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CLOWN & BUFFOON Playful Performance and Training
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What Is Clown Training?
Clown & Buffoon at The Humanist Project is an immersive performance and training experience, designed for actors, movers, and creative performers eager to explore play, physical theater, and embodied comedy. Whether you’re seeking foundational Clown training, advanced play-based performance techniques, or the bold expression of Bufoon, our approach to Clown offers insight into joyful, experimental practice grounded in laughter, curiosity, and human connection.
Join our next Clown & Buffoon workshops and classes in New York City.
Join our next Clown & Buffoon workshops and classes in New York City.
Clown With Michael F. Toomey
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"I have taught Clown all over the country.
I performed as a clown in hundreds of shows and created shows called Clown shows. I confess. I don’t know if what I do is Clown. I don’t know if what I teach is Clown. There is a huge debate going on in the Clown world about what is Clown and what is not. Imagine a bunch of Clowns arguing about what Clown is. I Don’t Care. What I do care about is: Does it make us laugh? Does it move us to tears? Does it reveal something about the human condition?" - Michael F. Toomey Michael’s approach to Clown is accessible to students and performers of all ages. From a four-hour introduction to a full-weekend immersion in Clown technique, Michael’s teaching will give you the tools to fail gloriously—and get back up again.
Michael teaches Clowning for Actors, Movers, Performers and Creators in New York City, the world renowned Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA and in Universities and cities around the country. |
Workshops & Classes in NYC
From four-hour intro sessions to weekend intensives and specialized buffoon workshops, The Humanist Project hosts a range of performance training opportunities in New York City that support artists at every level of experience. Whether you’re curious about clown technique, physical comedy, or ensemble play, our classes emphasize presence, pleasure, and performative risk.
Ready to step into play, risk, and laughter? Our NYC clown and buffoon workshops are open to performers of all levels. |
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BUFFOON
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What is Buffoon?
The Buffoons exist outside society. They see the world from the margins, viewing our culture, traditions, and institutions with an outsider’s eye. They delight in mocking power, poking at the untouchable, and exposing the absurdity of the sacred. - Pleasure: The Buffoon thrives in the realm of taboo, reveling in what we are told not to say, see, or touch. - Full-Body Mask: The physical transformation of padding and movement opens new dimensions of expression and embodiment. - The Sacred and the Profane: Buffoons mock the powerful, turning authority, tradition, and social norms upside down. Find laughter, transgression, and a powerful new approach to performance. |
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Enter the World of the Buffoon
Are you ready to step outside the boundaries of society and explore the world from the perspective of the outcast, the forgotten, and the invisible? For years, Michael F. Toomey has taught Buffoon as part of the Monthlong Intensive at Shakespeare & Company. Now, due to high demand, he is bringing his Buffoon training to NYC in an intensive workshop—a space of great freedom, pleasure, and, as some say, madness. This is a rare opportunity to dive into the profound world of Buffoon, where the sacred and the profane collide, and where laughter, mockery, and transgression reign. |