NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Chicago's 500 Clown Theater
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Chicago’s 500 Clown Theater: Physical Action, Impulse and Narrative in Play A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Field of Performance Studies By Leslie Buxbaum Danzig EVANSTON, ILLINOIS December 2007 2 © Copyright by Leslie Buxbaum Danzig 2007 All Rights Reserved 3 ABSTRACT Chicago’s 500 Clown Theater: Physical Action, Impulse and Narrative in Play Leslie Buxbaum Danzig This dissertation articulates the practice of clown-theater by a Chicago-based company called 500 Clown in order to provoke further investigation and definition of this hybrid theatrical form, which, though increasingly popular as a practice, has yet to be theorized or historicized. This study addresses clown-theater’s relationships with other performance forms as well as how the form intersects with critical theater concepts such as narrative structure, action, play, spectatorship, liveness and presence. Generally speaking, clown-theater incorporates elements from both clown and theater. Clown offers a direct and immediate relationship with the audience, the privileging of spontaneous play over predetermined and complex narratives, and the unique presence of an individual performer as opposed to that of a fictional character. Theater offers, among other things, dramatic structures to sustain full-length productions and numerous conventions, which, though culturally specific, address fictional coherence, role of the audience, and repeatability of the event. Clown- theater gets its dynamic not from a facile and complementary give and take of elements and conventions, but rather from tensions inherent in the interaction between clown and theater. My methodology relies variously on participant observation, autoethnography, oral history, and the synthesis of secondary sources in order to create a detailed account of clown-theater as developed and practiced by 500 Clown, of which I am a co-founder. This investigation of clown-theater practice is framed by an examination of the particulars of creating and sustaining a theater company, a move that reflects my experience that artistic practice is in constant negotiation, conflict and cohabitation with business practice. In service to that, the opening and closing chapters explore how the form and content of artistic practice as well as the economics of sustaining that form are shaped by their context inclusive of colleagues, cost of living, availability of space, broader trends in the use-value of the arts and the more ineffable culture of a city. 4 Acknowledgements I am grateful to so many people for helping me in countless ways to complete this dissertation. Firstly, I thank my advisor Susan Manning for helping me find a form for this dissertation, expanding my awareness of the scholarly conversation of which this dissertation is a part, taking the time to go to my theater productions, and understanding the balancing act of dissertation-writing, directing and parenting. I extend huge thanks to many professors who have encouraged me as a scholar while recognizing my artistic work, including Paul Edwards and Mary Zimmerman for their careful reading of this dissertation and enthusiastic understanding of my various interests, and Tracy Davis, E Patrick Johnson, Margaret Thompsen Drewal and the late Dwight Conquergood for teaching me to be a rigorous scholar. I especially thank Alan Shefsky for being a constant source of assistance, humor and immense warmth in the Department of Performance Studies. I extend deep gratitude to my clown and physical theater teachers who have opened an incredible world of perception and play to me including Philippe Gaulier, Jacques Lecoq, Ronlin Foreman, Avner Eisenberg and Christopher Bayes. Additionally, I thank many friends who have completed PhDs who have cheered me on, and, at the most fragile moments, have shown me the way to complete this dissertation including Hannah Higgins, Sara Levine, Rebecca Rossen and Jessica Thebus. And I thank many friends, artists and colleagues in the world of clown and theater who, in many guises, have taught me so much about this form: Emmy Bright, Paul Brohan, Heidi Coleman, Peter Davis, David Engel, Thalia Field, Bob Gilbo, Jason Greenberg, Alex Harvey, Matt Hawkins, Mary Winn Heider, David Levin, Blake Montgomery, Alden Moore, Dave Pavkovic, Tim Reid, Molly Shanahan, 5 Jon Sherman, Chad Southard, Meghan Strell, Vicki Walden and Leah Urzendowski, as well as many University of Chicago students. This dissertation is born out of a seven-year collaboration with my 500 Clown partners Molly Brennan, Adrian Danzig and Paul Kalina, as well as our set designer and master builder Dan Reilly, lighting designer Ben Wilhelm and composer John Fournier. Their work is at the heart of this dissertation. I am deeply fortunate to have an amazing family who encourage me at every turn, and so thank you to my father Larry Buxbaum, my sister Lisa Buxbaum, and my mother Doris Buxbaum who trekked out to Chicago on numerous occasions to take care of my son so I could get some intensive writing time. And of course thanks to my son, Ezra Allan Danzig, who was born while I was researching and writing. No surprise that one of his earliest words was “dissertation”. His presence kept this whole thing in perspective. I save the last thank you for Adrian Danzig, my partner in 500 Clown and husband. I have learned what I know about clown-theater through our work together over the last thirteen years. I have been able to write this dissertation because of his infinite and unstoppable support. He is my greatest fan, my wisest critic and my deepest calm. 6 Table of Contents List of Figures 8 Preface 9 Taking the Leap 14 Chapter 1: Introduction 16 A Company of Individuals 20 Methodology 22 Scope and Limitation 23 Chapter Overview 24 Reading Tips 25 Chapter 2: 500 Clown in Chicago 28 Early Chicago Encounters 29 Theater and Circus Collide 36 500 Clown Macbeth is Born 39 City of Fools: Showcasing Clown-Theater 43 PAC/Edge Festival: Reflecting and Manufacturing a Hub 45 Allying with Companies 48 Allying with the City 49 Conclusion: Chicago Theater Culture(s) 61 Chapter 3: Defining Clown 63 Natural and Artificial 69 The Practice: Eight Actions 73 (1) To Discover 73 (2) To Follow Impulses 74 (3) To Partner With and Relate to Everything 76 (4) To Solve Problems 77 (5) To Care 80 (6) To be Resilient 82 (7) To Play with Conventions 83 (8) To Choose a Context 84 Chapter 4: Theater as Context: A Practice of Play in Action 90 Dramatic Theater 90 Theater Clown Versus Clown-Theater 92 Action Script 94 (1) Prompted Play 95 (2) Playing with the Audience 97 (3) Playing Scenes with Audience 102 (4) Playing with Physical Chance 106 (5) Playing Emotions 112 7 (6) Playing to Generate 113 Action-Affect 116 Growing Affect 117 Blurring Real and Imagined 120 Chapter 5: Audience as Player: A Practice of Spectatorship 124 Public Solitude/Public Space 126 Eye Contact 128 Expanding Audience Role: Playing with Expectation 129 Building the Play Spirit 132 Negotiating a New Role 137 Active Construction of Meaning 141 Initiating the Majority 144 Chapter 6: Clown-Theater Discourse: Narrative Through Disruption 146 The Present’s Noise 146 Targets of Disruption 147 Exposing the Course 150 Cumulative Disruption 152 Past-Present/Present-Present 153 Liveness and Lifeness 156 Chapter 7: Turning Artistic Practice into Business 158 Economics of Art-Making 162 Legal Structure 167 The Arts and the Nonprofit Sector: A National Perspective 169 In Conclusion: Writing and Practice Revisited 177 Appendices I: 500 Clown Production History 183 II: City of Fools Festival Schedule 184 III: 500 Clown Macbeth Action Script (Short Version 2004) 185 IV: 500 Clown Macbeth Action Script (Long Version 2007) 188 V: 500 Clown Macbeth (Stage Manager’s Script 2007) 192 VI: 500 Clown Frankenstein (Action Script 2007) 199 VII: 500 Clown Frankenstein (Stage Manager’s Script 2007) 208 VIII: 500 Clown Christmas (2007) 221 IV: Company Task List 2006 232 Works Cited and Consulted 233 8 List of Figures Figure 2-1. All Hallow’s Ritual Eve Celebration. Photograph courtesy of Redmoon Theater, p. 33 Figure 2-2. Adrian Danzig in 500 Clown Macbeth, 2002. Photograph by Steven Schapiro. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 50. Figure 2-3. Adrian Danzig in 500 Clown Macbeth, 2007. Photograph by Michael Brosilow. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 51. Figure 3-1. Paul Kalina, Molly Brennan, Adrian Danzig in 500 Clown Frankenstein, 2005. Photograph by Elliot Lieberman. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 80. Figure 3-2. Adrian Danzig, Chad Southard and Molly Brennan (on mics) Dave Williams (percussion), Matt Thompsen (bass), John Fournier (keyboards) in 500 Clown Christmas. Photo: Chris Plevin, p. 88. Figure 4-1. Adrian Danzig Paul Kalina, Molly Brennan in 500 Clown Macbeth, 2007. Photograph by Michael Brosilow. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 97. Figure 4-2. Adrian Danzig, Paul Kalina and Molly Brennan in 500 Clown Frankenstein, 2007. Photograph by Michael Brosilow. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 100. Figure 4-3. Paul Kalina in 500 Clown Macbeth, 2002. Photograph by Steven Schapiro. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 103. Figure 4-4. Paul Kalina, Molly Brennan and Adrian Danzig in 500 Clown Macbeth, 2007. Photograph by Jerry A. Schulman. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 107. Figure 4-5. Adrian Danzig, Paul Kalina and Molly Brennan in 500 Clown Macbeth, 2007. Photograph by Michael Brosilow. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 108. Figure 4-6. Molly Brennan, Paul Kalina, Adrian Danzig in 500 Clown Macbeth, 2001. Photograph by Adam Friedland. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 110. Figure 4-7. Paul Kalina, Molly Brennan, Adrian Danzig in 500 Clown Frankenstein, 2005. Photograph by Elliot Lieberman. Courtesy of 500 Clown, p. 111. Figure 7-1. Paul Kalina, Adrian Danzig in 500 Clown Frankenstein, 2005.