What’s happening?
Mask Making
Join us for a week long study and maskmaking. This summer, Jamin and Dan will be offering 12 students and opportunity to learn how to cast the human face, sculpt and cast neoprene Clown nose, and sculpt and cast a neoprene mask. Education will be hands-on. Some sculpting experience preferred but not mandatory fee will cover instruction and materials needed.
The Cure Ate Her
Step into the absurd world of Molly McLean’s art museum as she gives you an idiotic, ahistorical tour.
An Evening with Bob Baker Marionette Theater
Join Bob Baker Marionette Theater for a special evening featuring a live marionette performance and conversation exploring the Theater's rich history, creative process, and enduring legacy. Since 1963, BBMT has inspired generations with handcrafted puppetry, immersive storytelling, and joyful performances. While proudly rooted in Los Angeles, the Theater is excited to bring a bit of that magic to the Bay Area for this intimate gathering at Church of Clown.
Out With It
In this wild and lyrical piece of puppetry-infused physical theater, a fastidious clown takes on the forces of chaos. In a collision of movement, clown, and found-object puppetry, OUT WITH IT unpacks the rough and tender realities of holding things in and letting things go.
Oddities in Action
Uncover the extraordinary potential of every day objects to be your best creative partners. Dig into the fundamentals of puppetry, stock up on some devising tools & come away with an original found-object puppet show!
Clown Burlesque Extravaganza Cabaret
Don your glitter, eyeliner, and facepaint for an evening to remember- clowns teasing your deepest primal desires with belly-aching laughs and magnetic sensuality. Bon-apetit!
Clown 1 Fall 2026
Clown I: Presence, Play, and the Generous Spirit
In this 10-week introduction to Clown, students explore the essential elements of performing for a live audience.
Core Concepts: Character • Presence • Connection • Discovery • Delight • Generosity of Spirit
Instructor
Dan Griffiths
Clown 2 Fall 2026
Clown II: Physical Comedy and the Architecture of Laughter
This 10-week intermediate course deepens the performer’s understanding of Clown through the language of the body. Students will refine their sense of timing, physicality, and spatial awareness, exploring how physical design and movement create comic rhythm and dramatic tension. We will construct bits, play with objects, and investigate the visual structure of comedy. Through physical improvisation and rehearsal, students will build skills in comedic form, movement precision, and ensemble play.
Instructor
Dan Griffiths
Clown 3 Fall 2026
In this advanced 10-week course, Clown steps beyond the nose into the realms of satire, ritual, and ensemble creation. Students will explore clown as social commentary — using humor, absurdity, and vulnerability to reveal deeper human and cultural truths.
Instructor
Dan Griffiths
Mime 1 Fall 2026
This class will focus on the rigorous art of storytelling through mime. Using techniques from Lecoq, Decroux, Donlon, and more, students will craft a balance of tension and relaxation while growing a physical, mimetic vocabulary that captivates an audience with a magnetic presence.
Instructor
Jamin Jollo
Improvisation for Clowns (4 weeks)
Clowning teaches many great skills. Improv teaches many great skills. Both have a lot of overlap. This 4-week course takes a deep dive into the skills taught by improvisation that aren’t typically covered in clown courses.
Physics of Play (1 day)
This 3 hour masterclass explores the physics of play—the nuts and bolts of physical presence, attention, and playfulness - and how to use it to create aliveness in a room. Rooted in the principles of clown and physical comedy, you'll learn the foundational mechanics of comedy: physical authenticity, beginning comedic timing, structures for stage-play, and how the clown's relational awareness—connecting to scene partner, audience, space, and self—generates authentic comedy and compelling performance.
Mother Boswick
An Evening of Guidance & Poor Decisions
Mother Boswick is a 121-year-old advice-giving widow from the tiny hamlet of Squinch Hollow (nestled between Oregon, Texas, Nebraska, and New Hampshire, directly under the ozone hole), with 14 dead husbands and no filter. She tells tales of local characters and dispenses questionable wisdom and unique astrological advice.
PLAYFUL CLOWN
Come play! This workshop is an invitation to reconnect with your curiosity, imagination, and sense of fun. Through games, movement, improvisation, and red nose clowning, we’ll explore what happens when we let go of trying to be perfect and allow ourselves to be fully present.
THE ART OF MIME
Step into the invisible world of mime! In this playful and hands-on workshop, we’ll explore the fundamentals of mime technique while bringing stories to life.
Clown Jam
Got a show coming up and want feedback? Craving an audience? Have a new idea you want to test? Want to develop something but don't know where to start?
Bring it to Clown Jam—a space for physical theater makers to express and develop ideas, characters, and bits in front of others. No idea yet? Even better. Come ready to play and see what emerges.
Clown Drawing
Calling all visual artists! Join us at Church of clown for drawing sessions with live clown models! Bring your own materials.
Every third Sunday of the month
Mother Boswick
An Evening of Guidance & Poor Decisions
Mother Boswick is a 121-year-old advice-giving widow from the tiny hamlet of Squinch Hollow (nestled between Oregon, Texas, Nebraska, and New Hampshire, directly under the ozone hole), with 14 dead husbands and no filter. She tells tales of local characters and dispenses questionable wisdom and unique astrological advice.
The Invisible World
The Invisible World is a five-day exploration of the body as an instrument of perception, imagination, and resistance. Through mime, students learn to give form to invisible forces—objects, memories, relationships, atmospheres, and stories—using the oldest theatrical tool we possess: the human body. Suitable for all levels!
Clown Crash Course
Learn classic clown acts and create your own routines in this one-day crash course in clowning. We will focus on performing with cartoony physicality and clear beats, preparing students to clown in the circus ring and on variety stages.
Flocking, Mocking & Madness: Bouffon with Eric Davis/ Red Bastard
The World laughs at the Clown, but the Bouffons laugh at the World! Unleash your inner Bouffon in an explosion of fun and comedy gold.
Commedia dell’arte
Commedia dell’arte is a highly physical 16th Century Italian theatre form based in stock characters and improvised scenarios. Learn the building blocks of comedic structure and relationships through character movements, building lazzi (rehearsed bits of comedy), and ensemble play.
Clown Jam
Got a show coming up and want feedback? Craving an audience? Have a new idea you want to test? Want to develop something but don't know where to start?
Bring it to Clown Jam—a space for physical theater makers to express and develop ideas, characters, and bits in front of others. No idea yet? Even better. Come ready to play and see what emerges.
Clown Jam
Got a show coming up and want feedback? Craving an audience? Have a new idea you want to test? Want to develop something but don't know where to start?
Bring it to Clown Jam—a space for physical theater makers to express and develop ideas, characters, and bits in front of others. No idea yet? Even better. Come ready to play and see what emerges.
Clown Drawing
Calling all visual artists! Join us at Church of clown for drawing sessions with live clown models! Bring your own materials.
Every third Sunday of the month
Mime with Dan
Mime is the invisible art — the art of making the unseen seen, of conjuring worlds from empty space and a body in motion.
Physical Comedy with Nick Dickson
Learn to tells stories primarily through bodily movement, gesture, and expression rather than relying entirely on spoken dialogue
Clowncubator
The World's Smallest Mask - The World’s Biggest Stage
Through the Nose with Dan Griffiths
Stage Combat
Don your cuffs and armor- we’re headed to battle!
Build up your actor’s toolbox- in this 3 hour intensive, certified fight coordinator Jamin Jollo leads a journey of storytelling through combat. In this class, you’ll learn to beat up your peers- safely!- using professionally recognized combat techniques with skills and language allowing you to develop your own fight scenes.
Clownprov
This workshop is intended for clowns who could benefit from building more spontaneity, presence, and listening skills and improvisers who could benefit from building some more physical character and play skills.Things we’ll cover include: spontaneity, listening, storytelling, making strong physical choices, and failing cheerfully.
Ughmerica the Beautiful Cabaret
It's the semiquincentennial!!! Calling all clowns, fools, agitators, mimes, dancers, drag artists, and chaotic patriots!
DIY Circus with Frisco Fred
For a great show Frisco Fred needs your help! He needs guest stars (kids and grown ups too!) to help on stage to make the amazing magic and circus stunts happen. See you there!
Clown Jam
Got a show coming up and want feedback? Craving an audience? Have a new idea you want to test? Want to develop something but don't know where to start?
Bring it to Clown Jam—a space for physical theater makers to express and develop ideas, characters, and bits in front of others. No idea yet? Even better. Come ready to play and see what emerges.
Clown Drawing
Calling all visual artists! Join us at Church of clown for drawing sessions with live clown models! Bring your own materials.
Every third Sunday of the month
“Be Good!”
The mildest man imaginable stumbles into a room full of the most strangers he’s ever seen, and he doesn’t know whether to panic or mingle—so he does both. A good night for anyone who wants to scream at a polite person.
Help Me!!!!
THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE HERE! A DEAD MIME NEEDS HELP. The audience must help a family of ghosts complete their unfinished business. Play charades, solve puzzles and pierce the veil between life and death on a madcap quest for forbidden knowledge.
Shakespeare’s Fools with Jamin Jollo
In this physical acting class, students will excavate the gamut of Shakespearean Clowns, Fools, and Mythic Entities.
2026 Spring Student Showcase
Spring Student Showcase - Clown 1, Clown 2 + Buffoon
Directed by Dan Griffiths
Friday + Saturday, June 12 & 13
Doors at 7:30pm / Show at 8:00pm
$10
Mime, Mask and Movement
In a four-week intensive exploration of movement for performers, Mime and Mask instructor Jamin Jollo guides students through classical mime technique and games to inspire and explore each student’s path of creation
The Fantasy Mis-Adventures of Short Sword and Long Bow
Looking for a fantasy adventure with a sharp edge and a sharper sense of humor?
The Mis-Adventure of Short Sword and Long Bow delivers classic Dungeons & Dragons-style thrills—packed with oddball characters, unpredictable magic, and glorious mayhem.
PAST EVENTS
PAST EVENTS
