June 13, 2016, 8PM

Mark Jaster

Mark Jaster studied mime with Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau, and served as Mr Marceau's teaching assistant in a series of 1980's master classes and seminars. Clown training includes study with Dody DiSanto, Ami Hattab, Jango Edwards, Emanuelle Delpeche, many hours logged watching Chaplin, Keaton, and the Marx Brothers, and many more hours and years performing at the Maryland Renaissance Festival as A Fool named 'O'. He also performs regularly with The Big Apple Circus' Clown Care Unit, and he co-directs Happenstance Theater with Sabrina Mandell, devising and appearing in critically acclaimed collaborative, original works of "Visual, Poetic Theater." Their new show, "Moxie: A Happenstance Vaudeville" opens at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda onJune 24th, 2016.

Stephon Walker

Stephon Walker performs unnatural acts of comedy with shattered glass, rusty nails, a staple gun, razor blades, bondage, a love of pop culture, and a rubber chicken in order to make the world safe for nerds, dorks, and loveable losers. Swami YoMahmi has performed regularly at Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, as well as festivals, conventions, and fairs, and has been featured in documentaries, magazines, news segments, and the books "Carny Sideshows" and "Weird Virginia". He is the founder and artistic director of Washington, DC's premiere sideshow troupe, Cheeky Monkey Sideshow.

Jack Novak

Jack Novak is a DC-based playwright and actor. He studied Mime at Northwestern University in the year-long Mime Sequence, and performed with The Mime Company throughout the Chicago area for several years, before moving to DC. DC-area credits include: Wild Oats, All's Well That Ends Well (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company); Brother Bear, Blue, The BFG (Imagination Stage); Pinocchio! (Faction of Fools); (a love story) (Source Festival); and many more. His plays include A Decade of Wandering (production—St Bonaventure University, Agnes Nixon Playwriting Award—Northwestern University), The Great Lt. Sprinkle Didn't Save Me (workshop & production—Field Trip Theatre), and two original musicals written for the Speak Out Onstage ensemble and produced at Imagination Stage—Interface and Fanatics. www.jackjacknovak.com

Christopher Davis

The Renaissance Man is (really) Christopher Davis; actor, author and comedian. In an effort to put his degree in Philosophy from Villanova University to the best possible use, he's been entertaining and educating audiences of all ages since 1988. Shakespeare, Poe, Dickens, Greek Mythology and Kipling provide his material for interactive school programs which make history and literature more accessible and enjoyable, while giving audience members a chance to take a meaningful role in the performance. Oh...and juggling!

renaissance-man.com

Andy Knuth

Andy Knuth is a teacher and performer of improvisation and clown at The Second City. He has studied clowning and physical performance with Sue Morrison, Escola de Clown de Barcelona, Avner Eisenberg, Dean Evans, 500 Clown, Neo-Futurists, and studied in Italy with Paola Colleto, Matteo Destro, and the famous mask-maker Donato Satori. He is also a graduate of The Second City Conservatory, The Second City Music Conservatory, Annoyance Theater, and iO Theater. He has clowned all over Chicago in his solo clown show, The Music Box, Figment Festival, International Physical Festival, ALL AMERICAN: A Clown Play, Poncho y Papaya: A Clown Tragedy, variety shows, and streets of Spain and Chicago. Andy combines his training in improvisation and physical theater with Native American, European, and American clowning.

Home Improv Mints

The Home Improv Mints are a DC based improv troupe performing short-form comedy sketches in and around the metropolitan DC area.  We are available to perform at private and public events for both adult and children's interactive sessions and we embrace audience participation!

Matthew Pauli, Co-Producer

Matthew Pauli, co-Producer of Clown Cabaret, is a 1991 graduate of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and has been clowning ever since. He appears regularly at corporate events, street festivals, fairs and picnics and in his stage shows. His work as a clown has taken him around the U.S. and as far as Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since 1999, he has been proud to be part of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Program, performing at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. For 6 years he toured with The Big Apple Circus sharing the role of Grandma with creator and International Clown Hall of Fame inductee Barry Lubin.

www.matthewpauli.net

Karen Beriss, Co-Producer

Karen Beriss, co-producer and emcee of this month's Clown Cabaret has been a professional magician for over 15 years. Performing at trade shows around the world, her magic and dry sense of humor - combined with corporate messaging skills - have captured the eyes of the press including National Public Radio, Market Place and The Wall Street Journal. She is super excited to have just joined the Big Apple Circus Clown Care program performing at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Karen is a regular at The Comedy Zone in Washington DC. She trained in improv and acting with Second City in New York. And she has performed for celebrities such as Johnny Depp, Kirstie Alley, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, the Washington Capitals and Robert Goulet. Most recently she worked with Leon Redbone. Plus, Karen’s mom thinks Karen is funny – so it must be true.

www.swellmagic.com

Rich Potter, Co-Producer

Rich Potter is a co-producer and frequent performer for Clown Cabaret. He's studied with Ringling Bros, Maine's Celebration Barn Theater, and Nouveau Clown Institute in Barcelona, Spain, and still hasn't attained his dream of knowing nothing.

His appearances on the David Letterman Show, at the Vice Presidential Mansion, in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and other domestic venues and in dozens of other countries have gotten him a laugh or two.

RichPotter.NET

Photo Credit: Silly Human Tricks Photography