Darien DeVries

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.

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!