I feel most effective as a caring clown when
a patient/nursing home resident interacts with me.

Meisner technique acting classes have intensified my ability to focus on the person with whom I'm interacting. In class, I did repetition exercises with a partner where all I did was respond to my partner's reactions to my responses.

Improvisation classes have taught me, not only to work as part of an ensemble, but also to use anything I see as a stimulus off of which to work. Responding to my scene partner and always finding a way to agree is part of the improv technique.

The application to clowning of the techniques I learned in these classes has been very effective, whether I clown solo, or as part of a troupe.


Clown Dode is never acting. She is always herself, in clown brain; seeing through a clown's eyes and reacting as her clown brain perceives the moment. It can be a silly moment that calls for a silly response, or it can be a warm or somber moment that calls for a hug or a pat on the hand.

My training in acting and improvisation lets me clown without props (I do use props but it's nice not to be dependant on them) and not worry about what to do next, no matter what response I get.

I recommend improvisation classes to all clowns. I don't know that scene study classes benefit clowning, but Meisner (which gets pretty intense) technique classes do.

I'd like to hear about other techniques that clowns have found helpful.

[This message was edited by Clown Dode on February 12, 2003 at 07:21 AM.]

Dode,
First, I want to thank you for all your helpful posts. I feel lucky to have seen you in action on the clown trip to Mexico. My favorite Clown Dode moment was when we were riding on the city bus and, after asking permission to dust off a man's shoulder and getting a very warm response, you sat down next to him and went to sleep on his shoulder.

Like you, I found that improvisional classes helped me in my clown training. One of my worries about becoming a clown was that I am not a "quick thinker." I have a slow, sit-on the-porch-and-drink-lemonade style. All my life I've been a "ponderer." I worried that when I entered a hospital room, I wouldn't be able to "think fast" and come up with the right thing to say or do. Improv class forced me to be in situations where I had to respond to a partner or a situation, on the spot. And guess what, practice helps. Also, I discovered I'm not slow; it was lack of confidence that was holding me back, a mind set that I'd been carrying around probably since childhood.

Thanks for addressing this topic, Dode.

Love, Heart Throb

One evening, on the streets of Mexico, Heart Throb and I decided to clown without props. Heart Throb went up to a person, smiled, put out her hand and said, "hola". Then she reacted to however they reacted. People loved her.

There were no hysterical moments. There were some silly moments. There were mostly warm human interactions. What can be better than that?

My heart is singing to you Heart Throb.

Love and hugs...

Improv training is very helpful in knowing what to do when your "subject" says something that throws you.

I play a game with the kids in the hospital that uses 3 plastic frogs. Recently, when I showed the kids (patient and vistors) the frogs, a little girl yelled, "Those frogs are not real!"

I immediately said,"Of course these frogs are not real! If I used real frogs, they'd jump allo around the hospital and I'd get in trouble. These are magic clown frogs..."

And the kids were giggling and we kept playing.

This is a direct application of improv. I don't want to sound like I'm on a bandwagon, but I believe that improv is the best clown training there is.

My recent flight from Chicago to Orlando was delayed due to weather. Of course, we were already on the plane when the announcement came, so we spent 4 hours rather than 2-1/2
hours on the plane.

I was seated in a row of three with a family; father, mother, and 2 year old Ryan sitting next to me on daddy's lap. Ryan was a well behaived child, but 4 hours on a plane is not fun for me, let alone a 2 year old. Of course Ryan was intermittently fussy.

My only clown attire was a clown flower pinned to my sunhat. I did not have a clown prop or anything I could use as a clown prop, but I became a clown.

My fluttering fingers became eveything imaginable from a feather duster to a kamikaze airplane. Ryan was entranced.

Shortly before we landed, Ryan fell asleep. I pinned the clown flower from my sunhat to Ryan's shirt, and when the plane landed, bid his grateful parents farewell. My only regret was that I wasn't a mouse who could watch Ryan wake up and find the flower.

Improv; it works every time.

Having worked with the oncology program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago) and been invited to start a clown troupe, Clown Dode became Dr. Dode.

The nurses on one of the wards kept calling me Dr. Clown. Dr. Dode became Dr. Dode Clowne and, like any doctor, is addressed by surname, Dr. Clowne.

Being Clown Dode is very important to me. My mother's name was Dode and I credit her with raising me to think like a clown, so my clown name was chosen in her memory and my clowning is a testament to her.

Being embraced by the nurses is terrific, and I feel it's important to adapt to their way of including me and not impose my personal agenda.

Going with the flow is improv. It enhances eveything I do as a clown.

[This message was edited by Clown Dode/Dr. Clowne on June 29, 2003 at 06:17 AM.]