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Known for her keen sense of timing, razor sharp wit, and extraordinary rapport with an audience, Shannan Calcutt has played an eclectic range of venues worldwide from Saskatoon's Wash 'n Slosh Pub to the Sydney Opera House. A multi-award-winning funny lady, she has spent the last 20 years making people laugh on the Vegas Strip. Audiences have witnessed her sophisticated silliness as Anita Dick in Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple, Boozy Skunkton in Spiegelworld’s Atomic Saloon Show, and most notably, her beloved clown Izzy in Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity, where she performed her iconic breast implant routine “Scotch Baggies” for millions of spectators during her fifteen year run. Declared "a national treasure" by the CBC, Calcutt made a name for herself touring her solo shows Burnt Tongue (CBC Radio, Canada's Bravo! network), It's Me – Only Better!, and Out of My Skin, receiving critical acclaim throughout Canada and the United States. Her work is profiled in the book Clowns: In Conversation by Ezra LeBank and David Bridel. Calcutt has a MFA in Writing for Dramatic Media (UNLV), a BFA in Performance (UVIC), and is a graduate of the Dell’Arte Int’ School of Physical Theatre. She studied clown, bouffon, improv and physical comedy with master teachers Philippe Gaulier, Sue Morrison, Mooky Cornish, Jan Henderson, John Towsen, Bill Irwin and The Second City. Shannan is fluent in English and sarcasm. 
Trilogy Tour Highlights: Vancouver International Comedy Festival, Comedy Arts Festival, Nakai Comedy Arts Festival, UNO Festival of SOLO PERFORMANCE, Intrepid Theatre, Neptune Theatre, The Grand Theatre, The Belfry Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects playRites Festival, Lunchbox Theatre, 25th Street Theatre, The Globe Theatre, Maurice Young Millennium Place, Harbor Theatre and the Canadian Fringe Festival Circuit I. BURNT TONGUE
"...a spell-binding, comic/poignant tour-de-force performance."
-The London Free Press
"I have never had such a strong emotional connection to a character on stage before. This show is going to become one of those we'll probably talk about 10 years from now."
-CBC Radio, Edmonton
"There is nothing so funny, sad, and purely entertaining as a highly skilled clown, and Shannan Calcutt is that, to be sure. Her charming, radiant alter ego, Izzy, is so thoroughly developed she is unequivocally, as she says, "prepared to be spontaneous" - no matter what the audience may offer up, a five-star performance."
-The Georgia Straight, Vancouver
"Shannan Calcutt is an absolute darling of an actor, and I defy you not to fall under her desperately fragile spell."
-CBC TV, Winnipeg
"Izzy is a seamless mix of pathos, vulnerability and sharp understated wit. Calcutt is a Jedi master of improvisation and she can work a crowd with spellbinding ease, effortlessly including the audience in the performance - like she said, she's always prepared to be spontaneous."
-The Edmonton Sun
"Calcutt does have a gift and the technical skills to work a crowd in an interesting, sometimes inspired manner. It's no easy feat - the theatrical equivalent to walking a dental-floss tight rope sans safety net. Calcutt is truly an adventuresome performer who redefines the audience/performer relationship in a thought-provoking way."
-The Victoria Times Colonist
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