Adult Classes & Workshops
Drea’s Clown Lab Workshop
Kick off with playful games, dive into the psychology of comedy, creativity, and connection, then wrap up with low-pressure, hands-on stage experiments. Perfect for aspiring clowns, comedians, improvisers, teachers, facilitators, hosts—or anyone who wants to bring more humor, curiosity, and authenticity to the stage and beyond. Come ready to play, laugh, and explore what it means to be unapologetically human!
Clown & the Animate World
Step into the playful, unpredictable, and joyfully chaotic world of clowning! This workshop explores the profound connection between the clown’s body and the animate world around them. Through the lenses of physical comedy, slapstick, knockabout, and prop play, participants will discover how to transform simple actions into moments of hilarity.
Clown Spring 2025
Explore the art and technique of clown in a 10 week classes instructed by master clown Dan Griffiths.
Mask Spring 2025
Explore the complexities of character and physicality in MASK. Learn to power your play through the swing of the mask and giving yourself to the appetites of the muse. Learn to hold space for what may come through in your exploration and learn to develop it using half mask and amplified noses inspired by the timeless archetypes handed down through the lineage of the European masters. Combine CLOWN, MIME, and IMPROVISO to bring the mask to life in a safe and fun exploration. Class limit 12.
Mime Spring 2025
Explore the art and technique of mime, 10 week intensive with instructors Eric Wilcox.
Mime Flow Workshop
Unlock the next level of mime artistry with Mime Flow, a workshop designed for intermediate and advanced practitioners seeking to refine their imagery and integrate written constructs into their performance. This immersive experience explores the symbiotic relationship between physical movement and narrative design, emphasizing transformational flow, line design, and dynamic expression.
Beyond the Fourth Wall
The clown's relationship to the audience is at the heart of what makes this theatrical style vibrant and powerful. Audience participation and interaction is rarely focused on in clown training and this element of performance is so valued when well done. Oftentimes audience engagement is under rehearsed because it is hard to simulate. In this workshop we will explore techniques, methodology and practical skills of working with audience participants, creating interactive characters and creating effective gags, games and bits that use the audience as partners in your performance.
Mime Master class with James Donlon
Discover the fundamentals of Neo-classic Mime taught by master teacher James Donlon. Explore gesture, energy, form, improvisation, and poetic illusion through introductory exercises inspired by James’ 50 years of international performance and teaching. James was the founder of San Francisco's iconic Flying Actor Studio which trained many physical theater performances you've seen in Flop Fest! Molly M Shannon and Nikolas Strubbe included.
Come for the workshop, head to 7 mile house for dinner, and come back for Donlon’s show at 8pm.
Summer Intensive: Mime
A Mime Intensive with Eric Wilcox
When: August 5 - 9
Where: Church of Clown 2400 Bayshore Boulevard
Time: Mon - Fri / 7 - 9
Fee: $ 350
Learn to sharpen and wield your physical and emotional presence using techniques handed down from masters in the field. Performers and non-performers alike will sharpen not only their technical mime skills but also their ability to infuse performances with imagination and dynamics. Compose imagery with clarity and economy! Discover isolations, rotations, inclinations, stops, impulses, and playwriting techniques.
Summer Intensive: Invention and Expression
A Clown Workshop with Dan Griffiths
Dates: August 2 - 4
Time: Friday 7-9 / Saturday 10 - 3 / Sunday 10 -3
Fee: $ 175
In this 3 day workshop you will explore the generation of a playful spirit and the will to delight an audience. Learn to develop your impulse and to find reciprocity with an audience via humor and spontaneity. Our focus is on honesty, generosity, invention, expression, state of play, and the creation of new work.
Summer Intensive: Fearless Devotion to Play
A Clown Workshop with Dan Griffiths
When: July 22 - 26
Where: Church of Clown 2400 Bayshore Boulevard
Time: Mon - Fri / 7 - 9
Fee: $ 350
Discover the Clown. What does it mean to be funny? In this workshop students will explore various points of departure: generosity, wonder, resilience, and timing toward the generation of a playful spirit and the will to delight an audience. You will be asked to delve into specific aspects of imagination, physical comedy, character, and improvisation in order to ready yourself for a kind of fearless devotion to play.
Summer Intensive: Bouffon Workshop
A Bouffon Workshop with Eric Wilcox and Dan Griffiths
When: July 19-21
Where: Church of Clown 2400 Bayshore Boulevard, San Francisco
Time: Friday 7-9pm / Saturday & Sunday 12-5
Fee: $ 350
The focus of this workshop is the creation of original elemental characters that live to parody and satire-ize the audience, each other and society at large. Can you mimic, tease, and mock with nuance and grace? Can you infuse humor, lightness, and beauty into your performance? Can you perform satire of the grotesque without becoming too heavy or losing your charm?
Join us for an immersive Bouffon workshop where you will explore the dark, satirical world of this unique performance style. Bouffon, rooted in medieval French theatre, pushes the boundaries of traditional clowning by merging grotesque physicality with sharp social commentary. This workshop is designed for performers of all levels who are eager to dive into a provocative and transformative theatrical experience.
What’s So Funny?
Trying to be funny isn’t very funny. But oh my word is it funny to be authentic. The clown, above all, seeks to be one hundred percent purely, authentically (even overly and embarrassingly) committed to the truth in the moment. And hence, the ha-ha.
In this clown workshop, explore how chasing beauty, depth and vulnerability on stage can lead to comedy on a level that hits harder than you could have ever imagined. Find the funny through the not-so-funny and be amazed by the hilarity in being exactly who you are.
We will use writing and performance prompts and exercises designed to reveal and break down beliefs about what is and isn’t funny, what should and shouldn’t be shown on stage, and what is and isn’t the fourth wall. The clown doesn’t adhere to (or even understand) the societal constructs around us, so embodying our clowns gives us permission to dissolve made-up rules and connect with ourselves and the audience to find the ha-ha and boo-hoo in truly profound ways.
A safe (but deep) dive into the parts we don’t want to show, where we can find the power of clowning, guided by Claire Woolner and John Norris (award-winning absurdist comedian/clowns who have earned their accolades by crying on stage so much that the audience laughs and bewildering the audience into fits of snorting hysteria, respectively.
There is no pressure to be, do or make anything funny and no prior clowning experience is required–we will just explore the depths and see where they lead. But my gut tells me we’re gonna find some pretty absurdly hilarious shit.
The Path of the Clown
Workshop: In this workshop, we will explore the physical attributes of your personal clown characteristics. The class consists of a neutral body exploration and physical movement exercises designed to help the student develop their personal clown through their own physically natural movements. We look deep within to discover the masks we wear, then strip them away to the best of our ability to rediscover our authentic selves. This workshop is intended to challenge the preconceived notions we have of what makes us funny. Later this year Faeble will leave to tour in Germany, so don't miss your chance to study with this international performer & instructor!
Prerequisites: This workshop is meant for all levels: beginners through to professionals, although some experience in physical clowning is helpful it is not required. You will need some ability to be physically active.
Instructor: Faeble Kievman is a clown, circus artist, physical comedian, teacher, and all around weirdly wonderful human. Faeble has worked as a stunt actor on TV, worked many years in social and humanitarian circuses such as: The Big Underwear Social Tour through Mexico & Central America, and Clown Without Borders. Faeble now runs their own Social Circus: Big Heart Circus. Faeble makes humans laugh and learn all over this planet.
Notable tours & credits: The China Wuqiao International Circus Festival, Circus Zoppe, The New Pickle Circus, Sardine Family Circus, Circus Bella in Japan, Cirque Starlight in Switzerland, A.C.T., Acrobatic Conundrum, Flynn Creek Circus, Krystalpalst Variety, Cirque du Soleil, Freidrichsbau Variete.
Mime (Winter)
Explore the art and technique of mime, 10 week intensive with instructors Eric Wilcox.
Mime Intensive
Explore the art and technique of mime in this one week intensive with instructors Dan Griffiths and Stephen Chipps.
Clown Intensive
Explore the art and technique of clown 1 week intensive with instructors Dan Griffiths and Dana Merwin.
Clown + Mime Class
Every Tuesday, April 4 - June 6. Explore the art and technique of clown and mime in this 10-week study with Dan Griffiths, Church of Clown founder.
Improvisation
Every Wednesday, April 12-June 5. Explore the craft of improvisation in this 10-week class instructed by veteran Bay Area improviser Craig Gaspian.
