“Ready, Set, Dead” by University of California 08/06/2009

At 7:15 on the night of June 8, 2009, “Ready, Set, Dead” by University of California, Irvine was performed in Duanjun Theatre at STA.

The Department of Drama at the University of California, Irvine celebrates its 44th year as a premier academic and professional training program with a distinguished resident and guest faculty, excellent facilities, interactive student body, and extraordinary alumni placement record. They are committed to the development of theatre in which both performance and scholarly activity are informed by the exploration, scrutiny, and examination of a variety of social, political, and cultural phenomena. The production
“Ready, Set, Dead” is created by Eli Simon. It features two white-face silent clowns in an interactive sound-scape performance. The play examines and interweaves themes of forbidden love, family allegiance, and life/death choices found in two plays: Romeo and Juliet and Caucasian Chalk Circle.

The stage design is only a chair. During the whole performance, actors use their body language and facial expression to act out the story. Moreover, the clowns inhabit multiple roles and encourage audience interaction throughout the performance.  This style of clowning was developed by Eli Simon, and is described in his first book, Masking Unmasked, Palgrave 2003, and in detail in his upcoming book, The Art of Clowning, Palgrave, 2009.

Simon＇s troupe, CLOWNZILLA, has received rave reviews, including Critic＇s Choice in the LA Times for their world premieres in California. The troupe has enjoyed successful tours to the Arezzo Festival in Italy and the Gwacheon Festival in South Korea.

The performance