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A new mother digging into the absurdity of the newborn days with twins, dancing to the beat of her own breast pump. A live storytelling event where people share true stories about moments in life that they played the fool. A play about Miss Piggy that promises to unveil salacious details about her relationship with Kermit the Frog.
These three shows are all on offer, along with about a dozen more, at the 2024 CoHo Clown Festival. (Aforementioned shows, in order: Anne Zander is MOTHER, Funny Bones, and Slutheby’s Live Auction.) CoHo Productions’ third annual celebration of physical comedy, movement arts, humor and fringe performance started Sept. 6 and runs through Oct. 6.
The theme this year is “fight for joy,” says Laurel Wilde, CoHo’s communications director:
“The goal of ClownFest this year is to give people a place to take a breath from the real world. There’s a little activism involved in experiencing humor.”
Not every show features traditional clowning, though there certainly is some of that, too (try Two Clowns and a Chair by Marty Honig and Ryan Gangwish on Sept. 26). About six of the shows have been at ClownFest before, but they will not be true repeats.
“The cool thing about clown shows is they’re never the same twice,” Wilde says. “So much of the content is determined by audience response.”
New York comedian Amy Veltman is a newcomer with her show PSA: Pelvic Service Announcement, a “multimedia extravaganza” about pelvic floor health featuring original songs and characters. Tickets are sold out for the Sept. 21 performance of PSA but there are still some available for Sept. 19. (CoHo Productions always reserves a few extra tickets at the door for walk-ins, however.) Likewise, there are only a few remaining for Slutheby’s Live Auction (the Miss Piggy show) on Sept. 20.
GO: CoHo Clown Festival at CoHo Theater, 2257 NW Raleigh St., 971-202-6567, cohoproductions.org/clownfest-2024. 7:30 pm Thursday-Sunday, through Oct. 6. Pay what you can.