The Fool Within: Self-Discovery Through Clown and Mask

This six-day intensive works deep parts of the imagination and the self, to help break down personal, creative and emotional blocks. The workshop combines the pioneering clown work of Richard Pochinko with Drama Therapy techniques to turn creative play into a tool for self-discovery and growth.

 The course is emotionally rigorous and quite physical, but in a way that is accessible to all bodies and abilities. We’ll use our bodies, as well as paint and clay, to explore our own imaginations and to express what we find. But this is by no means a visual arts or theater class—no experience necessary!

 Each day begins with physical warm-ups meant to connect students with their bodies’ own impulses. From there, students will explore their relationships to color through imaginative exercises and paintings. Finally, each student creates a mask, which they use as a tool to explore hidden aspects of their own inner world.

These exercises are supplemented with Drama Therapy techniques to help facilitate each student’s own unique journey through this material. These therapeutic exercises may involve  exploring difficult moments that came up during the work, increasing one’s own self-awareness, or helping integrate moments of personal growth. This workshop will ask the group to practice being comfortable with the unknown inside each of us and to remain curious about what we find.

 With an awareness that each of us brings our own and our community’s diversity of histories, wounds and resiliencies, this intensive holds a trauma-informed lens. Each participant will have choice and support to follow their own impulses, both in the clown work, as well as in their own therapeutic/healing process.

 Why clown?

Every culture has clowns– people whose role is to speak truth to power, upset the social hierarchy, and amplify the messages of the divine. But in order to do this work, a clown must be able to laugh at themselves. They must share with us their struggles and their humanity. Otherwise, how can we trust them?

 This workshop provides a safe (and fun) way to begin the journey of discovering what is most beautiful, alive, and ridiculous within you. And from there, finding how that deeper connection to the self allows for greater connection with others and the world around us. And of course, you’ll also get to wear a red nose.

 Particular aspects of focus for this workshop:

• Following your own impulses
• Noticing your tendencies and patterns
• Sitting in discomfort, playing in discomfort, and connecting in discomfort
• Accessing the creativity and intelligence the body
• Working intuitively, rather than intellectually
• Making connection in an embodied way
• Finding strength through pleasure and vulnerability
• Discovering your own self-delight

Schedule 

Saturday, January 25th

• 3 – 8pm Check-in
• 7 – 8pm Dinner
• 7:30 – 9pm Opening Program: Introductions, followed by a brief intention-setting group activity

Sunday, January 26th

• 7 – 8am Early morning stretching and yoga (optional)
• 8 – 9am Breakfast
• 9am – 12pm  Morning Program: We begin with games meant to loosen up our bodies and our impulses. A few brief exercises, such as Walking to the Wall, and a guided color meditation serve to introduce participants to playing with color. Next, each participant doe an exploration and painting for the colors Red and Orange.
• 12 – 1pm Lunch
• 1 – 5pm Afternoon Program: Making Contact. This foundational exercise will take the bulk of the afternoon.
• 5 – 6pm A closing ritual then brings us all back to the group, and allows time for debriefing the experience of the day.
• 6 – 7pm Dinner
• 7:30pm Free time for Relaxation

 Monday, January 27th

•  7 – 8am Early morning stretching and yoga (optional)
• 8 – 9am Breakfast
• 9am – 12pm Morning Program: Opening ritual. Welcome into the space something that has been stewing with you since Making Contact. Then, participants explore and paint worlds for Yellow & Green. Finally, they make a clay form, which will become their mask.
• 12 – 1pm Lunch
• 1 – 5pm Afternoon Program: The exercise: Something Fantastic. Much like Making Contact, this exercise will take an entire block.
• 5 – 6pm A closing ritual then brings us all back to the group, and allows time for debriefing the experience of the day.
• 6 – 7pm Dinner
• 7:30pm Free time for Relaxation

 Tuesday, January 28th

•  7 – 8am Early morning stretching and yoga (optional)
• 8 – 9am Breakfast
• 9am – 12pm Morning Program: Drama Therapy warm up using images and words that have come up for participants, to provide an embodied process for digesting the work we’ve done so far. Exploration and painting for Blue & Indigo
• 12 – 1pm Lunch
• 1 – 5pm Afternoon Program:  A short drama therapy exercise to bring people into the experience of partner work. Then the exercise Masterpiece/Creator, which brings people into work as a pair, introducing sound as an element. Following this, we do the exercises Waving Goodbye to Someone You Love and Return to Childhood
• 5 – 6pm Closing Ritual
• 6 – 7pm Dinner
• 7:30 – 9pm After dinner homework: participants must papier mache their masks

Wednesday, January 29th

• 7 – 8am Early morning stretching and yoga (optional)
• 8 – 9am Breakfast
• 9am – 12pm Morning Program:  Students explore and paint Violet. The rest of this morning’s session is dedicated to drama therapy work—the specifics of the exercises will be based on the needs of the specific participants in the moment.
• 12 – 1pm Lunch
• 1 – 5pm Afternoon Program: Breaking the clay out of the masks and painting them. Learning and exploring the six levels of impulse.
• 5 – 6pm Closing Ritual
• 6 – 7pm Dinner
• 7:30pm Free time for Relaxation

Thursday, January 30th

•  7 – 8am Early morning stretching and yoga (optional)
• 8 – 9am Breakfast
• 9am – 12pm Morning Program: Participants explore the world of their mask and wear it for the first time. They develop a costume and a narrative through a series of embodied exercises. This is followed by drama therapy techniques related to the exploration of the masks.
• 12 – 1pm Lunch
• 1 – 5pm Afternoon Program: Further exploration into the masks, using techniques of drama therapy to bridge the creative exploration and the participants’ own journeys and struggles.
• 5 – 6pm Closing Ritual
• 6 – 7pm Dinner
• 7:30pm Free time for Relaxation

 Friday, January 31st

•  7 – 8am Early morning stretching and yoga (optional)
• 8 – 9am Breakfast
• 9am – 12pm Morning Program: Students learn the basics of clown energy and its embodiment. Each is given a nose to wear. Drama therapy techniques help them each explore their clown in the world of the mask.
• 12 – 1pm Lunch
• 1 – 6pm Afternoon Program: Each student presents a “turn” – a short, silent, unrehearsed piece, in which they present themselves as their clown.
• 6 – 7pm Dinner
• 7:30 – 9pm After dinner there is a closing activity for the group to integrate their experiences, struggles, and personal growth, while having the space to unpack or discuss any final thoughts.

Saturday, February 1st

• 7 – 11am Check-Out of Rooms
• 8 – 9am Breakfast
• 9 – 12am Free time For Spa and Relaxation
• 12 – 1pm Lunch and Departure