
competitions, which is held each winter in Paris.
The Jokesters
Steve Bauer and Marianne Wittelsberger, AKA the Jokesters, are
professors of stage makeup at Towson University. The Jokesters lived in
Hollywood, California for the past 12 years where they produced, wrote and
starred in their own Cable Ace Award Winning television show called "Jokesters."
There they worked for every major studio in Hollywood, including Paramount, Fox,
MGM, Universal and Disney and were on the Ben Nye Makeup catalog and poster.
Bauer and Wittelsberger have been performing their unique Comedy, Mime & Magic
act together since 1983. They bring a performer's perspective to the art of
makeup design. They don't just put makeup on other people; they actually wear it
themselves - their techniques are road tested. Both Jokesters graduated from
Towson University in 1986 as Theatre Majors with concentrations in Makeup
Design, Costume Design and Mime.
Dick Monday
Dick graduated from Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1974
and was Director of the College from 1994 until its close in 1998. His live
performance credits range from the Great American Circus in Tokyo to
MADhattan at the NYNY Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.. He was also the Artistic
Director of the LA. Circus and Director of Clowning for Circus of the Stars
on CBS. Dick is the founder of The New York Goofs, NY's resident clown
troupe. In the past four years, the Goofs have appeared at Carnegie Hall,
The American Museum of Natural History, the Westport Playhouse, as part of
three Reel to Real programs at Lincoln Center, at Avery Fisher Hall with the
Little Orchestra Society, at the Kennedy Center as part of the Mark Twain
Humor Festival, and in several Goofs original productions at the Flea
Theatre in Manhattan. Dick's film and television credits include Into the
Night With Rick Dees on ABC, Brain Donors, My Life, Love and Greed, The
Tonight Show, General Hospital, Saved by the Bell, The Rosie O'Donnell Show,
and the Woody Allen film Sweet and Lowdown. Dick was featured this year in
the 24th edition of The Big Apple Circus.
Karen
Hurll Montanaro
Karen Hurll Montanaro received her early dance
training at the Cantarella School of Dance with Madeline Cantarella Culpo
and with Andrea Stark, a former director of the Ram Island Dance Company.
She also studied on scholarship with the Joffrey School of Ballet and has
danced professionally with the Ohio Ballet and the Darmstadt Opera Ballet in
Germany.
Karen is currently a principal dancer with the Portland Ballet Company in
Portland, Maine, and teaches at the company’s affiliated school, The
Portland School of Ballet. Ms. Montanaro also teaches ballet, movement, and
mime throughout New England, Europe, and privately.
For fifteen years, she collaborated and performed extensively with her late
husband, world renowned mime and performing artist, Tony Montanaro. She was
the "word-smith" for Mr. Montanaro’s book "Mime Spoken Here," published in
1995.
Robert
Nelson
(The artist formerly known as Butterfly Man)
A former research chemist at Vanderbilt University, Robert Nelson quit the world
of science to pursue a dream of making people laugh, and has never looked back.
Mr. Nelson first metamorphosed into his Butterfly Man character in 1978 while
performing at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Soon after, he indelibly affirmed his
commitment to performing by getting his now famous butterfly tattoos.
This veteran
stage entertainer and busker has been traversing the globe ever since.
Repeatedly voted the most popular performer at San Francisco's legendary Pier
39, he also has won numerous international performing competitions.
Still going
strong after 20 years onstage, he observes, "You really have to love people to
keep this up." Mr. Nelson, also a writer and actor, lives in Los Angeles with
his wife, Kumi.
Michael
Rock
Michael Rock
is a
teacher,
director,
performer and
writer.
His performing credits include
Mummenschanz
on Broadway; 10 years with TheatreSports New York, Spontaneous Broadway and
other improvisation formats as well as many regional, stock and touring
productions where he had to actually memorize lines.
As a director, Michael has created musicals for UPenn's
Mask & Wig Club,
vaudeville/clown shows for
HersheyPark,
comedy revues for the
Second City Training Center, children’s theatre for
Slim Goodbody
and many others.
He has taught improvisation for Ringling Bros. and Barnum &
Bailey Clown College, team-building for various corporations and creative
dramatics for inner-city kids. He currently teaches acting and improvisation
for
The Second City Training Center,
Marymount Manhattan
College,
Manhattanville College and probably
your uncle.
He recently wrote a play,
Musical
Chairs, which was presented at the 2003 NYC Fringe
Festival and then at the Pantheon Theater by
Yankee Rep.
It will be produced again in March of 2004 at
Cabrini
College in Radnor, PA.
He has a degree in Theatre from
Penn State and
lives in New
York City.
Steve Smith
Steve Smith, a 1971 graduate of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown
College, served as the Director of the school from 1985-1995. In addition, Steve
conceived & directed the 123rd Edition of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey
Circus. He has a BFA in acting from the Goodman School of Drama and he has
attended Sigfrido Aguilar's Estudio Busqueda de Pantomima, in Mexico. Steve has
also studied with Jacques Lecoq; American mime, Ben Tucker and Israeli mime,
Juki Arkin.
In addition to his teaching experiences at the Goodman School of Drama at the
Art Institute of Chicago, The Theatre School, and DePaul University, Steve has
conducted numerous workshops and master classes in physical comedy worldwide. In
1993, Steve was inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame. In 1996 and 1997 , Steve
served as the Talent Development Coordinator for Chuck Jones Film Productions,
which was exclusively involved in the on-going production of short theatrical
cartoons for Warner Bros. in the traditional style of full character animation
established by Warner Bros. in the 1950s.
Recently, Steve directed for the international touring cast of the Reduced
Shakespeare Company, spent two months in Japan, writing/ directing Fantasia De
La Primavera, for the Japanese entertainment venue called "Parque Espana", and
took to the sea directing MYSTIQUE, for Princess Cruises' inaugural voyage of
The Sun Princess. Steve also returned to Chicago to remount his play, Center
Ring Circus, for the Chicago Children's Theatre lOth Anniversary Season, and
served as Lead Teaching Artist for The Midnight Circus/Gallery 37 Project. In
1998, he was co-creator and co-director for Florida Studio Theatre's Cabaret hit
revue, Inspired Lunacy; co-director of The University of Virginia's production
of Noises Off; director for The Clown Show featuring David Larible and Pipo
Sosman Jr. in Mexico City; and part of the Creative Team for the Inagural Season
of Circus Sarasota. Currently, Steve is serving as a Creative Consultant for a
major theme park in Orlando, Florida, in addition to serving in that same
capacity for the off-Broadway show The IT Girl A Silent Movie Musical.
Joanie Spina
As principal performer, choreographer, and artistic consultant to David
Copperfield for 11 years, Joanie Spina redressed the ancient art of magic
with a flair of the caliber of Broadway and Hollywood productions. Critics
worldwide note that the results of her collaboration with the world's most
respected conjurer raised the stature of magic to new heights in the eyes of
the public and ensured the viability of the art form into the 21st century.
An acclaimed solo performer, Spina mesmerizes audiences as she infuses magic
with a gamut of emotions ranging from romantic mystery to whimsical fantasy.
These results invariably lead to unadulterated amazement. It is through her
work as a single performer that audiences gain insight into the depth and
range of this one-woman tour de force.
Las Vegas is very familiar with Joanie as she has performed at two
world-famous hotels, Caesar's Palace and the Riviera Hotel in their lavish
showrooms. She also co-starred in her own show with Becky Blaney, the
critically acclaimed "Women of Magic," at the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic
City
