500 Clown

“A work of psychic combat and power games that will have you laughing and holding your breath all at the same time.” — Chicago Sun-Times

“Frightfully funny” — Village Voice

“Fiercely clever and monstrously funny… a bold, compassionate and often dangerous distillation of Mary Shelley’s horror novel about arrogance, obsession and irresponsibility.” — Daily Herald

“Jaw Dropping! Hilarious!” — Chicago Tribune

Three Clowns embark on a madcap journey to construct Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory. Bound in elaborate Edwardian costumes, they struggle through acrobatic feats in an extended battle with an unruly table. The Clowns stitch together the tale of the Doctor and the Monster from scraps of the classic novel and various Hollywood versions, inviting audience involvement throughout. Comic mayhem takes a sharp turn towards a devastating climax when one clown, forced into the tragic role of Shelley’s Creature, suffers abuse and abandonment.

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500 Clown Macbeth premiered in Chicago in 2000. 500 Clown, the company (Molly Brennan, Adrian Danzig, Leslie Buxbaum Danzig, Paul Kalina) was born in 2001. 500 Clown uses action-based performance, improvisation, and circus arts to tell long-form dramatic stories that catapult the performers into physical and emotional risk. 500 Clown strives to create a charged environment that celebrates the unpredictable power of the moment. The company develops its shows over roughly a 2-year time frame, alternating between rehearsing and performing. But even once a show has officially opened, it continues to evolve through performance and more rehearsal time. 500 Clown likens its process of developing shows to Vaudeville, where acts were continually honed in response to audiences.

In Chicago, 500 Clown has performed its shows at venues including Steppenwolf as part of its Visiting Company Initiative, Lookingglass, Theater on the Lake, Chopin, and Storefront. The company has toured to PS 122 in New York City; the Orange County Performing Arts Center, CA; the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, MD; the State Theatre of New Jersey; Bowdoin College, ME; Creative Alliance, MD; Acorn Theater, MI; Franklin & Marshall College, PA; North Central College, IL; Miller Center for the Arts, PA; Juniata College, PA; the Theater at Raritan Valley Community College, NJ; SUNY Oswego, NY; Edison Theater, St. Louis, MO; and Capitol Theater in Yakima, WA. Internationally, 500 Clown has performed at the Midland Arts Center in Birmingham, England as part of Chicago’s Sister Cities Program.

500 Clown received a commission in 2008 from the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center to develop 500 Clown and the Elephant Deal, as well as a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Ensemble Theatre Collaborations Grant Program, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which recognized 500 Clown for doing leading ensemble work in the country. 500 Clown was in residence as Presidential Fellow in the Arts at University of Chicago in 2005-2008. 500 Clown is supported in part by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, The Boeing Company, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, The Mayer & Morris Kaplan Family Foundation, the Nathan E. Cummings Foundation, the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnolley Foundation, and the Alphawood Foundation, as well as many individuals.