CLOWN
Discover the art of clowning with world-renowned master Michael Trautman, whose decades of performance and teaching span theaters, festivals, and circus stages worldwide. This workshop introduces students to the foundational skills, techniques, and creative processes that make the clown a uniquely expressive performer—combining physical comedy, improvisation, mask work, and character creation. Students learn how to communicate humor, story, and perspective through movement, costume, props, and the iconic Clown Nose.
Each CLOWN workshop is customized to meet the needs and interests of the participants, drawing from a wide array of activities and skills, including:
- Warm-ups: Stretching, strengthening, tumbling, loosening joints, and floor rolls to prepare the body for performance.
- Skills: Balancing, juggling, magic, manipulation, and mime.
- Slapstick & Physical Comedy: Stage combat for clowns and training in the language of physical comedy.
- Character Creation: Movement improvisation to explore and develop physical characters and personal clown(s).
- Timing: Techniques to develop comic timing and a strong sense of rhythm.
- Mask Work: Exploration of neutral, body, Commedia dell’Arte, found, character, and make-up masks as tools for physical expression.
- Props: Use, selection, creation, and care of props to enhance performance.
- Research & Analysis: Investigating what has been and what can be funny, and how to incorporate it into performance.
- Creation: Developing routines and acts that reflect each student’s unique clown voice.
- Improvisation: Movement-based exercises to cultivate spontaneity, responsiveness, and inventive play, including solo, duet, and group improvisation.
Michael’s teaching emphasizes playful discovery, disciplined practice, and a deep understanding of comedic timing, presence, and performance mechanics. By the end of the workshop, students gain practical tools for creating routines, improvising with confidence, and engaging audiences with clarity, humor, and originality.
CREATION
This workshop is designed for performers who want to create original performance material. Whether you are a clown, mime, juggler, magician, circus artist, variety artist, storyteller, ventriloquist, puppeteer, or multidisciplinary performer, this class provides practical tools for developing new acts, routines, and theatrical works. Drawing on decades of experience as an internationally recognized clown, performer, and director, Michael Trautman guides students through the artistic and practical process of transforming ideas into compelling live performance.
Students explore the creative process in a structured yet playful way, learning how inspiration becomes performance through a disciplined series of steps: preparation, research, inspiration, improvisation, editing, rehearsal, and the effective use of outside resources. Through movement-based exercises, improvisation, and collaborative exploration, participants learn to recognize their own creative strengths and develop material that is uniquely their own. The course emphasizes experimentation, curiosity, and the ability to turn spontaneous discoveries into polished performance.
Each CREATION workshop is adaptable to the experience level and interests of the participants and may draw from a variety of activities and areas of focus, including:
- Movement & Physical Expression: Mime, gesture, and the development of physical characters.
- Research & Comic Analysis: Exploring what has been funny, what is funny today, and how humor evolves across cultures and audiences.
- Act Development: Techniques for shaping ideas into structured routines, scenes, or performance pieces.
- Improvisation: Movement-based improvisation exercises designed to develop spontaneity, creative problem-solving, and stage presence.
- Listening & Collaboration: Learning to respond to fellow performers, audiences, and unexpected moments through the improvisational principle of “Yes, and…”
- Creative Play: Exercises that encourage curiosity, experimentation, and the freedom to discover new possibilities.
By temporarily setting aside spoken language, students learn to communicate ideas through gesture, movement, and physical storytelling, strengthening the performer’s most essential instrument—the body. Through solo, duet, and small-group work, participants practice listening, observing, and responding in ways that transform improvisation into creative invention.
At its heart, the course reminds performers that creativity begins with play. Students are encouraged to experiment, take risks, and approach the work with curiosity and humor. By the end of the workshop, participants leave with a deeper understanding of the creative process, practical tools for developing original material, and greater confidence in their ability to invent, write, and perform new work.
MOVEMENT IMPROVISATION
This workshop explores the art of movement-based improvisation, teaching performers how to communicate ideas, emotions, and stories through the body rather than through words. Guided by internationally renowned clown, mime, and physical comedy expert Michael Trautman, students develop the ability to invent performance in the moment using gesture, movement, and physical expression. The course emphasizes spontaneity, imagination, and the deep listening skills that allow performers to respond authentically to partners, audiences, and unexpected moments onstage.
By temporarily setting aside spoken language, students discover how the body becomes the primary storytelling tool. Through playful exercises and structured improvisation, participants learn to invent movement, create physical characters, and communicate ideas in ways that are often more immediate and expressive than dialogue. The workshop encourages performers to reconnect with the spirit of play while building practical improvisation skills that support acting, clowning, mime, physical theater, and devised performance.
Each MOVEMENT IMPROVISATION workshop can be adapted to suit the experience level and goals of the participants and may draw from a variety of exercises and training areas, including:
- Movement-Based Improvisation: Exercises that encourage spontaneous invention through gesture, posture, and physical storytelling.
- Solo, Partner, and Ensemble Work: Improvisation in individual, duet, and small-group forms to develop responsiveness and collaboration.
- Observation & Listening: Training performers to notice and respond to subtle cues from fellow performers, directors, and audiences.
- Physical Character Exploration: Using movement to discover characters, personalities, and points of view.
- Creative Problem-Solving: Applying improvisational thinking to performance challenges and the creative process.
- The “Yes, And…” Principle: Developing openness to ideas and building upon impulses in the moment.
Improvisation is a fundamental part of the creative process, and these skills extend beyond the stage. Performers learn to trust their instincts, respond to changing circumstances, and transform spontaneous ideas into meaningful performance material. By the end of the workshop, students leave with stronger physical awareness, greater creative confidence, and practical tools for improvising, devising, and collaborating in a wide range of performance settings.
MIME AND MOVEMENT
Mime is the art of communicating through the body. Long before spoken language, human beings relied on gesture, posture, and movement to express ideas, emotions, and intentions. In this workshop, internationally recognized clown and physical theater artist Michael Trautman introduces students to the study of body language as a powerful performance tool, helping participants develop greater awareness, control, and expressive range in their physical movement.
Drawing on traditions of classical mime, physical theater, dance, and circus arts, the workshop focuses on expanding each student’s movement vocabulary—the range of gestures, rhythms, and physical expressions available to them as performers. Just as spoken language depends on vocabulary and grammar, physical storytelling relies on the performer’s ability to shape movement with clarity, precision, and intention. Students learn techniques that strengthen their physical communication skills, enhance stage presence, and support work in clown, acting, dance, and physical comedy.
Each MIME AND MOVEMENT workshop can be adapted to suit the experience level and goals of the participants and may draw from a variety of exercises and areas of focus, including:
- Warm-Up and Physical Preparation: Stretching, strengthening, and loosening exercises drawn from dance, mime, yoga, and acrobatics to prepare the body for expressive movement.
- Isolations and Separations: Fundamental mime techniques that develop the ability to control and move different parts of the body independently.
- Undulations: Fluid movements that travel through the body from one point to another, building coordination and expressive flow.
- Illusionary Technique & Graphic Mime: Using gesture and body positioning to create the illusion of interacting with the physical world.
- The Delsarte System: Exploring how posture, gesture, and physical attitude communicate emotion and intention.
- Movement Vocabulary Development: Expanding expressive possibilities through observation and imitation of movement found in nature and everyday life.
- Time, Rhythm, and Timing: Understanding how rhythm and pacing influence emotional expression and comedic effect.
- Improvisation and Theater Games: Movement-based improvisation exercises that encourage spontaneity, creativity, and character discovery.
- Collaboration and Ensemble Work: Group exercises that develop listening skills, cooperation, and creative problem-solving.
- Research and Observation: Studying physical performance traditions to inform and inspire new work.
Improvisation plays a central role in the training process. By temporarily setting aside spoken language, students learn to communicate ideas through gesture and movement, often discovering that physical expression can be more immediate and powerful than words. Through solo, partner, and small-group exercises, participants practice listening, responding, and building upon ideas using the improvisational principle of “Yes, and…”.
At its heart, this workshop encourages performers to reconnect with the spirit of play and discovery. Students are challenged to experiment, explore movement in new ways, and develop the confidence to communicate clearly through the body. By the end of the course, participants leave with stronger physical awareness, a richer movement vocabulary, and practical tools for creating expressive performance in clown, mime, physical theater, and beyond.
“Trautman keeps the audience in rousing good humor with his comic antics and vaudevillian-like clown skills.”
Daily Variety, Los Angeles, CA