Darien DeVries

Okay! Time to dust off this site and start anew!

— My update/confession —

The past year and a half have been both enlightening as well as frustrating in some respects. My graduation from the Clown Conservatory in June 2010 was followed by a very melancholy summer in which I pondered continuing onward for the second year program. There were advantages as well as drawbacks to such a scheme , though more of the latter were on my mind. As recommendation for this plan, I would be able to continue my physical training as well as develop my solo show into something to really market. The downsides: I was the only one of my classmates who was interested in the program, meaning I wouldn’t really have a buddy for motivation; there was little in the way of financial aid and I had not been able to secure employment in the Bay Area; my gracious host for housing had moved an hour south of the school and while still very much my friend, was eager to be without roommates. In addition to these, mostly financial, concerns, the director of the school, with whom I very much wanted to continue study, stepped down from his position and would unavailable for me to do as such.

I also missed all of my friends in socal terribly and so when a tax return appeared that would cover expenses to move into a house in north OC with some good friends, I eagerly made the transition back.  Shortly thereafter, I was hired on as the Public Relations Assistant for the Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire.  Day to day office work, while for a company I cared for, left me too drained at the end of the day for training. Not to say that the work wasn’t fulfilling, but I couldn’t help feeling that exerting such mental energy in helping the staff run this event left me unable to pursue my physical training as  I would have liked to. This, of course, is my own fault. No one stopped me — if I really wanted to train, I would certainly have done so, despite the fatigue.

Also, during 2011, I found that there was something amiss with my body, other than lack of rigorous exercise.  I found myself feeling nauseous at random times, with no real idea of what food had been the culprit. I retained weight in places on my body where I never have before. This both baffled and depressed me. I felt no control over it. I didn’t feel at home in my skin. I didn’t feel like me.

I also felt a loss of control in my performing career. Through ORPF, I landed a commercial, which was great. But my duties in the office and on faire site as a liaison for media prevented me from continuing to develop my solo mime show that I had performed at faire in 2010. Still performing with the Merry Wives, I had a creative and performing outlet, but I was not moving forward in the way of supporting myself as a performer. I didn’t have the confidence to market myself as an  act.

July 2011, I accepted a gig as a clown for a friend’s church picnic. I worked on revamping my solo mime show, making it appropriate for small children. It felt good to put on my clown face and costume – even if the costume fit a little tighter than previously. I had a wonderful time interacting with the picnic-goers as a clown and having fun with them one on one.

The Northern California Renaissance Faire, San Luis Obispo Renaissance Faire, and the Charles Dickens Christmas Faire have come and gone and I have performed or worked these with great spirit singing with the Merry Wives of Windsor or by being a true barmaid behind an alestand counter. I feel that musically, I’m growing as far as my voice and my fiddle playing are concerned. But I would like to train for acrobatics, dance, and body awareness once again, to really up my game.

In answer to the yearnings of my mind and body, I have begun training again at my house. Stretches, shoulder rolls, handstands, cartwheels, even some aerial tissue as my roommate permits. Funny, the exercise helps not only quicken my body, but my mind.  My memory improves with physical activity.

My current search is for a training partner to help keep me motivated and a space with crash mats where I can work on doing front handsprings in a safe environment. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

So this past weekend was full of performing, which makes me very very happy.

Saturday – Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt! Very fun event organized by sftreasurehunts.com  This event has a lot of devoted return attendees who go the extra mile to come up with a really creative name for their treasure hunt team (there is a contest for the best team name) as well as a theme for their team (for which there is also a contest – Scooby Who totally took the prize on this one!).

At first, we Clown Conservatory folks helped set up tables, cones, and signs to direct the participants to the box office, will-call, and information tents.  Then we got dressed in our makeup and costumes and headed out to entertain the finely clad treasure hunters.  We also collected the door prize tickets. Arleth was highly visible on her stilts, making her the most obvious candidate for collecting these. Two of my other classmates were highly amusing doing a close walk – one person walking very closely behind another, mimicking their gait exactly. I kept myself busy being pedantic with the people in line for the box office, instructing them to keep the line perfectly straight as it was more geometrically pleasing to me.  After a nice break wherein the organizers provided us tasty sandwiches, we broke down the signs and tables for the box office and will-call, and prepared to greet the teams as they excitedly returned with their completed treasure hunt sheet. There was less room for character work at this junction as we had to hurriedly shout instructions to the returning teams so they wouldn’t simply mob the return table.

All in all, a fun day. Very tiring since I walked on concrete all day but I

must admit I really enjoyed keeping my makeup and costume on while traveling home on the BART. Clowns in unusual places, especially those wearing teeny tiny hat, make strangers smile.

A teeny tiny hat is very important.

Monday, I once again performed at the Clown Cabaret at the Climate Theater at 9th and Folsom in San Francisco. This was the All Women Clown Cabaret.  Several of my classmates and I performed some of our entrees we’d prepared for our school show a few weeks back. I really liked having a new audience to perform in front of – clowns really need to be in front of an audience as much as possible and I miss the renaissance faire for this reason, among others. One classmate also performed a brilliant monologue that she’d written, and was lauded for her words as well as the performance – she constantly impresses me. We were also very fortunate to have in the lineup the beautiful ladies of Pi – the physical comedy troupe, Pino the Clown – former Cirque du Soleil and Pickle Family Circus clown, and Michelle Matlock – a clown currently in the Cirque du Soleil touring show, Ovo. Pi performed a clown version of a quick-change act, Pino did an act with her dogs, and Michelle performed a hilarious monologue.

Best of all, we sold out both shows!

Thanks to those very talented ladies whom I’m proud to call my peers.

Well today is all about getting things done and I should really start with a VERY long overdue blog post.

I make a vow right now to post something at least every week, even if it’s short and sweet. Now to catch you up…

Synopsis:

The first term at the Clown Conservatory was fun and trying. There’s the physical challenge, of course, (although I wake up much less sore these days – oh noes, I need more training!) but the emotional impact is pretty significant as well. It is not as easy as you might think to open up, say YES to everything, and to be vulnerable. Vulnerable in the character you present as a clown, but also full of knowledge that what you experiment in your performing work may FAIL utterly in front of an audience. Or that it may only slightly not work and you only have one show in front of an audience so you don’t quite know what didn’t work or how to fix it and isn’t that frustrating?!

Ahem.

While I’ve seen a bit of Commedia Del’Arte and have a basic understanding of the archetypes, we explored it in more depth and I would like more time to study it still. Commedia was rather challenging for me. Mask work in general was very challenging for me. While I feel connected to my body (now, more than ever, that’s for sure!) I still never felt while working with the masks that I was fully able to communicate all I could without use of my face. I played Arlecchino and while I am fairly certain I mastered the walk and overall movement of Arlecchino,  I never felt like I  quite achieved the full character in order to verbally inhabit Arlecchino completely.

Accomplishments:

• My juggling skills have increased 50 fold. I can juggle two balls in one hand and can do several 3 ball tricks. On to clubs!
• I can balance a pool cue on my chin, nose, and forehead for about 30 seconds consistently. Working on shorter dowels.
• Ballet has given me much better balance. I can stand on one foot easily, and can hold in fifth position releve quite well. My posture has improved and I feel that my overall stance is stronger.
• My tumbling has vastly improved – shoulder rolls come easily, cartwheels are stronger – and I can do them on my non-dominant side, I’m on my way to doing a handspring, my arch is more flexible, and I’m only 1 1/2-2 inches from the floor in front/back splits and 3 in a straddle split.
• My ability to open up and improvise has increased, and I feel comfortable once again doing improv acting.

Since the beginning of the year, we have had one show, featuring clown entrees. These are scenes between two or more clowns, although sometimes they are solo with the clown partnering with the audience, that use a general framework for story and outcome, but allow the individual clowns to decide the dialogue, blocking, etc. Entrees challenged me quite a bit and I was concerned that I would not be able to make the two I participated in work for me. I wanted it to be engaging and funny – but most of all, something that connected with the audience. Finally, it clicked for me, leading me to the following revelation:

I don’t have to throw out my former career to be a clown.

I was so happy to escape a life in an office, turning people into numbers that I forgot that that sort of position or status is *exactly* the type of person my clown character could be! The day before our clown entree performance, I worked with my partner to re-envision our entree, Little Bee, with me as a *Career Placement Advisor* !!  (yes, you folks from my CDS past, I DID use the word ‘placement’! I thumb my red nose at your industry taboo word!) This new look at my clown character also helped me put together some fun walk-around business for pre-show, interviewing audience members for ridiculous jobs, mostly animals.

“ah, I see you are here for the wasp position. exactly what is the measurement of your stinger?”

=D

Clown Projects on the Horizon:

• Juggling to music for Core Clowning class
• Circus skills routine for Circus Skills class (if the juggling to music works out, I may use this for both)
• Duck vs Hunter partner routine for Mime class
• Monday, March 1st, Perform clown entree, Dollar Bill, at the Climate Theater in the ALL WOMEN CLOWN CABARET

Now for the official plug:

ALL WOMEN CLOWN CABARET!

Come to the Climate Theater at 285 9th Street at Folsom in San Francisco – Monday March 1st at 7 or at 9!
Get your ticket in advance for only $10  or $15 at the door if they aren’t sold out already!

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/98829

I’M HERE!! Kudos to Don for the packing and driving with me.  What a saint!

Happy to be settling in. I cannot thank enough my welcome wagon for making sure that I felt all loved upon arrival.  Not only is my gracious host allowing me occupation of his spare bedroom and use of the whole house, but he’s totally fun and has the house stocked with delicious boozy goodness. Many thanks to John & Kristen for helping me unload the heavy stuff from the truck and get it into my room. And I must say that my room is looking pretty spiffy and has become a cozy Darien den! Now to get the other stuff I won’t use so much out of everyone’s way.

In a few days I will be off to Reno to spend time with dear friends before Burning Man. This year it’s really a wonderful gateway to the new dimension of my life. I think it will spark some creativity before attending the Conservatory. It is also where I will be meeting up with Arleth before we *BOTH* start school! We shall shenanigan like  no shenanigan has ever there shenaniganed!!

And let the zany adventures begin! My awesome friend Quinn took me out with her last night to some pubs and aside from some jackassery, a good time was had by all. We saw a cool band, danced, and had some philosophical conversation with a slurry drunk Irishman named Seamus (Shamis?).  The evening finished off with In-N-Out Burger. Om nom nom!! Hooray for a fun girls night out!

I have been receiving lots of mail  from the Clown Conservatory with different interesting things to read and contact info for my fellow classmates. And class starts in
2/12 weeks!! OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! I can’t wait!! eeeeeeeeeee!!!!

After showing my DVD to a few friends and coworkers, it has become evident that: we done good! Another wonderful friend turned one of my headshots into a cover sheet for everything, and I prepared to take care of the last bits of business. Upon speaking with the representative from the Clown Conservatory, it is just fine that my audition package arrive on Monday.

I had some fun figuring out how to package all my materials. Here I was thinking I would have to find some kind of report folder and add sheet protectors and put this whole shebang together. But the presentation gods left me a gift at CVS: a presentation folder with built in sheet protector pages and a spot in the cover for an insertion. Brilliant! With almost the exact number of pages as I have materials! What could be more perfect than that? Okay, built in pockets for a DVD would be nice but a DVD envelope and a glue stick did just the trick.

I admired my work for a few seconds and even showed it off to the folks at Kinkos. Then into a 2-day mailer it went and it is on its way to San Francisco.

Woot! High five for me.

I will post updates after this weekend as the CC rep said she would let me know when they receive the package.

‘Til next time!

My DVD is finished. Many thanks to Jon for filming and editing. What a fantastic job — I love it! I think it captures who I am as a person and as a performer. Now to put a label on the DVD — check! Pack stationery — check!

Tomorrow I will print out my resume, letters of interest, and letters of recommendation, head to CVS for some nifty packaging, then off to FedEx to send it on its way.

I am unbelievably excited. Many thanks for all the support, well wishes, and confidence! Keep that positive energy flowing for the next few weeks!

Love you all!

And now waiting for my fantastic video editor to do his magic.  squeeeee!!

I tell you, having this wonderful adventure to look forward to makes my day job so much more tolerable. Don’t get me wrong, I love my students. But having to turn them into numbers and force them down a path they may no longer wish to travel is both frustrating and heart-wrenching.

I will be posting my letter to the Clown Conservatory explaining why I want to attend their fine institution. I am very excited about this whole experience.

On another note, I have been very fortunate to receive 5 amazing letters of recommendation from my friends and colleagues. I only require 3.

I am a rich woman indeed. Thank you all.

So the time has come to archive my journey towards making performing my one and only. Here, I’ll be creating updates on each step in the process as well as posting information on my performances.  I will also include the distractions and inanities along the way.

Right now, you can find me at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire – www.renfair.com/socal – at the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area in Irwindale, CA. I will be on stage with the other amazing ladies of the Merry Wives of Windsor! www.mwow.net Don’t forget to pick up a copy of our brand new CD, Happy Endings!

You can also find me on the Maybower Stage for the Mayor’s show and Queen’s show and stilt-walking in the morning and evening. This year, I am again the brewmistress. This time Scottish – one of the MacHurley twins, Morangus. Ach!!

My current goal is auditioning for the clown conservatory in San Francisco. The audition involves creating a DVD. Argh. Darien not so tech savvy. Fortunately for our hero, she has wonderful friends who *are* tech savvy.

Thank you wonderful friends! (especially the genius who set up this lovely website)

So the step I’m on now is gathering materials for my DVD.  The wonderful friend who does film and video editing is totally doing his part to put this together for me. My current project is getting the writing done. Updating my resume, creating a letter of interest, and a letter stating why I am interested in the clown conservatory.

I’ll post those as they are completed.

Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Take care, friends.

Dariendevries.com is now live. Come back to visit often as new content is added daily.  Follow Darien on Twitter for the latest news.