Darien DeVries

After a lovely respite in New Jersey (oh hush, it’s beautiful there) I am now in the process of packing up my life and heading to the Bay Area! It is very exciting to be starting a new chapter in my life and interesting to be reviewing the last six years by going through all my belongings, deciding what’s important to keep and what I can live without.

What’s *really* nice is that I have a lot of costuming – reminding me once again that while my work situation has not always been ideal, I have had many wonderful performing experiences and memories to cherish.

There are many more such experiences and memories to come! Woot!

Needless to say, I have been walking on air since last Wednesday. You know you are truly happy when even dealing with the DMV can’t ruin your mood. And last Wednesday, anyone who saw me can attest to the exhilirated squealing and jumping up & down.  I have not felt like that in 10 years.

First of all, thank you to everyone out there who supported me in this first part of the adventure. Your kind words, prayers, positive energy, and love really helped me along. You remind me that I’m not alone on this crazy life path and that I have plenty of loved ones watching over me.  Special thanks to: Jon for his role as cameraman and video editor for my audition videos; Mike for his contribution as cameraman for the second audition; Steven, Dennis, Maggie, Kevin, and Ron for the astounding letters of recommendation; Roxanne for the inspiration and guidance; Clare for the headshots. I could not have done it without you guys.

Now that I’ve gotten over my little Oscar- wannabe moment, some ramblings of my mind…

It has been very surreal these past few days. My last day at my job was yesterday. It was bittersweet. While I will miss the people – my students especially – I will not miss the daily grind of office clothing, fluorescent lighting, and making numbers. I wish so much success on my students and hope they will continue to stay in contact with me. It is strange not having a job at this moment. I have enough saved to take care of rent until my relocation, but it is unnerving not knowing when next I will have income.

I am so thrilled that the next chapter of life is beginning. So excited that I start school in September and develop myself further as a performer!  And also relieved that I have these next 6 weeks back home with my family to relax a bit, practice skills that I’ve not had the energy/time to put in before, and reconnect with friends and family. A fellow performer will be visiting me and we can work on skills and putting a show together. Hopefully, she will also be attending the Clown Conservatory as well!

Upon return, I have about 4 weeks to pack up my life and move to the bay area.  It is a good time to purge myself of needless possessions, though I find it very difficult. I will have to call upon some good friends to help me prioritize my belongings – and of course, drink my booze. Yayfun!

I will miss my SoCal friends very much. Especially the Wives. and the Boggards. They have become my family over the past 6 years and while I know I will see them at the holidays and performances, I shall miss singing with MWOW weekly. That’s it, NorCal friends – you gotta step up! =D

The rest of my life is happening and I am actually going for my dreams.  It is an amazing feeling to lose that paralyzing fear that stops one from pursuing their passion. I had it for so long that I can hardly believe that I am where I am right now, especially with how I was feeling two months ago. May this feeling last forever. I truly am in love with the world and cannot wait to spend my life doing what I need – and *want* – to do.

*sigh* I had better get some sleep before my flight!

Take care, friends.

So one of the wonderful things about my mechanic, aside from him being a nice guy interested in keeping me safe (and keeping my repeat business) is that he is located next door to a cool magic shop. I have been shopping there for years and one of the gentlemen who works there has even gotten me into the Magic Castle once or twice. Great place – I always get my fake mustaches there.

I managed to get my little truck over to the repair shop without it overheating too badly – although it was hissing again when I arrived – and left it in my mechanic’s capable hands. Mosied over to the magic shop, remembering that I had bought a single Dube Airflight club a year or so ago. Yes, just one. I figured it was all I would be mastering at first and could afford only one at the time. Today, I felt it was time to get the full set.  They didn’t have any more Airflights but had a complete set good for learning on so I got those.  It really was a good thing that my car brought me there, because I would likely not have remembered to go over there to make the purchase.

I had a lovely time practicing juggling one club outside while awaiting the arrival of my ride to work. It helped bring some attention to the little shop and allowed me to get comfortable with clubs again. The shop owner even brought me a bottle of water for the service. But even better, when I mentioned I am a stilt walker, he let me know he is looking to offload a pair of drywall stilts at a good price. How awesome is that!? It’s the only type of stilt I feel I am missing (I own some fantastic pegs and a set of poweriserz) and they would be perfect for those gigs where it’s necessary to stand in one place a lot for photo ops.

I knew there was a reason the universe hit me with the triple whammy of Mercury! What a funny 24 hours. ha!

Ah… Mercury in retrograde. This is said to cause issues with technology, communication, and transportation.

*I am totally experiencing this*

Firstly, having issues getting footage from my second recording of skills off the camera! Many thanks to the friend who lent me the camera, but it has been an ordeal getting the footage onto a computer so we can cut out the parts where I messed up and re-recorded. Hence, issues with the technology.

Secondly, today my phone fell on the floor as it has done many times. This time, it veritably exploded. Well, perhaps exploding isn’t *quite* the accurate term. However, it is in two pieces now and non-functional so close enough. I did get to the Verizon store and picked up a new swank phone that so far I love. But yeah, that’s strike 2: communication.

Thirdly, on my way home from work, my car made some funny noises and while on the road, I could smell coolant and saw the thermastat creeping upward. My little truck usually runs very cool so this was an immediate red flag. I made it home but poor Lila (yes, I named my truck Lila) was smoking and hissing. I’ll check the fluids in the morning and take her to my mechanic. The last shoe to drop was transportation.

So now that I’ve achieved the magic number of three, that means that I’m done, right? I have to say that after I got over the shock of my shattering cell phone, that the whole situation makes me laugh. At least the purchase of this new phone means that I’ve got a decent little video camera on me at all times. So if I have to re-record everything (fingers crossed that I don’t have to do that!) at least I know that the format from my new phone will be workable on my PC.

Long and short of it – the recording of Audition DVD Part Two is done, just gotta get it off the camera! Many more thanks to Jon for helping me with that.

Stay tuned, folks!

Not only great stage shows this weekend but Bogfest was a blast! Many thanks to the Poxy Boggards for letting me make not one, but two cameo appearances on their night. It was really cool getting to finally play the fiddle part on Drink Til I Die live with the band. And of course, there’s Nelly…

I have lots of fun playing Nelly the Mermaid. Now I must admit it’s fun to be appreciated while wearing a sexy mermaid costume that (thank goodness) I’m in good enough shape to pull off. But as anyone who knows me can attest, I really enjoy the juxtaposition of  pretty and sexy with ridiculous and awkward.  It is an interesting combination that I have been trying to make work for me for years. I used to think these were mutually exclusive ideas – that one trait would have to battle the other.

In my late teens, I sought to be a successful comedienne, appreciating physical comedy and sight gags. I worried that my newfound attractive appearance (which suddenly showed up after years of being an ugly duckling nerd with a speech impediment) would impede my success in comedy. The improv comedy training at the New York Renaissance Faire was thorough and I improved year by year in creating 3 dimensional characters and engaging the audience one-on-one as well as in scripted and improvisational stage shows. While I was young and cute, it did not occur to me that this would actually *add* to the funny. I could see the funny contrast of being in a beautiful court dress and falling down and showing my bloomers to the world, yet I interpreted this as comedy of class: the high-brow falling low. I saw little to do with my face.

Working with Marlowe’s Shadowe put it in my head that pretty can add to the funny, rather than just being a happenstance of a funny person. That particular troupe drove home the idea that cross-dressing is funny, whether it is the man or the woman in drag. And while the Shadowe boys looked darn ridiculous with a curly wig and fake boobs on, the cute blond or redhead with a mustache or beard was always an audience favorite. Marlowe’s Shadowe, and subsequently, the Lords of Laughter,emphasized that the ridiculous becomes extra so when paired with the pretty.

The reason is this: Pretty is supposed to be demure and graceful. To show no flaws. To upend this, to be awkward or a little gross while being pretty is humorous. Moreso than I would have thought in my younger years. And as I have worked with the Merry Wives of Windsor, how better to demonstrate this than have a beautiful blond scratching herself on stage? To screw up one’s lovely face screaming about yogurt? Or maybe running around like a nut making the audience do the wave? It is funny because it’s not the classic behavior of the iconic beauty. And what’s even better is that these concepts go hand in hand to the end that pretty not only adds to the comedy but the comedy adds to the pretty.

So Nelly is especially fun to play because I get to play with this dichotomy combining the pretty – shimmery fluke, purple seashells, bare midriff -with the awkward. (Lucky for me that the song depicts her as being caught with a fish hook and smelling bad!) Because catching a mermaid in your net or with a fishing rod is gonna be awkward, no matter how cute she is. And if you are gonna talk about her best attribute being her mouth, you might as well demonstrate it. Thank goodness the venue was selling corndogs because I was just fresh out of bananas. Soooo glad being a ludicrous freak is not only funny but has become sexy in its own right.

Thanks to my Nelly-bearer for helping with my ignominious entrance and exit. And thanks to Bill for corndogging me. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.

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!

Hopefully this will give the fine folks at the Clown Conservatory – and all of you – a bit more insight about me.

Many thanks to Quin for a wordsmith’s critical eye.

Why do I want to attend the Clown Conservatory, you ask?

I am a performer. I don’t just love acting, singing, and telling jokes. It’s written into who I am to entertain a crowd. I love bringing joy to an audience, creating new stories and new universes for them. Creating those same things for myself. Each time I make a wish, the wish is always the same: “To be a great and successful performer in my own right.” People can come into a theater strangers and I can help make them friends through the collective experience of laughter, fantasy, and fun. That kind of connection is my true love. Even in the face of great tragedy and heartbreak, I am the best ME I can be when I am on stage entertaining.

But why clowning? As I sit here, three things come to mind.

1. The first time I saw Cirque de Soleil I was undoubtedly amazed by the agility of the gymnasts. But it was the clowns who struck me the most. The stories told without a word through their performances. The simple humanity they represented that evoked tears as well as laughter. A clown can touch on the bittersweet aspects of life like no other, and help us work through uncertainty and sorrow with laughter.

2. Last Halloween, I took a stilt-walking gig for for the city of Norwalk and they requested that the stilt-walker be a clown – I was happy to oblige. Oh my, how the people of Norwalk love clowns! I have performed “clownish” characters before but it was a revelation to actually take on the iconic appearance and become an actual symbol of happiness as I brought joy to families. I was inspired beyond belief and left that evening with a giddiness in my soul that screamed “I must do this!”

3. This quote from your website put to me that clowning is the art form I have been seeking –

“Clowns always make the most vulnerable choice, naturally”  — Dominique Jando

A good friend of mine told me, “Darien, you have a glass face and an open soul.” My ability to express what I am feeling so vividly is my greatest strength as a performer. My face belies the truth – never a problem on stage as what I convey there is always the truth – and my body is an extension of my face.

I have been blessed with charisma, agility, and good muscle memory. A childhood of tap and jazz dance solidified this and further training in martial arts and belly dance as an adult has kept it fresh. I sing, play fiddle, walk on stilts, eat fire, and do a little juggling. I am an improvisational actor passionate about both comedy and drama.

I wondered how on earth to become a clown. Are there schools for this? How do I know which to choose? I researched several clown schools, but their programs did not appear to be as comprehensive or professionally-oriented as yours. Your school has a very solid reputation among my colleagues, primarily for its immersive approach to the art of clown technique, pushing students to be their creative best. I seek such an immersion. I seek to build upon the skills I have, to grow where I lack. To develop effective relationships and shows. To do this professionally and make it my life’s work. To become a solid solo performer so that I could be an even greater contributor to an ensemble.

I will put these talents to good use and make a little magic out there in the world. And I’d like your school to help me take flight.

I am ready now. My potential is great and my resolve is strong. Clown Conservatory, I am for you.

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.