IN PERSON Classes

FRIDAY MORNING WORKSHOP: Popular Theater As Political Theater - Clowning, Agitprop, and the Art of Revolt

Dates February 14, 21, 28 2025
Times 10am-1pm, Fridays ONLY
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $219

From commedia to cabaret, from Brecht to Bread and Puppet, from the San Francisco Mime Troupe to Extinction Rebellion, the spirit of the clown has driven the popular art of agitprop (agitation and propaganda) for centuries. Forget about comfy theaters and intellectual plays! We’re talking about street disturbance here - broad, crude, and very exciting. In this 3-Friday workshop, learn how to grab an audience, craft a message, and drive home your material with comedy, satire, audience engagement, and a whole lot of fun, all in the service of blatantly political ends.

Ages 18 and older.

SPECIAL 3 DAY INTENSIVE: CLOWN WARRIOR/CLOWN FOOL

Class Type Open
Dates February 21-23, 2025
Times 12-5pm, Friday, Saturday and Sunday ONLY
Location Screenland Studios
10501 Burbank Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA, 91601
Instructor Shannan Calcutt
Cost $399

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Unleash Your Inner Warrior - Embrace Your Inner Fool!

This workshop inspires tremendous confidence, a full commitment to wholehearted play and a joyful shortcut to discovering your personal clown. 

When we think of our favorite comedy duos, they’re all made up of a Boss & his (her/their) ever devoted Idiot Sidekick: French and Sanders, George and Gracie, Lucy and Ricardo, Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Martin and Lewis, The Smothers Brothers, and so on…

In this workshop you’ll play both roles: The Boss who thinks she knows best, has extraordinary confidence, immense knowledge, gives constant orders, lives to delegate & loves to be worshiped. And the Idiot Sidekick, who aims to please, follows every impulse, worships his boss, is vulnerable, plays with innocence, is easily manipulated, easily distracted & takes everything at face value. While you might find you have more fun in one role versus the other, ultimately you’ll discover that your personal clown embodies both roles, as within all of us is the leader & follower, the planner & the impulsive, the thinker & the idiot.  

Shannan Calcutt is sought after globally as a show creator, performer, instructor, director, and writer. She has played an eclectic range of venues worldwide from Saskatoon's Wash 'n Slosh Pub to the Sydney Opera House. She is best-known for performing her iconic breast implant routine - Scotch Baggies - for millions of spectators at Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity. Currently, audiences can catch Calcutt’s signature shenanigans as a featured comedic performer in Cirque du Soleil’s latest Vegas production, Mad Apple. One of the world’s leading instructors in clown and play, her work is profiled in the book Clowns: In Conversation with Modern Masters. Calcutt has designed and directed comic acts for Cirque du Soleil, Spiegelworld, and Berlin’s Friedrichstadt-Palast. She is the Director of Spiegelworld’s Superfrico, Associate Director of The Hook and was Resident Director at The Atomic Saloon Show from 2021-2024. Shannan is fluent in English, sarcasm and sophisticated silliness. More about her here: shannancalcutt.com

FRIDAY MORNING WORKSHOP: HUMANITARIAN CLOWNING

Class Type Open
Dates March 7, 14, 21, 28
Times 10am-1pm, Fridays ONLY
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $249

Join David for a four-Friday exploration of humanitarian clowning. Modeling the class around his publication Send in the Clowns: Humanitarian Clowning in Crisis Zones, and referencing The Clown School’s new Humanitarian Clowning Award, there will be lecture, exercises, and targeted discussions exploring the application of clowning in non-theatrical contexts, as a means to empower others, alleviate suffering, and bring relief and joy to communities in need. Want to make a difference? Learn the art of humanitarian clowning and become an agent of change.

SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES: CLOWN 1

Class Type Open
Dates March 2 - April 20, 2025
Times 6-10pm, Sundays ONLY (NO CLASS April 6th)
Location The Stomping Ground, 5453 Alhambra Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90032
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $449 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

“I think all people, big and small, fat and tall, outlandishly extroverted or shy and squeaky, believing or non-believing, happy or sad, beautiful or butt ugly, ready or not, should TAKE. THIS. CLASS.” KS, Los Angeles

Delve into the magical world of the clown. Learn to meet an audience on equal terms. Discover the energies inside you waiting to be tapped, relish the liberation of laughter, confront your fears and support your peers. You’ll be amazed how the clown inside you emerges into the limelight and experiences the pure pleasure of connection.

Clown 1 is our foundational class, and most popular offering.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!

“I want to tell you how much your class meant to me. I came away from that experience with such a greater understanding of what I wanted to accomplish as an actor.” KC, Los Angeles

The greatest challenge you could possibly face! Commedia dell’Arte teaches improvisational skills, mask work, character study, musicality, rhythm, acute listening, spatial awareness, routine building, status, approaches to language and text, and comedy, in the context of a theatrical experience that encourages both historical understanding and a totally contemporary rendering. It is the most extraordinary work-out for the actor, comedian, director, creator, and adventurous soul. It is at one and the same time profoundly challenging and profoundly liberating. Come and study this rare and beautiful art with David, who brings his unique understanding and completely original curriculum to the studio, newly informed by his latest upcoming book Commedia dell’Arte: Contemporary Practitioners for Routledge UK.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: TRAGIC CLOWN

Class Type Open
Dates March 15/16, 2025
Times 12-5pm, Saturday and Sunday ONLY
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $299

The Tragic Clown faces hardship, loss, sorrow, and despair with innocence and resilience, finding creativity in the most difficult and unlikely of places. Discover the abiding heart of determination in the achingly beautiful and funny archetype of the Tragic Clown.

Ages 18 and older.

Quantity:

FRIDAY MORNING WORKSHOP: SILENT MOVEMENT PRACTICE

Class Type Open
Dates April 4, 11, 18, 25 and again May 2, 9, 16, 23
Times 10am-Noon, Fridays ONLY
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $249 per month

A unique, original class that explores energy, physical communication, and connection - with self and others - in silence. Fusing elements of meditation, contact improvisation and balance work, Viewpoints, and David’s own movement curriculum, each session unfolds without speech and opens up new channels of somatic listening and learning. By joining this class, you pledge to enter the studio in silence and to maintain that silence throughout the class experience.

SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES: CLOWN 2

Class Type Intermediate
Dates April 27 thru June 8, 2025
Times 6-9.30pm, Sundays ONLY
Location The Stomping Ground, El Sereno
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $449 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

Clown 2 offers an amazing opportunity to explore clown archetypes. Bring your vulnerability and playfulness to the Auguste, the clown at the very bottom of the ladder, and the Joey, also known as the boss clown, the clown that wins! The class brings incredible transformations, a deeper connection with your clown, and the joy of creativity in this beautiful discipline.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: Clown 1

Book your place now for the astounding Clown School Summer Intensive at The Clown School in July 2025. Welcoming participants from all over the country and all over the world to Los Angeles, the Intensive is rigorous, irreverent, playful, personal and profound, with a unique and transformative clown curriculum that can’t be found anywhere else! From vulnerability to a relationship with an audience; from levels of energy to physicalization and imagery; from emotional connection to archetypes and routines; this comprehensive exploration of the beauty and wonder of clowning offers a breakthrough experience for performers, comedians, artists, professionals, the curious, and the seekers of all stripes. A rare opportunity for newcomers and returners alike to go big and go bold - and release parts of the self into the creative process that have, until now, remained blocked.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!

Hot on the heels of our Summer Intensive comes a new intensive in the art and practice of mime. A glorious opportunity to explore the art form as it relates to the world of clown and physical comedy. Learn isolations that help you to articulate your physical movements; beats, phrasing, punctuation, and sub-divisions to develop the grammar and language of mime; and develop hilarious and poignant scenes that test and stretch your compositional abilities. Perfect for performers, artists, and seekers who want to practice silent story telling as a unique, magical, and exciting art form.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!