A Retropsection
Claire Woolner blows hard on the brutalist edges of performance art and swims into surrealist clown in this intimate evening of clown confessional. Absurdist comedic bits, playful performance pieces and authentic breakdowns, make this a work of tragicomedy at its finest. Teetering between what is intended and what is improvised, A Retrospection brings the audience on an exciting (and at times nerve wracking) ride of ego battle, failure and creativity and how to survive, discover and connect amidst them all.
“Ultimately, her absurdism answers one question: What if the performance artist Marina Abramovic were a clown?” --The New York Times
“A frantic and bewildering mash-up of clowning and performance art that is far more accessible and emotional than should be possible.” –*****The Wee Review
“There is courage in her clowning, and salvation in our laughter.” -- The TVolution
“A clown, but one whose nose is only red because it’s been smeared with blood following another primal scream of a scene.” –****Chortle
Mr Chonkers
The greatest show in the entire world
It’s a solo show. Kind of a clown show but not really. Absurd. Simple. Outrageous. Stupid. Fun. It’s terrible. An important waste of your time. It’s great. Please strongly consider all of this information before coming.
Created and performed by John Norris / Directed by Corey Podell
OFFICIAL SELECTION: British Comedy Guide’s Top Pick of Fringe
NOMINEE: Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Scotsman
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Skinny
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fest Mag
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reyt Good Magazine
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Beyond the Joke
Space Suckers From Outer Space
Space Suckers from Outer Space is an outrageous, sick, partially improvised, campy, dirty, comedic romp, paying homage to retro sci fi. If you love physical theater, sexy space heroes, badass space vixens, and dirty jokes, strap on your tin foil hat and join us for adventure with SPACE SUCKERS FROM OUTER SPACE !!!
Get a Grip
Get a Grip! is about an ex circus performer turned stagehand with high hopes to be the next superstar. Our underdog is preparing for the big show, doing work they always do in the shadows. But there's a big problem: the performers never arrive! Will our backstage hero rediscover their desire to have a better life and fulfill their dreams once again!?
This solo clown show uses physical comedy and circus acts rarely seen in the US such as: plate spinning, jar juggling, 12ft bamboo pole umbrella manipulation. If you don't know what those things are, you better come find out! Be whisked away to a distorted realm of this oddly eccentric "underdog" and their authentic and strange reality!
“The poetically mischievous clown, Faeble Kievman, infuses his clowning with moving depth .. Faeble’s employment of pole-balancing and jar juggling provides audiences with glimpses of
Chinese skills rarely seen in America”.
— Judy Finelli, Spectacle Magazine
Gastro Absurdo
Gastro Absurdo is a comic culinary confection, a cosmic clown show, blending together the celestial whimsy of the cosmos with the art of the kitchen. With a pinch of this and a dash of that we come together to defy the imagination. Amidst the chaos, sugar and spice mingle with stardust, creating an absurd and delightful experience. Prepare to be enchanted at this all ages show!
Friday, Saturday and Sunday April 12-14. Fri and Sat @ 8PM Sun @ 3PM
The Method Prix
From the mad genius behind international clown drag hit Butt Kapinski comes the next spectacle in audience involvement. Silver fox film auteur Vincent Prix (masterclown Deanna Fleysher) wants to make a new classic of American cinema, starring hot hero Dylan Thruster (LA's wild child Brooke Sciacca) and you. " * * * * Wonderfully sloppy to the point of falling apart at the seams" —Edmonton Journal. Expect egomaniacs, exploding seltzer, homoeroticism, and deep art. Ages 16+
Holy Fools Day Parade
Join us for Church of Clown's Third Annual Holy Fools Day Parade!
We shall gather and parade to celebrate the holiness that is silly, joy, and laughter. Don yourself in your most joyous clown threads and gather at The Church at 10am to prepare for a parade up to our local park. We will be easy to find, so if you're running late, just look up the block for the clowns bumbling their way up the street.
Post parade we’ll congregate for food and yummy potluck. Bring things to share!
See you there!
*Sold Out* Death to Realism
Death to Realism is a dance party, a puppet show and a mystical experience. It infuses positive energy and motivational concepts with magical thinking and comedy. It's an existential thought experiment about the ideas that you hold as true can often be holding you back, limiting you and keeping you from letting magic in. It's about breaking down those beliefs and getting outside of the box in your head.
*Sold Out* Death to Realism
Death to Realism is a dance party, a puppet show and a mystical experience. It infuses positive energy and motivational concepts with magical thinking and comedy. It's an existential thought experiment about the ideas that you hold as true can often be holding you back, limiting you and keeping you from letting magic in. It's about breaking down those beliefs and getting outside of the box in your head.
Brother Love's Good Time Gospel Hour
Brother Love returns with a brand new show full of outrageous teachings and song. Grab a tambourine and learn how to sin your way into Heaven and why you must let the Lord fill your (spiritual) holes. A sellout show at the Rogue Festival.
Butoh Clown
This workshop offers participants an opportunity to deepen, reconnect, refresh, expand your clown world.
seaMAN
A nautical nightmare of text and physical comedy centered around the outrageous stories and vengeful fantasies of one salty sailor against the entire ocean. Whether it’s dodging storms, combating scurvy, fighting a seagull, or displeasing a mermaid, Sea MAN seems to find trouble wherever he goes. What HAPPENED to him? Stuck in the past, drowning in the bottle, he is a broken man whose stories can hold you captive even as he steers you further from the safety of the harbor. He lies. He cheats. He’s a sea MAN.
Solo CreatureBack to All Events Double Feature
Two queer touring artists team up to present their solo shows on the same night! Come enjoy a night of entertainment like no other - a twisting meandering theatrical journey that spans the anatomical, the apocalyptic, and the whimsical. One ticket. Two shows. Catch them while you can!
Dirty Puppet Soirée
Come prepared for adult content, bring a puppet if you got one, and leave your purity at the door.
Clothing Swap
Dress up and play in a giant pile of clothes!!! All clothing and people welcome, not just clowns and costumes but regular clothes too :)
The Great Krampus Cookie Sacrifice
Join the Misfit Toys at the Church of Clown for the a festive ritual: The Great Krampus Cookie Sacrifice!
Flop Festival
Clowns and Queens, don your finest noses and break out your Sunday best, the Church of Clown is celebrating the beauty and frivolity of life with its inaugural Flop Festival. Spanning 8 weeks from September 15 - November 5 Flop Festival features an eclectic collection of Bay Area artists, movers, and dreamers.
Come commune with the sacred fools and loose yourself, if only for an evening, in the rapture of the ridiculous with any of the experimental and eccentric performances offered, or fully immerse yourself in the divine dance of the absurd with a full festival pass and become born anew in the fold of the fool.
The Church of Clown was founded to carry forth the eternal cause of the Clown, and to carry forward the light of laughter for a weary world. Join our cause, and find the salvation you seek at San Francisco’s newest Independent Clown Festival: Flop Fest every Friday, Saturday, Sunday evening at 8pm until November 5.
Check out our official Flop Festival Page or go straight to buying tickets!
As the World Rises and Falls
Performed by Foggy Notion Physical Theatre
Do you believe everything you see? Do you ever stop to question it? And how far will you go to preserve your illusions? As the World Rises and Falls follows the journey of two circus performers living in the tattered ruins of what used to be their glory days. Under the dilapidated big top we watch their reality unravel before our very eyes.
A live theater experience of psychedelic proportions, As the World Rises and Falls is a new devised work of physical theater told through the style of clown, sans the red nose. Brimming with infectious energy from start to finish, this piece is a kaleidoscope of acrobatic embodiment, spectacle, and straight up stupidity! Prepare yourselves for the strange, absurd, and daringly delicious. These clowns are ready to do whatever it takes to preserve their way of life.
Clown Summer Intensive
Summer Clown Intensive! This course is intended for performers and non performers of all varieties who wish to develop greater physical vocabulary and explore how they are uniquely funny.
After the End - Staring Nikolas Strubbe
“After The End” is an original piece of theatre, featuring: rubbish puppets, hungry tricksters, and the end of the world…
After a cataclysm, a survivor questions what it means to keep living, when community, language, and normalcy are gone. This lonely scavenger shares the shadows of a world gone dark, unearthing stories and new friends in unexpected places. Combining trickster mythology, post-apocalyptic imagery, and surreal comedy, “After The End” explores the place of storytelling in dealing with the loss of a shared reality. If nothing were permanent (except for plastic and our imaginations), who would we become? “After The End” is an irreverent dark comedy for anyone who has had to leave their world behind and start again.
(Non-verbal, suitable for all ages.)
Created and performed by Nikolas Strubbe
Scenography: Nikolas Strubbe and Nikolas Stocker
Special Thanks: Matilda Fatur
Lighting, Photography, Design, Existential Panic, and Animal Noises: Nikolas Strubbe
Youth Circus
Flying Onion Youth Circus Summer Camp! Aerial arts, acrobatics, clown, theater and more! Sign up today!
Miss American Dream Show
Blanca Fiberton delivers unpopular truths in The Miss American Dream Show. Taxes, infomercials and snacks. Everything America loves, Fiberton serves it up with satire and physical comedy. Remember when television was educational after school? Start to learn again with Miss American Dream. You won’t even want to tune out for the ads.
Written and performed by Sierra Camille and Directed by Dan Griffiths, The Miss American Dream show was birthed at ClownLab SF in 2019
