SHANNAN CALCUTT
  • Comedian / Actor
  • Coach
  • Workshops
    • Make a Show
    • Custom
    • Show Up and Write
    • Virtual Playground
    • Play the Part
    • F-Bomb: Funny, Fearless, and Female
    • Celebrate Your Ridiculousness!
    • I'm With Stupid: Clown Duos
    • Make ‘em Laugh
    • Mask
  • Writer / Director
    • VIVID Grand Show
    • Clowns After Midnight
    • Fifth Annual One Night for One Drop
    • Spiegleworld
    • Cirque du Soleil
    • Inaugural One Night for One Drop
    • Solo Shows
  • Contact
  • Shannan's Oath

The Benefits of Clown and Play: A Conversation with Shannan Calcutt and Noah Bremer

2/21/2021

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Shannan Calcutt and Noah Bremer discuss clown and play in the new online world. Join the discussion on Facebook Live and YouTube Live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW_MvDSWTuM&feature=youtu.be
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: Funny, Fearless and Female with Shannan Calcutt and Amanda Huotari

1/7/2021

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Kindling Conversations is Celebration Barn’s new series inviting ideas and discussion to spark creation and performance. On Wednesday, January 27, the Barn’s Amanda Huotari will chat with Shannan Calcutt on what it means to be funny, fearless and female. 

Kindling Conversations are free to attend with pre-registration required. We welcome questions from participating viewers!

REGISTER
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Clowns After Midnight, 2020!!

1/24/2020

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CLOWNS AFTER MIDNIGHT!

2 LATE NIGHT SOIREES!
Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:55 pm - Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:00 am


11 Cirque du Soleil Artists spent 7 days together at Vegas Theatre Hub, under the guidance of Clown Director Shannan Calcutt, in the workshop: "Make 'em Laugh: The Art of Creating an Act". Come and witness the comic acts they've created. This is ensemble generated lunacy at its very best! Only 2 chances to see 'em sink or swim. 

Clowns Erez Kaplan (O)| Noah Bremer (The Beatles LOVE) | Vinicius Masteguim (BLUE MAN GROUP) | Gabryel NogueiraDasilva (KA) | Ricci Kemko (O)| Marylene H. Cameron (KA) | Maggie Mart (KA) | Bill Cunningham (MYSTERE) | Mikey Ross (O) | Darin Good (KA) | Darren Pitura  (ZUMANITY)    

Clown Act Designers: The Ensemble
Clown Director: Shannan Calcutt 
Assistant to Clown Director: Nate Marble 
Clown Crew: Derek Shipman 
Imagined By: Pierre Parisien | Shannan Calcutt                                                                                                                                                                                          
Special Thanks: Pierre Parisien | Tim Smith | Katy Renaud | Matt Nickel | Cirque du Soleil | Vegas Theatre Hub | Brien McCrea


LocationVegas Theatre Hub, 705 Las Vegas Blvd N, Las Vegas, NV 89101

TICKETS
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Cirque du Soleil brings Clowns After Midnight to Vegas Theatre Hub

4/3/2018

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By Brock Radke (contact)
Tuesday, April 3, 2018 | 2 a.m.

Clowns are a necessity. Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas productions may not make you think of a traditional circus, but there are clowns in most of these shows and their role is essential.

For example, in the sexy, adult-oriented “Zumanity,” there is Izzy, an over-the-top personality who performs a routine that feels like a late-night infomercial. The product? “Scotch baggies,” a makeshift breast implant that doubles as a convenient cocktail.

“I think the clowns at ‘Zumanity’ offer a time for the crowd to breathe, relax and laugh,” says Shannan Calcutt, who created the character and performs as Izzy. She joined Cirque du Soleil in 2005 shortly before moving to Las Vegas from Vancouver. “'Zumanity’ is a sexy show. You see extraordinary artists with bodies of true perfection and while I think it’s awe-inspiring, it can also be intimidating. We don’t all look like that, move like that, walk like that. The clowns come out and flaunt their flaws so the audience can forget their own.”

Calcutt started developing her clown Izzy at the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre in 1998 and performed as Izzy for the first time at the Ottawa Fringe Festival the following year. When she joined “Zumanity,” she adapted the character for the show, so she’s been playing Izzy for 20 years.

The comedic side of Cirque will be on full display at the Clowns After Midnight performances at the Vegas Theatre Hub this week. The presentation will showcase 11 Cirque artists — none of whom perform as clowns — in 13 acts created during a seven-day workshop series led by Calcutt, who describes the resulting show as “Saturday Night Live” with clowns.

“What’s unique about this program is that it features 11 artists that have all taken three workshops with me. They were hand-selected by Cirque do Soleil’s senior artistic director, Pierre Parisien, to go through the three-level program, which I specifically developed for this troupe,” says Calcutt, who has taught clown and comedy workshops throughout Canada, Australia and the United States since 2000. “They’re all working courageously out of their comfort zones. I couldn’t be more proud of them!”

The Clowns After Midnight performances began as two sold-out, late-night soirees, after which Parisien thought the improv clowns should have another opportunity to perform for a live audience. In comedy, Calcutt says, the only way to perfect your act is to work it out in front of a real audience.

“It’s sink or swim time,” she says. “So we’re presenting four more shows, three late-night and one matinee experience.”

Clowns After Midnight will start at 11:59 p.m. April 4, 6 and 7 at the Vegas Theatre Hub (705 Las Vegas Blvd. North, 702-569-9070). The Sunday show on April 8 includes a party bus (with Champagne and clowns) from the Orleans to the show starting at noon. For more information on all shows, visit vegastheatrehub.com.

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/apr/03/cirque-du-soleil-clowns-after-midnight-/


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Back By POPULAR Demand! CLOWNS AFTER MIDNIGHT! 3 LATE NIGHT SHOWS! 1 MATINEE EXPERIENCE!

3/13/2018

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Clowns After Midnight

In January, 11 Cirque du Soleil Artists spent 7 days under the guidance of Clown Director Shannan Calcutt at Vegas Theatre Hub in the workshop:  "Make 'em Laugh: The Art of Creating an Act". 

We started with nothing, and within the week created 13 new Clown Acts! We presented the new material to thunderous applause! 

Only 160 people got to witness our LUNACY! So we're doing it again!!!

Get your tickets to one of our Late Night Shows or Join the Clowns on their Party Bus for our Sunday matinee! Tickets are limited. 


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CLOWNS AFTER MIDNIGHT

Wednesday, April 4th
Friday, April 6th
Saturday, April 7th


Late Night Shows $10
Doors Open 11:59PM

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CLOWN PARTY BUS

Sunday, April 8th
 

Matinee $25

12pm Pick up at The Orleans: 4500 W Tropicana
Hop on Clown Party Bus (Main Entrance of the Orleans)
Champagne Ride with the Clowns
Arrive at Vegas Theatre Hub for Show
Intimate Talk Back with Clowns follows Show
Hop on Party Bus to The Orleans
Back by 2:30pm 

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UVic Grad a Proud Member of the Clown Tribe

10/27/2016

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Previous Next Shannan Calcutt performs her show Burnt Tongue at the University of Victoria's Phoenix Theatre for the 50th Anniversary Alumni Festival, continuing through Saturday. Photograph By DARREN STONE, Times Colonist
Adrian Chamberlain / Times Colonist

October 27, 2016 06:00 AM
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/uvic-grad-a-proud-member-of-the-clown-tribe-1.2374449#sthash.JLaOkcr0.dpuf
PREVIEWWhat: Burnt Tongue with Shannan Calcutt
Where: Phoenix Theatre, University of Victoria
When: Continues through Saturday
Tickets: $26 (250-721-8000)

Clowns creepy? No way, says Shannan Calcutt, a University of Victoria theatre grad and professional clown.
Calcutt is back at the University of Victoria to perform her show Burnt Tongue for the Phoenix Theatre’s 50th Anniversary Alumni Festival. For the past 11 years, she has been a clown with Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity, a risqué La Vegas celebration of erotica featuring men in cages, a mock orgy and Silly String orgasms.

A graduate of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, as well as UVic (class of ‘97), Calcutt performs with Cirque du Soleil 475 times a year. Her audiences have included Judy Dench, Eddie Murphy and Sting.

After thousands of performances, she knows her stuff. And to be frank, the whole creepy-clown phenomenon grates her nerves.
“I just think it’s a bit ridiculous,” Calcutt said this week. “These are not clowns. These are people who dress in a costume.”

For those who missed it, the creepy-clown craze refers to those who wear clown costumes and go around scaring people. Fuelled by social media, the spread of this fad has given clowning something of a bad name.

There have been creepy-clown reports all over North America. This month, the Associated Press reported non-creepy clowns are losing gigs because children — and some adults — are now afraid of them.
The World Clown Association said clowns are being asked to give performances without makeup and traditional clown costumes. The retail chain Target pulled its scary clown masks from its shelves. McDonald’s said its Ronald McDonald character would be downplayed due to mounting clown fears.
In Burnt Tongue, Calcutt wears traditional red nose and white face. Interviewed in the Phoenix Theatre’s lobby, she said mistaking “creepy clowns” for real clowns is like believing people in police or doctor costumes are the genuine article.

“You would never say: ‘Look out for the [real] doctors, they’re creeping out children. They’re terrifying. They’ve got knives,’ ” Calcutt said.

“You’re clearly disturbed if you want to scare a child. Obviously, there’s something wrong with you.”
Far from being baddies, clowns are good — even healers, Calcutt says. She notes at Israel’s University of Haifa, there exists an undergraduate degree program in clown therapy. Post and pre-surgery, patients who have an anxiety-reducing clown session require less pain medication and anesthesia.
Burnt Tongue is the story of Izzy, a waifish girl who waits for the arrival of her date, a rendezvous arranged online. Written in 1999 was she was just 24, the show was last performed in 2005 at the Neptune Theatre. Filmed with a live audience, it was broadcast on Bravo!

After being noticed by a talent scout, Calcutt joined Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity in 2005. She performs at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. She participates in four clown routines in the show — all of which she has co-written.

In Zumanity, a show aimed at adult audiences, Calcutt does routines about sex toys and a dance club. She and a clown partner also do an act called Vegas Hookup, in which male and female audience members are invited to jump onto a bed and pretend to engage in sex.

“Silly string shoots up, so it’s like they’ve had a big orgasm,” she said.

Her other Cirque bit is culled directly from Out of My Skin, one of her old solo shows. In the routine, a satirical comment on societal attitudes toward women, Calcutt’s character wants breast implants. She makes them out of sandwich baggies, and then fills them with scotch (actually tea) in case her date requires a cocktail.

For this part of Zumanity, she is topless. Elsewhere, she’s required to perform in the nude. Performing sans clothes doesn’t bother Calcutt. But she admits it can be daunting to appear with acrobats possessing the bodies of “Olympic athletes.”

“You have to own it,” she said. “You can’t think about it. I just tell myself I’m here to show my flaws. I’m the clown.”

Originally from Indian Head, Sask., Calcutt is married with a daughter and a son. Her “show-must-go-on-attitude” was apparent when she was required to return to the stage three months after giving birth to each of her children.

“That was intense. I was nursing, so you’re pumping [breast milk] in the dressing room,” she said. “And then you’re naked 12 weeks after you’ve had a child. You’re at your most vulnerable.”
As for those creepy clowns, well, Calcutt isn’t worried they’ve damaged the reputation of a time-honoured art form. She says being a professional clown was never an easy career path. In any case, she’s proud to be a member of the tribe.

“The clown reminds us, get over yourself, you’re just human … we’re all equal,” Calcutt said with a smile.


© Copyright Times Colonist
- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/uvic-grad-a-proud-member-of-the-clown-tribe-1.2374449#sthash.JLaOkcr0.dpuf
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Phoenix Theatre Anniversary Alumni Festival

10/25/2016

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Class teaches the joys of playing the clown

10/20/2016

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Overcoming fear of being the idiot lifts students to new levels of creativity

By CAROL CLING
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Everybody knows about class clowns.

Clown class, by contrast, is something entirely different.

There’s plenty of laughter, to be sure, as 14 students— from Strip performers to retirees— gather weekly to learn the fundamentals of funny business.

Inevitably, those fundamentals include donning bulbous red noses and fanciful hats.

But the class also touches on less tangible elements, including embracing your flaws and finding your inner child— the one who knows how to play without overthinking the process.

“If you’ve been a child— and we all have — you’ve experienced play,” with “the innocence and total commitment” that accompanies the experience, instructor Shannan Calcutt explains just before she calls the class to order. “We all have a clown in us, waiting to come out.”

The introductory class began before reports of “creepy clown” sightings, but Calcutt decries the trend, calling the so-called clowns “disturbed people dressing up in a costume.” As she points out, “if they dressed up as police officers or firemen, they would say they were people disguised as firemen or police officers.”

Clowns “are there to make us forget our troubles,” she asserts. “Clown is a beautiful art form. … No clown I know would ever do anything like this.”

And Calcutt— whose “day job” involves clowning around in the cast of Cirque du Soleil’s “Zumanity” — should know.

GETTING DOWN TO FUNNY BUSINESS

As she calls this clown class to order, she instructs the students to remove their shoes and socks and form a circle.

They’re gathered at Vegas Theatre Hub, which offers a variety of improvisational classes at its new downtown headquarters, across from the Neon Museum.

The front room still bears multiple reminders of its former life as a Veterans of Foreign Wars post, including patriotic redwhite- and-blue bunting that, come to think of it, could double nicely as circus decor.
It’s hardly accidental that the clown class takes place at Vegas Theatre Hub; creative director Darren Pitura, a fellow Cirque veteran, happens to be Calcutt’s husband. (Theymet while performing on the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit— she’s from Saskatchewan, he’s from Manitoba— and moved to Las Vegas 11 years ago when Shannan joined Cirque and Pitura started with the Flamingo’s Second City improv show.) Calcutt rounds up the students for an exercise she calls “Jacques a Dit” — better known in these parts as “Simon Says.” (The French name comes courtesy of master teacher Philippe Gaulier, with whom Calcutt studied in Paris.) As class members circle ’round, Calcutt issues commands— some prefaced by “Jacques a Dit,” some not.

“Who made a mistake?” she asks once the students stop. After ’fessing up to moving without hearing “Jacques a Dit,” each guilty class member must ask a fellow student for a kiss— or a hit. Some students ask, and receive, kisses on the cheek, along with hearty hugs. Others request— and get— a slap on the hand, the arm, or another (better padded) anatomical area.

Following “Jacques a Dit,” the class moves on to another exercise. Two by two, they enter the circle’s center and tuck long, colorful scarves into the back of their pants. The goal: snatch the other’s scarf. (Think “Rip the Tail Off the Donkey.”) Initial participants employ a direct approach, circling briefly before getting down to business.

“If you’re watching and you’re bored, raise your hands,” Calcutt announces. Several students do just that, prompting the next two participants to up their game— twisting out of reach a la Twister, making eye contact with the audience. One even pulls his scarf between his legs for protection, triggering a round of laughter.

“When they started to take some risks, were you more interested?” Calcutt asks. “That was an awesome moment when she had his and he grabbed hers … and it was even more delightful to see her fail.” After all, “if the king falls, we love it.”

VULNERABILITY IS STRONG SUIT

As the game progresses, with the addition of music (from Offenbach’s cancan to “America” from “West Side Story”), pairs of participants dance tangos, use fellow students as shields, employ wrestling moves and otherwise heighten the excitement.

“You see the relationship,” Calcutt notes after one pairing. “We have the idiot and the queen. I love it. I could watch that all day.”

Calcutt urges the players to “really connect with your audience. In clown , the audience is also your partner.”

And throughout,”make yourself vulnerable,” Calcutt instructs her students. “You are always vulnerable. The joy is the vulnerability.“ The stakes get even higher during the third class exercise: a dance competition.
“In clown, it’s life or death,” Calcutt warns. “Your goal is to get everyone’s attention.”

In each round, three participants don hats— and noses— before emerging from behind wooden walls, making their grand entrances to disco hits of yore. Mid-competition, Calcutt announces that they’re no longer competitors, but teams of three, forcing them to improvise group moves before reverting to solo status.

Individually and collectively, students shake their groove thing, roll on the floor, form pyramids and prance around in striking headgear— black pointy witch hats, crowns, sequined fedoras, furry Elmer Fudd bomber hats, jester caps and black Spanish flamenco hats with red ball fringe. (To say nothing of those rose-red noses.) “Even when you are three idiots moving like this, it totally looks choreographed,” Calcutt praises one group. “It’s so great— because it’s so bad.” After watching another trio, she observes, “you’re doing a bit of slapstick— not well, but it’s like soap opera acting. It’s so bad, we believe it.”

Following every exercise, Calcutt and her students break down what went right — and what went wrong.

“Your presence is so intense,” Wes Scarpias tells fellow student Lisa Illia.

“I love you,” Illia responds, deadpan.

And when Calcutt suggests to Roni Mahler (who’s wearing a T-shirt with two different-sized portraits of composer Gustav Mahler, emblazoned “Mahler Smahler”) that “you can work less here,” Mahler replies with a rueful “I always do too much.”

But not to worry.

“We’re doing comedy and clown,” Calcutt reminds the class members. “You’re going to fail more than you succeed. Give yourself that permission.”

At the end of the dance competition sequence, Calcutt shares a secret.

“I’ve been teaching 16 years— and this is the second time someone has not taken his clothes off during this exercise,” she says. “So bravo for not being naked. But you can take a little more risk.”

FINAL ANALYSIS

Taking a break during the three-hour class, some students gulp water, share snacks and ponder why they’re there.


Darin Good, an acrobat in Cirque’s “Ka,” has taken other Theatre Hub classes but finds the clown class “helps you get out of your comfort zone,” he explains. “It just refreshes you in your day-to-day work.”


Alex Buckner, a classically trained ballet dancer, and actor Michael Forsch perform together in Planet Hollywood’s “V— the Ultimate Variety Show” as the Quiddlers— and are taking Calcutt’s clown class together.


“You find the best version of yourself as a clown,” Forsch says. “I laugh the hardest when I am terrible as a clown.”


Illia, a community theater veteran, is “sort of retired” and has a lot of free time to indulge her affinity for performing.


For Alberto Del Campo, another “Ka” acrobat, Calcutt’s clown class “helps us in what we do a lot,” especially in onstage moments “where we have freedom to explore.”


Besides, “I always wanted to be a clown,” he adds. “It’s a lot of fun,” but “when you work with professional clowns, you realize how much work it is. It exercises different muscles.”


The break’s ending, and before class resumes, Sue Kane— who’s welcomed audience members to “Ka” for nine years as a Cirque gatekeeper— comments to no one in particular, “I wish this class could go on and on forever.”


The students are at the halfway mark — in the third of six classes.


Now that break’s over, it’s time for another exercise, another chance for Calcutt to remind them, “whatever you’re doing is perfect.”


After all, “in society today, we hide our faults and flaws,” she notes. “In clown, we celebrate them.”

Which is precisely why these class clowns are here.

“You learn to feel stupid,” Good says, “and enjoy it.”


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Burnt Tongue

9/25/2016

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October 25 - 29, 2016
Written by Shannan Calcutt (BFA’97) & Sue Morrison
Directed by Sue Morrison

For the past decade, writer, actor, instructor and clown extraordinaire Shannan Calcutt has called the Las Vegas stage of Cirque du Soleil’s show Zumanity her home. As well as being the show’s Co-Comedic Director and the Clown Coach for Cirque du Soleil’s resident shows, Shannan is best known as Izzy, the charming and radiant clown with the keen sense of timing and a razor sharp wit. In Burnt Tongue, Izzy has met a man on the internet and decides this is the guy for her! She arrives for their blind date wearing a wedding dress insisting she’s just “totally prepared to be spontaneous.”
Appropriate for ages 16 +



https://finearts.uvic.ca/theatre/phoenix/
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'Celebrate Your Ridiculousness'

8/31/2016

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Shannan is teaching her popular clown workshop 'Celebrate Your Ridiculousness' at Vegas Theatre Hub- SOLD OUT

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST, THIS CLASS HAS FILLED TO CAPACITY.

This class is open to all brave souls ready to take the plunge into the wonderful world of play. No previous experience needed.

Wednesdays 11:30am - 2:00pmSeptember 14th - October 19th
6 Week Course
$250
Vegas Theatre Hub,
705 Las Vegas Blvd. N,  across the street from the Neon Museum

It's time to risk being seen in all your glory! We'll explore the world of play; living in the moment - and reacting in the moment; following an impulse; thinking on the outside; connecting and involving an audience; knowing when to exit - always a good thing; improvising from the heart; playing at the height of emotions - more, more, more; vulnerability; why something's funny - or not; taking risks; flaunting our faults; laughing in failures face; the power of the ensemble & how to create honest, engaging performances. Most of all, we'll experience the freedom & joy that comes from embracing & celebrating our ridiculousness!

Register here:

https://www.tickettailor.com/checkout/view-event/id/59271/chk/1cae


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  • Comedian / Actor
  • Coach
  • Workshops
    • Make a Show
    • Custom
    • Show Up and Write
    • Virtual Playground
    • Play the Part
    • F-Bomb: Funny, Fearless, and Female
    • Celebrate Your Ridiculousness!
    • I'm With Stupid: Clown Duos
    • Make ‘em Laugh
    • Mask
  • Writer / Director
    • VIVID Grand Show
    • Clowns After Midnight
    • Fifth Annual One Night for One Drop
    • Spiegleworld
    • Cirque du Soleil
    • Inaugural One Night for One Drop
    • Solo Shows
  • Contact
  • Shannan's Oath