Clown Gym To Present TODAY'S MESS At The Cell

As a part of the cell's 2023 Residency Program, Clown Gym will present a new devised piece entitled Today's Mess with performances on April 6 and April 7 at 8:00 PM (EST) at the cell (338 W. 23rd St. New York, NY)

Description is as follows: We're all a part of it, (yes, even you) but what are we going to do about it? Come watch as a bunch of clowns try, and keep trying, to come together as things fall apart. This show explores how we attempt to build community and how we deal with our own mess and other peoples'. How do you keep trying even when you're so dang tired? There will be music, singing, dancing, and silliness performed by individuals with extraordinary abilities in the arts, and yes, quite a bit of mess.

The Company: Ania Upstill, Aya Tucker, Francesca Piccioni, Julia Cavagna, Julia Proctor, Kevin Allen, Lex Alston, Nadav Wiesel, Rachel Resnik, and Sophie Amieva.

Clown Gym started in 2014 as a collaborative member-sourced experiment in play. Over the years it has grown into one of New York City's most reliable sources for affordable high-quality actor training.Clown Gym Director, Julia Proctor, leads classes in addition to welcoming lots of guest teachers from a wide range of backgrounds and pedagogies. A powerful training tool for actors, clown helps connect you to the more spontaneous and generous impulses of your work. It's funny. And not funny. But that's funny, too. Julia's approach to Clown comes from her years studying with and apprenticing Christopher Bayes at the Pandemonium Studio, as well as her training with Philippe Gaulier in France, and Dody DiSanto and Isabelle Anderson at the Academy for Classical Acting.

Clown Gym continues to build a thriving learning environment and community. There's a strong ensemble of regular members and always welcomes brand new folks eager to grow and play. The goals of the Tuesday night drop-in classes are to offer new skills, strengthen new and existing muscles, and connect artists in community through experimentation, laughter, and play. In addition to the beloved Tuesday night classes, Clown Gym offers intensives, mentors and supports teachers, produces shows, and hosts a monthly "Clown Jam," a supportive place to workshop material in process under the guidance of an experienced coach.

Julia Proctor (Founder and Director of Clown Gym) (she/her) is a performer, educator, and community builder. In 2014 she founded Clown Gym as well as "An Unapologetic Mess: a clown show!," a monthly mess at the People's Improv Theatre, sharing her own work and mentoring emerging artists. As the Director of Clown Gym, Julia oversees all programming and operations, which includes weekly classes, monthly coaching sessions, weekend intensives, shows, community events, and the new Clown Cohort: a year long mentorship for aspiring clown teachers. During the early pandemic she co-produced and hosted 20 "Do the Virtual Clown Shows," which were a source of creativity and joy for a growing community around the world. Julia earned her BA from Middlebury College and MFA from Shakespeare Theatre Company's Academy for Classical Acting. She has studied with some of the most prestigious clown teachers in the world including Philippe Gaulier and Chris Bayes, with whom she completed a pedagogical apprenticeship. Julia is an improvisor, and completed the People's Improv Theater's Improv Program. Julia was a founding member of the Funny School of Good Acting's Commedia Company, and is a proud member of Actor's Equity. She devises and performs her own material, and loves collaborating with other artists on smart, funny, and innovative theatre. She currently teaches Physical Acting with a focus on Games and Shakespeare's Clowns at New York University's New Studio on Broadway in Tisch Drama, and has been on faculty at Pace University (Clown), at the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center (Clown and Le Jeu), and was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre at Middlebury College (Clown, Creative Process, and Acting 1). She was Beanie Feldstein's personal Clown Coach for the Broadway revival of Funny Girl.Julia believes theatre, especially theatrical clown, is a powerful tool to build community through shared visceral experiences.

Nancy Manocherian's the cell theatre (Artistic Director Kira Simring) is a not-for-profit dedicated to the incubation and presentation of new work across all artistic disciplines that mine the mind, pierce the heart and awaken the soul. Founded in 2006 as a "21st century salon", the cell has provided a developmental home in the heart of Chelsea for the performing arts, food artists, cyborg theatre artists, musicians, installation artists, choreographers and more. Past performances include, The Smallest Sound in the Smallest Space with The Why Collective, What Kind of Woman, when the blossom passes, what remains?,The Final Veil, Elizabeth Swados' Nightclub Cantata, What Keeps You Going?, Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings) (starring Jackie Hoffman), Persou by Ellpetha Tsivicos and Camilo Quiroz-Vazquez, Tolerance Party, Found, Hoard (co-produced with Off the Wall), The Evolution of Mann, Bastard Jones (a Drama-Desk Award nominee), Crackskull Row, Hey Jude, Rady & Bloom's Peter/Wendy, The McGowan Trilogy, Horse Girls, Hard Times: An American Musical (now the Tony-Award Wining Paradise Square) and Dinner and Delusion. Work developed at the cell has been seen on Broadway, Irish Repertory Theatre, MCC, Rattlestick Playwrights' Theatre, New World Stages, Cherry Lane Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Portland Stage, Toyohashi Arts Theatre, Kino Theater, UK, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Carnegie Stage, Carnegie Museum of Art, and Art Basel Miami.

Tickets are $15 and are available by going to www.thecelltheatre.org.

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