How long have you been a clown with the Troupe? I have been with the group just over a year now.
How did you hear about the Troupe? Through spontaneous or not so spontaneous connection and community. I heard about Hearts & Noses I think originally by meeting Jeannie Lindheim at a Drama Therapist Practice group in Somerville. Sometime thereafter I came across Jeannie’s Hearts & Noses training manual in Patch Adam’s massive library at the Gesundheit Institute in West Virginia. A couple years later a good friend and fellow improviser Allison King reminded me about auditions which I hastily emailed about at the last minute. The rest is nosetory (nose+history).
What inspired you to get trained and join? In short, recognizing laughter as a healing modality within myself physically, mentally, and emotionally and believing in laughter as part of what we all need even when things seem they are at there worst.
For the longer version, let’s play some connect the dots. Extensive connect the dots details ahead: I have been doing comedic improvisation for over a decade and for half that time have been training and also performing Playback Theater, another form of theater that is based off the healing effects of drama therapy for groups or communities.
Along the way I did my first actual clowning work with Eric Davis who is an amazing buffoon (an over the top ludicrous type of clown) performer. Following that I directed a group of improvisers for a non-profit called Laughing Matters, that my friend started. We would bring improv comedy performances to places in need: homeless shelters, senior centers, hospitals, etc.
In the midst of all of this, I volunteered teaching snowboarding to city youth, I broke my arm, started to meditate, take yoga classes, then became a meditation guide, a laughing yoga teacher, a yoga teacher and did some of that here in Boston and very briefly with children in Nepal. So while not getting paid for most of that, I was part of AmeriCorps for a year here in Boston where I was Youth Leadership Coordinator organizing programs for teens and various other community based projects.
And all this time very into the ideas of using play, drama, and laughter as forms of therapy. Then after seeing Patch speak at my alma mater Northeastern, I eventually made it over to Gesundheit where Patch inspired me even more. How’s that for a summation of all the things that have inspired me to be here with you all now.
Laughter, Play, Patch, Community Service, Youth, Etc. =O)
How was the clown training? What was your favorite part? Curious what all encompasses the clown training. In terms of the Goofs last year in New York and here in Boston with them, it was just great to meet so many different clowns, different types of clowns, and then of course to meet everyone in Hearts & Noses here with years of experience. It was great to observe and take in and learn. On top of that my favorite part was really going on visits with Joyce and Cheryl as mentors, to show me the ropes. I learned so much from them.
What is your clown name? How did it come about? Honk! is my clown name and I am trying to recollect how exactly it came about besides the obvious option to honk honk the slightly big nose I usually wear. I believe it has its origins in not liking being in traffic and even though I don’t honk, I often wish I would and probably speaks to just the impatient energy I often carry in real life. I have been known to put my nose on in traffic and see how many people I can at least get to break smile, even as we are bumper to bumper and not moving. Also as a wordsmith and writer of sorts I love onomatopoeia words i.e. words that come from a sound and sound like a sound. So Honk! Honk!
I have also have recently been playing with the clown name Walrus to go along with my mustache! Walrus is definitely a smart clown that knows everything (or not) whereas Honk! is my less than intelligent clown who knows little (except when needed, most of it).
What do you do for work? Currently I teach yoga to children ages 4+ and to adults, guide laughing yoga session throughout Greater Boston, am a cast member for True Story Theater (a playback group based in Arlington), help manage Exhale Spa in downtown Boston, and help as jack-of-many-trades maintenance and tech guy at Yogaworks studios in Boston. If anyone wants some free passes to some classes or wants to take yoga with me, let me know!
What is your favorite part of clowning? Hearing the variety of other people’s laughter while partnering and creating something silly, new, and creative, in the hospitals, with my clown partners and knowing that we could help brighten the day of anyone who needs it from patients, to families, to staff, to the security guard, to the strangers on the street. I am all about positive psychology!
Where do you clown mostly? Franciscan, Spaulding, and hopefully BMC in the future, oh and on the street any chance I get.
Why do you think clowning is important for hospitalized children? Going back to positive psychology, knowing that we can bring some play, some lightness, and some color to what is unfortunately often a drab, draining experience and knowing that what we bring can really help strengthen not only patient outcome but also strengthen that hospital’s community as a whole which will can help lead to even better connections from patients to staff and more compassionate care. People need not only medicine to heal, people need people to heal.
How do people respond when you tell them you are a hospital clown? Great question. I think it has a range of responses: confused look; You do what? Oh that’s interesting! That’s perfect for you; Awww; Wow; I am scared of clowns; Like, what do you mean you clown in a hospital?; Oh that reminds me of that movie.