Butts & Anger: A Clown Showcase by Priscilla Costa

Priscilla Costa is a multi-faceted comedic performer/director/producer who specializes in clown theatre. Known to make her audiences laugh, gasp and even cry, Priscilla is no stranger to breaking boundaries and revealing stranger than fiction characters. Priscilla delves deep into personal taboo and trauma, offering a comedic performance that’s both thought-provoking and side-splitting. She has trained and performed in several styles of clown and comedy including bouffon, Richard Pochinko Baby-Clown, sketch, improv, and mask, and has worked with teachers all over the world including the infamous Philippe Gaulier. Her solo bouffon show ‘Mona Monaé’ toured Fringe & Clown festivals internationally. Costa lives in Vancouver, B.C.

clowning is an ancient artform that gives the artist freedom to be absurd and unpredictable and let their freak flag fly. This isn’t about putting on a red nose, this is about pushing boundaries. As the cost of living in Vancouver, B.C. continues to climb, artists either escape to more affordable cites or give up the dream altogether. But Priscilla Costa is not only making a life with the artform she loves, she’s producing opportunities for other performers to explore, learn and hone their craft in studio and on stage.

On October 2nd, 2024, six students joined Costa for their first of four workshops in which they would create and develop a clown character from scratch. After the four workshops were complete, the students performed a showcase of the clown characters they created under Costa’s tutelage at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th.

Some students were experienced performers. Some had previous clown training. And some had never even been in front of an audience. But they all trusted Costa to take them on the journey from zero to a brand new character in four weeks. And they would all work with the same theme that had become the official rallying cry over the workshop period even though no one one can really recall where it came from: butts and anger.

Each clown act was unique, physically challenging and outrageously funny. There was a russian contortionist, a hard-drinking viking, an anally fixated priest, a woman playing a man and a man playing Nancy Sinatra. Oh, and a non-binary being gave birth to an alien.

In this photo essay, you’ll witness Priscilla Costa create a safe, supportive and nurturing environment for her students to share what they created under her expert facilitation. But most importantly, you’ll see the joy and pride that radiates from Costa’s face as she watches her students go beyond their own expectations and create their own special world on stage.

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Captions:

1 An extension cord emergency has Priscilla Costa running through What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024. As clown student/performer Zoe Jordan looks on, Costa plugs in what needs to be plugged in before the audience arrives for the student showcase.

2 Priscilla Costa gets ready to help her student performers with make-up before their showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024. The make-up theme for the evening’s show? Ugly and uglier, according to Costa.

3 As student/performer Kate Bateman looks on, Priscilla Costa applies make-up to the face of Kyle Herman, whose clown character is a heavy-drinking viking. This showcase, at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024 will be Herman’s very first clown performance.

4 Student/performer Ron Skolney-Elverson receives final make-up touches from Priscilla Costa before putting on his last costume piece: a red shower cap. Skolney-Elverson’s performance at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024 will be his first as a clown.

5 Jamie Dale, an accomplished Vancouver-based blues singer, closes her eyes as Priscilla Coast applies setting powder to Dale’s clown makeup. Although Dale has performed countless times as a vocalist, this will be her first performance as a clown at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024.

6 Priscilla Costa answers a question from another student as she assists student/performer Ernesto Ponce with his straw wig. Ponce has studied clowning for over ten years but the character he will perform at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024 was developed during Costa’s workshop.

7 Jamie Dale works her way into her character as Priscilla Costa adjusts her pigtails before the student showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024.

8 Ron Skolney-Elverson and Priscilla Costa discuss music cues for Skolney-Elverson’s clown act. Costa has not only worked with the students to develop their characters, but has also produced, directed, will perform in and also MC the student showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024.

9 Priscilla Costa gives Kyle Herman directions on where to hang an additional light for the evening’s performance at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024 as student/performers Zoe Jordan and Ernesto Ponce look on.

10 It’s almost showtime at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024. With only a few minutes to door opening, the student/performers warm up their bodies and voices in anticipation of performing their brand new clown acts for a sold out audience.

11 As the audience files in to What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024, Priscilla Costa offers her student/performers a few last words of wisdom before they perform their brand new clown acts for a sold out house.

12 As the audience files in to What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024, Priscilla Costa goes over a few remaining performance details with student/performer Ernesto Ponce as student/performer Randy Myers looks on.

13 After performing an opening monologue, MC Priscilla Costa applauds along with the audience to welcome the first performer of the evening to the stage. Costa directed students from her clowning workshop in a showcase she produced at East Vancouver’s What Lab on November 17th, 2024. The show was sold out.

14 Priscilla Costa laughs while encouraging student/clown Zoe Jordan as she performs her clown act at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024. This was Jordan’s first time on stage as a clown.

15 Priscilla Costa watches with pride as student Ernesto Ponce performs the clown act he developed during her Clown School workshop series. The series culminated in a showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024.

16 Priscilla Costa laughs uproariously as her clowning student Ron Skolney-Elverson performs his character, “The Shower Guy.” The showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024 was Skolney-Elverson’s first performance of as a clown.

17 Clown performer and student Randy Meyers has just given birth to an alien being that covered him in blood as instructor Priscilla Costa looks on, laughing during a showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024. Meyers, a professional wrestler, is Costa’s private clowning student.

18 Jamie Dale performs her clown act “The Dog Trainer” at showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024 as instructor Priscilla Costa covers her mouth to hold in her uproarious laughter. Dale developed the character during Costa’s Clown School workshop series.

19 Priscilla Costa applauds her clowning students at the end of their sold out showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024. The show, unofficially themed “Butts & Anger” was the first time almost half of the students had performed as clowns in front of a live audience.

20 With the showcase at What Lab in East Vancouver on November 17th, 2024 completed, student Randy Meyers hugs instructor Priscilla Costa as student Ernesto Ponce waits his turn. Priscilla and students celebrated their successful, sold out performance at a Commercial Drive bar that evening.