there anymore. Those are precious
moments. Another surprising
success is that the performers who
become medical clowns tell me that
it’s changed their performing. They
often describe the realization that
there used to be a little something,
like a wall between themselves and
the audience, but after gaining
experience with medical clowning,
it’s no longer there. One actor and
medical clown, Tristan Cunningham,
was on tour with a Shakespeare
company doing school shows, when
she noticed that there were also
two senior centers on their list of
performance venues.
L/
So what eventually led you to
writing your book, The Secret
Life of Clowns?
J/
The other cast members were upset
at the thought of doing Q&A with
seniors, but Tristan’s medical clown
experience allowed her to train
them on performing for a senior
audience, particularly one with a
larger percentage of dementia.
So suddenly, she changed who
she was in the cast. She’s not the
kid anymore—she’s suddenly the
teacher, and with her help, they all
go in and do a great job and love
doing the senior centers now. The reason that I wrote The
Secret Life of Clowns was for
people who have an interest in
clowning, but not a curriculum. I
designed the book so that anyone
could take it and either go “Hmm,
what should we do today?” and turn
to one of the chapter summaries
and say, “Oh, let’s try this!” or even
go “We want to do some clowning
stuff over the next month or two,
how might we design it?” I love
sharing ideas for activities and the
ideas behind the curriculum, as well
as routines that are accessible to
younger people, to older people, to
anyone.
L/ L/
So do you have any advice
from what you’ve learned
through this process for other
circus educators who are looking to
incorporate circus as therapy into
their environments?
J/
First, the people who are in
the field have got a lot of great
structures in place already. When
I started with the Medical Clown
Project, my wife and I talked to the
people at the hospitals who really
know what they need. I talked a lot
to the Clown Care Unit folks and
brought in one of their clowns. You
don’t have to reinvent it or invent
it—just start talking to the folks who
are there. Second, the key to any
kind of performing is doing it. I was
just talking to someone who is a
dancer who’s interested in medical
clowning but she struggled, as many
performers do, with how she was
going to translate her skills into
that space. Another woman with
a similar issue went online before
her Medical Clown shift and got
three bad jokes and she memorized
14
them and then that’s how she’d
spend the day. You just need to find
something that gives you an excuse
to play. You might not want to start
in a hospital. You might want to start
practicing with your nephew or your
grandmother or just walking down
the street or going to your kid’s
school and doing a little interacting.
Photos provided by Jeff Raz
It seems like there are a lot of
aspects to clowning that aren’t
always evident in people’s minds
and that many of those aspects
are healthy and therapeutic for
all involved. For example, getting
comfortable with yourself, allowing
yourself to express emotion, allowing
yourself to relax enough to be over
the top. That’s a huge skill in life in
general, to be able to connect with
yourself that way, and to connect
with others, too.
J/
Beautifully said, and that
is essentially what my first
chapter is about. And to do that at
an amateur or professional level, you
have to work really hard. The truth
is, young people like to work hard
if it’s for a purpose—if it’s exciting.
There is an idea that young people
these da