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Popular opinion holds that clowns are freakin’ scary—and annoying, often at the same time.But modern clowning—the kind showcased at this month’s Clown Theatre Festival in Williamsburg—looks nothing like the pancake-faced, rainbow-wigged creeps that haunted your childhood nightmares. In fact, the fest is targeted at grown-ups, offering performances and workshops, Clown Olympics, a clown barhop and even a clown funeral procession. No joke. “I was dumbfounded by how backward New York was about clowns,” says CTF cofounder Devon Ludlow. “People were hung up on some old idea of it, despite 40-plus years of completely different styles.”Here, a look at five notable New York clowns, without a squirting flower in sight.
Mark Gindick
Gindick, Ambrose Martos and Matthew Morgan—collectively, the Comedy Trio Happy Hour—have been collaborating since they met at the Ringling Bros. Clown College seven years ago. They trade in contemporary themes, like trying to make rent by starting a boy band, and prefer interactive gigs. “One time, this guy pulled off his prosthetic leg onstage and started hopping around,” says Gindick, 31, of Astoria. “So we all jumped up and down on one leg.”
Hilary Chaplain
For 21 years, Chaplain has performed as Nurse Nice with the Big Apple Circus hospital clown program. But when onstage, she channels her idols Gilda Radner and Lily Tomlin through goofy physical comedy (e.g., wearing all black and singing with a mouthful of marshmallows). She’s usually in her own little world, marrying lamp shades and ordaining herself a rabbi. Says Chaplain, “I like the idea of a woman being attractive and funny.”
Audrey Crabtree
This “99-year-old” Kensingtoner is the star of Bouffon Glass Menajoree, which is about as far from happy-go-lucky as a clown can get. In lieu of a rubber nose and face paint, she dons bruises, cuts and a bloodied hospital gown. “Bouffon makes fun of society and politics and the way we interact as humans,” says Crabtree, who is also codirecting the CTF. “I’m more accepted without the red nose, in a grungy stand-up place.”
Eric Davis
Better known as Red Bastard, Davis, 34, of Kensington, practices bouffon style, which makes the audience (rather than the clown) the joke. The gags are often sinister, charming and a bit unpredictable. Case in point: While performing at the Bowery Poetry Club in 2004, a preteen started heckling Davis. They sparred verbally until the kid called him a gay rapist. Davis threw the punk over his knee, spanked him and then carried him out of the club. He got a standing ovation.
Lucas Caleb Rooney
After deciding his classical theater training was “pedantic and boring,” Rooney, a clown teacher at NYU, cowrote last year’s Creation: A Clown Show, in which a clown uses the Bible like a cookbook. “You can see the audience go, Holy shit, I was expecting clowns to fall out of a little car,” he says. “It’s stupid-fun and appeals to everyone—especially in New York, with all the cynicism. Letting the monkey out of its cage is very enticing.”
The Clown Theatre Festival runs through Oct 28. For more info, go to bricktheater.com/clown
