Lets go Back To Clown School this Thursday
everyone's the class clown now :)
Hello! In just two days we’ll be going Back To Clown School. Can you believe it? I hope your red nose and honking horn are polished and ready. If they aren’t, that’s ok too — clowns come in all shapes and sizes. Dress in a way that shows off your inner clown and you may win a prize or even some cold hard cash!
We’ve got all sorts of exciting performances for you, so study up on all things silly and we’ll see you at Dromedary Bar on Thursday at 7pm.
xoxo
Cass + Babz + Caty
Meet the Performers
Mini q+as with the artists gracing our stage on August 24.
How would you describe the work you make as a performer?
Josh Nasser (he/him): Silly, goofy, good, and fun is what I try to make when I make any art :’)
Tank (they/them): Tank is just a normal girl. She works with the collective i don’t wanna see that and produces performance art events and experimental theatre. she’s also a scorpio.
Julian Hernandez (he/him): Earnest? I’m not always playing myself but I am always playing truthfully. I’m playful and silly, but couched in the weight of being a living thing. Ay chihuahua.
Jester of No Court (he/him or she/her): Terror folk
Cochina Divina (they/them): It’s very playful, it’s very dramatic, and often very very messy. I love emotions, visceral feelings and images, engaging with the human body and all its grossness, textures, desires. I love to play with gender and fruit, syrup and hair – it’s all a good time.
I mainly do draglesque because I find the mix of the two to be so freeing. I find drag stimulates me artistically in so many ways – the costuming, the plot, the dramatic makeup, the connection to my community, history, and culture – while the burlesque elements keep me in tune with my body and my love for dance and sensuality, and also feels like an ode to SWorkers.
What’s a tasty thing you’ve eaten lately?
Josh: I had deep dish pizza and it went so hard.
Tank: squid ink lobster pasta
Julian: The Rotis at Royal Bakery in Crown Heights go dumb hard.
Jester: Victory
Cochina: Chicken curry puffs - I adore them and I finally found a place in Brooklyn that makes them soo good (I have high standards after meeting my curry puff match-made-in-heaven deep in Manhattan)
Do you know your sun, moon, and rising signs?
Josh: I know I’m a Leo and nothing else I am so sorry hahahaha
Tank: scorpio sun leo moon sag rising.
Julian: Sun: Virgo. Moon: Leo. Rising: Scorpio. Oft described as “Nightmare.”
Jester: No I don't believe in calendars
Cochina: Gemini sun, Taurus moon, Virgo rising.
Why do you think some people are afraid of clowns?
Josh: They’re up to NO GOOD I can feel it in my bones.
Tank: clowns are a blank and pure canvas. which can also be used as a disguise to obscure nefarious purposes. they’re also kinda uncanny valley. human but not quite.
Julian: It. Clowns were originally theatre/entertainment, you know, physical comedic performance. In the middle of the 20th century some ad agencies made the choice to market clowns to kids. Then in the 80s Stephen King decided to prey on that sense of adolescent joy and turn it into a scary thing. This is traceable.
Jester: They can't handle the pressure
Cochina: I think there's a million reasons. They look unnatural, I think people are hesitant to trust something that feels potentially fake or artificially friendly - like a permanent smile. Some of their costuming has historically had racist elements, there have been people like John Wayne Gacy that have given them a horrid name, plus that little burst in 2015 of people dressing like clowns and attacking one another definitely didn’t help.
When I was little my sister was terrified of clowns (which I found hilarious and made me like them more, sorry Gabs) and she would have nightmares of clowns with huge mouths and teeth. Some find them to be too looming, looking for the kid at the party that didn’t super want to be there and engage with them. They’re the embodiment of no social anxiety, which I’m sure makes a lot of people uncomfortable and anxious. They want to play pranks and be silly and if you don’t know how to tap into that energy it can be like pulling teeth.
Plus people’s minds are drawn to corruption and contrast (or maybe just mine?) and when they think of something super super good and innocent and kind, they imagine if it was a facade, or what it would be like if that thing experienced hardship, especially since clowns at the end of the day are just people. I wonder if that makes them any more comforting or scary to those that fear them? Regardless, I love them for all that stuff, I really dig a scary clown as much as a sweetheart clown. Clowns are sick, they are human emotion in a big bubbly ball and like… same.
Are there any upcoming shows or projects you’d like to plug?
Josh: I have an album coming out hopefully soon follow me on insta @noshjasser for all updates!
Tank: The Nobodies drag competition. 9/8 at 7!
Julian: Havana Club y Bacardí (the best improv show in NYC) is coming to the BCC Friday 8/25. Perfect Latine Improv. Jooby is always cooking up something new.
Jester: 8/26 - Climate benefit in Bushwick at Rubulad
Cochina: September 30th Caribbean night, hosted by mariamilagros.
Come to Queers N Peers: Back To Clown School this Thursday, August 24 at Dromedary Bar, 266 Irving Avenue, 7pm. Featuring Tank, Josh Nasser, Cochina Divina, Julian Hernandez, and Jester of No Court. Hosted by Cassidy Dawn Graves and Comrade Barbie; co-produced by Caty Cherepakhov. $10 advance (venmo Cassidy-Graves), $15 door, NOTAFLOF.