ClownFest: LIVE DEVISE!
Live Devise!
Presented By the CoHo Clown Cohort
Sept. 7, 2024 @ 7:30 PM
The CoHo Clown Cohort is launching a new clown show and we need your help mining
for comedic gold. Live Devise allows audience members to peek inside the CoHo Clown Cohort rehearsal process of using story, themes, and signature clown techniques to generate performance content. The evening will incorporate structured improvisation, suggestions from the audience, and devised “in the moment” bits. The audience’s feedback will be an integral part in our creative process as we move forward with creating our show.
Whether you have been following the Cohort since 2017 or this is your first introduction, come delight in comedic hijinks while contributing to the creation of a new CoHo Clown Cohort performance.
The CoHo Clown CoHort was created by Philip Cuomo to cultivate an ensemble of clown performers and contextualize clowning in the modern theatre landscape. Since its inception in 2017, the Clown CoHort has relied on the CoHo Creative Pipeline to generate content and develop its unique style. Past shows include: Philip’s Glass Menagerie, Witch Hunt, Beethoven & Chopin (Monster Hunters) Meet the Bride of Frankenstein (A Romance) and Twister.
Sascha Blocker and Emily Newton currently serve as Co-Artistic Directors for the Clown CoHort.
Meet the Creative Team
Sascha Lynn Blocker is a performer, director, and creator of original work. She earned an MFA in Lecoq Based Actor Created Theater from the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA) in conjunction with Naropa University. Local credits include: Hand2Mouth, CoHo, Imago, Third Rail, Post 5, Liminal Performance Group, and the Portland Actors Conservatory. Sascha was an associate artist for Drammy award winning theater company Push Leg and is currently a member of the CoHo Clown Cohort. Sascha also works as an adjunct faculty member and teaches classes in Communication Studies and Theater. Theater teaching includes movement, improvisation, devising theater, and clowning.
Emily June Newton is an international multi-skilled comedic performer specializing in the
areas of clown, physical comedy and character creation. Originating from Australia, she
now resides in Portland, Oregon. Emily has performed both nationally and internationally
with companies including Terrapin Puppet Theater (AUS), Oregon Children’s Theater
(OR, USA), The Children’s Art Theater of China (Shanghai, CHN) and Dell’Arte
International (CA, USA). She also writes, performs and tours solo interactive comedic
works throughout the USA including ‘Frank: to be Frank’ and ‘For the love of down under: an evening with Australia’. Emily holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Ensemble-Based Physical Theater from Dell’Arte International (CA, USA), and is a member of the Coho Clown Cohort (CoHo Productions PDX) and San Francisco’s premier burlesque clown troupe Fou Fou Ha (PDX chapter).
Jeff Desautels is a founding member of the award-winning clown troupe, Box of Clowns, with whom he has performed all over the world. Locally he has performed in Portland with CoHo Clown Cohort Theatre, Tears of Joy Theater, Sir Cupcake’s Queer Circus, and Fou Fou Ha. He also performs frequently as the drag queen persona, Mysteria.