CLOWNFEST ALLSTARS!
CoHo is thrilled to launch our fourth annual Clown Festival, celebrating physical comedy, movement arts, humor, and fringe performance! Our goal is to embrace the entire clown community and center CoHo as a home to clowns from all walks of life.
Before Philip Cuomo passed, he shared dreams with our team about his vision for the CoHo circus, imagining our little black box theater as a central hub for circus artists across the country to gather, create, and spread joy with their latest creative characters. Today, the idea for the circus has evolved into what has become the CoHo Clown Festival, a four-week celebration of all things funny.
CoHo is the place for clown, for physical comedy with an absurdist spin, for community and connection, for laughing and letting go. When our artists find joy, our community finds joy, and we can’t wait to share four weeks of playful whimsy with you.
The CoHo Clown Festival will take place from September 4 – September 28, 2025 at the CoHo Theater, located at 2257 NW Raleigh Street Performances will run Thursday – Sunday at 7:30 PM. Tickets to all ClownFest performances are Pay-What-You-Can.
2025 Festival Lineup!
Full of whimsy and wonder, we have a wonky, wild, wonderful lineup ahead of us with shows for everyone!
Check out what’s ClownFest 2025 has in store!
Opening Follies: Clown Dance Ritual
Hosted by Rachel Wells
September 4, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Come one, come all to the CoHo Clown Festival Opening Follies. Join host Rachel Wells who will lead us in Philip Cuomo’s Clown Dance Ritual. Everyone is invited to participate in this joyful, high-intensity, celebratory, guided dance ritual. Bring your dancing shoes and playful spirit, no experience is required. Costume options will be provided.
Boosh: A Story About Loneliness
Presented by Nicole Medema
September 5, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Birthed from Nicole Medema’s decades-long experience with getting dropped like a ton of bricks, Boosh is a story about the dumb ways humans react when they lose connection. In this immersive, no-fourth-wall show, hope has walked out the door (forever!), leaving only cold pizza behind. What will our hero do to cope? Come if you like physical comedy, dramatic emotionality, and dumb jokes. Starring a mime, a puppet, and audience guests, this show is fun for the whole family and relatable for adults everywhere.
Appropriate For All Ages!
All Boats All Clowns
Presented by Julia Bray
September 6, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
All Boats, the beloved community variety show, has teamed up with CoHo’s Clownfest to bring you a robust, wacky, wild, and daring array of solo and duet performances from some of Portland’s most experimental clowns! Hosted by a mysterious guest clown, this night packed with a variety of wildly different clown acts is not to be missed!
Too many Clowns and a Chair
Created, produced + directed by Marty Honig
September 7, 2025 @ 2:00 PM
In Too Many Clowns and a Chair, ridiculous misunderstandings and conflicts over a chair fuel the fun. This is a zany, fun-loving, family-friendly, Looney Tunes-inspired variety show featuring: Marty Honig, Kristen Schier, Merrie Hildebrand, Jenny Rayfeld, Erin Cunningham and Abby Christopher
Appropriate for All Ages
Appropriate For All Ages!
The Tortoise, the Hare and the Bear
Presented by the CoHo Clown Cohort
Thursday, Sept 11 @ 7:30 PM
Friday, Sept 12 @ 7:30 PM
Saturday, Sept 13 @ 7:30 PM
Sunday, Sept 14 @ 2 PM & 7:30 PM
Inspired by the beloved fable The Tortoise and the Hare, our newest production takes a comedic twist
through the backcountry of the Pacific Northwest. While the original tale champions perseverance over arrogance,
our version dares to ask: What if the race isn’t the point?
In a culture increasingly driven by retributive justice and a win-at-all-costs mentality, we’ve chosen to explore
a different ending—one that celebrates collaboration over competition. Enter the Bear, a new character that helps
transform the Tortoise and Hare’s relationship from adversaries to allies.
Through humor, heart, and a few forest detours, this story reminds us that sometimes the real victory lies not in
crossing the finish line first, but in how we travel the path together.
Appropriate For All Ages!
Skinnys Backstage Pass
Presented by Dana Merwin
September 18, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Skinny the roadie is your hilarious backstage guide to the rock-and-roll dream. Full of wit and canned meat, Skinny shows you how to survive life’s toughest tour and chase your wildest dreams even when the bus breaks down and the beer runs out. Bay Area comedian Dana Merwin brings you a feel-good immersive show about helping others and doing what lights you up. Original Dramaturgy: Deanna Fleysher
Help Wanted
Presented by Carmen Aguilar y Wedge
September 19th-20th, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Running from La Migra, an exuberant and determined Reynato answers a HELP WANTED sign on the side of a big top and slips into the circus. Through music, mime, shadow play, and clown Rey must face a bizarre circus life as he meets Guido, the clown who saves him and his strange cast of variety performers. Main acts and a side show will take your imagination from the floor to the rafters with strong-ish men, tipsy high wire artists, and coyote magic.
Rey, tasked with caring for Coco the elephant, finds himself bonding with the circus in a way he never expected. In exchange for his care, he discovers family under the red and yellow tent—and a stage where he might finally belong.
Based on real stories, surreal fantasies, and clown logic, Help Wanted invites you on a journey exploring immigration, identity, connection, and the sweet side of losing yourself to find who you truly are in the most unexpected places.
Clown Workshop
Presented by Jusby the Clown
September 21, 2024 from 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Jusby The Clown will teach the art of Spooky Clown, Butoh and Laughter Yoga. Feel the fear and spook ’em anyway with Jusby the Clown. Using exercises from Butoh dance and Laughter Yoga, we will walk the subtle edge of the haunt clown. Jusby studied Butoh (Japanese post-modern dance) at the Evergreen State College with the late Doranne Crable and was a member and chief videographer of the troupe Kagami for several years. Butoh uses elements of the grotesque, taboo, and absurd in ways that echo the Bouffon clown.
OF NOTE: This workshop is for participants who are 18+.
Honeybuns
Presented by Dean Evans
September 21, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Honeybuns, who sometimes bills themself as ‘The World’s Greatest Mime,’ is a visceral and hilarious theatrical event.
“Honeybuns” is a physical theatre performance by Los Angeles based artist Dean Evans. It’s described as a rowdy, ribald, and rotund show, drawing inspiration from Ubu, bouffon, and mime. The performance is known for its visual poetry and unique blend of clowning, slapstick, and improv. To share the room with the gigantic bright yellow entity known simply as Honeybuns is to experience a highly physical, interactive piece of performance art that has impressions of post modern clown, bouffon, and electro shock treatment. Honeybuns has performed all over including NYC, Chicago, LA, Austin, Moscow, and Ireland.
Clowns Not War
Presented by Clownbloc
September 25, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Imperialism got you down? Impending social collapse filling you with dread?
Fascism just being a real downer? Come on down to hear some REAL*
politicians^ talk about REAL* solutions. Come on out to this very real, very
serious Political Forum in the spirit of actual political change! Audience choices
dictate* the agenda and outcomes of the Political Forum.
Bad Habits
Presented by Amica Hunter and David Cantor
September 26 & 27, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Two sisters of faith struggle to find a balance between reverence and fun, between faith and doubt,and between careening around on hoverboards and falling onto the floor. Will Sister Margarine be able to resist the temptations of the devil? Will Sister Florence be able to stay in god’s grace? An absurd comedic look at the lives and habits of two nuns and the temptations they face. Whether you’re a believer, a sinner, or just in it for the nuns on wheels, this divine comedy will have you laughing ’till you pray, and praying ’till you laugh. Blending biblical pageantry with physical gags, puppetry, and a whole lot of hoverboard action, BAD HABITS is a ridiculous, irreverent, and surprisingly heartfelt look at devotion and finding faith in unexpected places
“When hyperactive hopeful Margarine Tubb is accepted into the convent her crash course in nunnery quickly spirals into (un)holy slapstick chaos. These clowns dance, puppet, and acrobat their way into grace. Like Monty Python meets Sister Act….On Hoverboards.”
Comedy Variety Open Mic
Hosted by Stefano Iaboni
September 28, 2025 @ 7:30 PM
Looking for an evening filled with laughs, surprises, and the unexpected? Welcome to Comedy Variety Open Mic, an open mic that’s not just your average stand-up showcase. This is the ultimate playground for comedic creatives, a stage where humor in all its forms comes to life. Whether it’s stand-up, improv, sketch, musical comedy, clowning, or something entirely out of the box, Comedy Variety Open Mic celebrates the full spectrum of funny.
At CoHo Productions, we believe comedy is as diverse as the people who create it. Our event invites performers from all backgrounds and experience levels to share their unique perspectives, offering a mix of polished material, experimental acts, and works in progress. This isn’t just a night for seasoned pros—it’s a space where newcomers can take their first comedic leap and veterans can test the waters with bold new ideas.
Why Participate?
For performers, this is your chance to connect with an audience, get real-time feedback, and join a community of like-minded creatives. Think of it as your comedy lab—experiment, refine, and grow. For the audience, this is an intimate, unpredictable, and unforgettable night of humor. You’ll see fresh faces, familiar talents, and acts that might just push the boundaries of what comedy can be.
The CoHo Clown Festival will take place from September 6 – October 6, 2024 at the CoHo Theater, located at 2257 NW Raleigh Street Performances will run Thursday – Sunday at 7:30 PM. Tickets to all ClownFest performances are Pay-What-You-Can.