Kendall savage is the former artistic Director and co creator of the Montreal Clown festival. Future apprentice of Mike Kennard from MUMP and SMOOT , she finds herself located in Toronto Ontario where she is finishing the Second City Conservatory and taking the improv scene by storm.
Instagram: @pretty_funny_kendall_savage_
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Phil Rickaby
Hey listeners, Phil here. I just wanted to let you know that this January Stageworthy, will be seven years old and I can hardly believe it’s been that long. If you wanted to celebrate with me, there is no better way to do that than to help spread the news about Stageworthy by leaving a rating and review, especially if you listen on Apple podcasts, I would be so grateful if you did that. But I’m even more grateful that you’re listening. Thank you for seven years. I’m Phil Rickaby. And I’ve been a writer and performer for almost 30 years, but I’ve realised that I don’t really know as much as I should about the theatre scene outside of my particular Toronto bubble. Now, I’m on a quest to learn as much as I can about the theatre scene across Canada. So join me as I talk with mainstream theatre creators, you may have heard of an indie artist you really should know, as we find out just what it takes to be Stageworthy.
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Kendall Savage is very funny and very serious about clown. She’s the former artistic director and CO creator of the Montreal clown festival, a student at the Second City conservatory and a clown in her own right. In this conversation we talk about the origin of the Montreal clown festival, how Kendall fell in love with clowning how her innate clown might be an asshole and much more. Here’s our conversation
welcome, Kendall, it’s good to Good to see you in person. It’s been several years since I’ve seen your face.
Kendall Savage
Yeah, I can’t remember the last time I saw you in person.
Phil Rickaby
The last time you saw me in person would have been at the Halifax Fringe Festival.
Kendall Savage
Yeah, it was crazy fact. Holy crap. That was yeah, that was that was a great festival. That’s a beautiful city. That was great. I can’t I can’t get into it.
Phil Rickaby
You can’t articulate how good a time you had there. I
Kendall Savage
had a really memorable time. I don’t quite remember there was a lot going on.
Phil Rickaby
There was a lot going on because you were also producing the Montreal clown Festival at the same time that you were directing and presenting this show at the Halifax fringe.
Kendall Savage
Nari, it was my last year happily put up perhaps co producing, co producing that festival. That was That was crazy. Sorry. I hadn’t thought about the whole
Phil Rickaby
how long? How long have you been producing the festival for
Kendall Savage
gosh, I think I think it had been we were in year number four or five when I handed it over to the incredible Vanessa who do to take over the reins, but she has done a wonderful job of and they finally just had their very first year of funding, which was incredible and they got to pay everyone propriate prices and they got to move up to beautiful, beautiful new, very different vibe. Very wonderful theatre. The guys who look as sorry, I hope I pronounced that right Old Montreal and I just came back from it a few weeks ago and it was the most incredible experience. It was magical. It was really wonderful. Wow. Because net because I think now the New York clown festival is couplets. So all the New York clowns came up
Phil Rickaby
to see oh shit, that’s great. Oh.
Kendall Savage
And so I met some wonderful new friends and got to see a bunch of clowns. They had one guy very happily flew in from bein was like, Yeah, don’t worry about it. I come here from Spain. And he performed one night and they never got to, I don’t even know his name. But he was incredible performance, penning the rest of the festival. And he just like came in did this one cabaret and stayed for a day and then we walk back Spain or something.
Phil Rickaby
Oh, people are really dedicated to their clown.
Kendall Savage
Well in the community Wilden,
Phil Rickaby
which absolutely, absolutely. I know, Montreal has like a huge scene for just the physical arts as well as as well as you know, clown and other other other things as well. Toronto of course, had a clown festival. Yes. Yeah. Quite some time ago, I was with Keystone theatre and we were involved in that with
Kendall Savage
I saw you. We saw you perform. I remember that very vividly. No, it was wonderful. I remember remember, yeah, they folded. Unfortunately, David Kay and their their wonderful crew of people folded in 2018. Yeah. Which was very sad because without them my festival the festival Declan and Maria would never have worthies it wouldn’t be what it is today because I wouldn’t have created it. They really heavy influence on that and inspired me to turn to Montreal and start my own thing.
Phil Rickaby
Well, it also I mean, it also like there are these, the Keystone created two of our shows because of that festival. The like The Last Man on Earth, which we toured across Canada, gold fever, which we did a few times and at the Toronto fringe, like those shows wouldn’t have existed if not for the clown festival, because we got in with the proposal. And we did the show because of that festival. So the shows were created because of that. Yeah, we
Kendall Savage
I sincerely believe the client community owes a lot to Dave McCain, their crew for their festival because they were originals. They were originals. It was unfortunate that he you know, didn’t pan out the way everyone wanted. But you know, this like, sometimes and so have you perience it so
Phil Rickaby
yeah, it’s hard to I mean, it’s hard to create a festival, it’s hard, just as hard to keep a festival going. Um, you know how hard it is to just like, have a festival going on
Kendall Savage
is so hard. Like, there are little surprises around the corner that I never would have imagined. Just the legal contracts themselves sometimes became shocking and a lot of the paperwork, my partner Vanessa video, when she came on board. It I was so grateful that we called each other the sparkle and the glue. So I was the spark girl and she was the glue. And she really kept behind the scenes with the paperwork. And the grant writing and everything I was I would have been nothing without her. And like she was she was great. But just keeping the artists happy alone sometimes and being making sure we can honour their work appropriately with their technical needs. And everything also sometimes would just be so so wild that sometimes people would apply with shows and then show up and they’d have no show. So yeah, that happened way more than I ever want to experience again, that happened a lot. A lot. So they
Phil Rickaby
would they would like like just where they wing it.
Kendall Savage
There I need can remember the first few years just having to bite the bullet and pay for extra time in the theatre to make sure they were comfortable with their work and what was going on and give them some rehearsal time and pay for rehearsal space. Wow. Yeah, so and it happened. And I agree. What wonderful thing I walked away from is I really learned how to pick and choose my wars and that that was very humbling very quickly. Yeah, so
Phil Rickaby
here’s a question how how do you choose which battles to fight?
Kendall Savage
Um, that’s a good question. How do we choose? Well, I mean, if we’re gonna pretend that it’s a cave, we’re gonna put the financial side side it’s gonna cost me a lot of money. It’s not going to happen. Because at that time, everything was coming out of my pocket. My my pocket or my wonderful partner at the time, who was incredible financial backer to our festival if it was going to cost us too much money now that’s out of the question. That was not gonna happen. But it really was just having to step back and be like, Okay, what’s best for the work what’s best to keep everybody feeling supported? Like I, it was, it never was about my happiness. Because it wasn’t my festival. It was my it was my festival, but it wasn’t my festival it was for the community, about community, I wanted it to be somewhere where once a year, everyone could gather and celebrate something we mutually love, learn about different styles and types of clown and, and watch young artists flourish into professionals because we always need space for for the baby clowns for new clowns to come. And really, I just would have to sit back a lot and be like, Okay, what do I need to make sure that this artist is going to go on stage and feel as confident and comfortable and supportive as possible? And I would just have to do what was right and not necessarily what what ease? And then if I had to do what was right, I just would take a deep breath and be like, Okay, let’s, let’s problem solve because clouding essentially, to me it was is problem solving the impossible with the ridiculous. It has that’s worded. And that is what I believe that one of the essence of cloud answer is what I look for when I go to shows how are they using Cloud logic? How problem solving with ridiculous action. And I that it unfolds into my everyday life like okay, so it’s fine. Fine, we fix this and if it’s a ridiculous way to fix it, it is a way to do it. So here’s, here’s an
Phil Rickaby
interesting question and it sort of like jumps into this I’m going to one of the questions I’m going to be asking is how you fell in love with clown. But before I get to that I want to talk about I feel like whenever I’ve done clown in the past like by way back in theatre school and anytime I’ve done it everybody has their innate clown the way that they naturally go before there’s any kind of like, you layer on character or what that whatever that becomes. You have the clown that you are you put on that nose and you become that person. Can you describe for me what your innate clown is how were you? When When you begin at your natural clown?
Kendall Savage
I believe a national clown is quite an asshole. Can I swear I swear I’m this is this is your swearing? Fuck yes.
Phil Rickaby
Yes, swear.
Kendall Savage
So my innate clown is very high so it’s so funny. Listening to yourself articulate this. My innate clown is just my main client is an asshole. So I and and just wants to just wants to understand why everyone is so ridiculous. And they are so normal and it’s every everybody else and whenever I go into starting to get into my neat cloud, and I breathe into my body, and I breathe in my colours to my nose, because I I studied the Chico technique primarily although I have experienced many, many, many to where my heart lies. And when I breathe in my colours and I breathe in my nose on the very end, and I open my eyes I breathe in my natural surroundings and how my clown reacts to its natural surroundings. So depending on where I am, is my my essential reaction to what is going on and it’s often it’s often starts in a place of Wonder is discovery like, Whoa, what is this? Like? Why is this here? And then I find my feeling and allow my body to naturally naturally react and I really find a lot of heavy sense of they don’t my clown does not think it’s an asshole, but in order to describe it best to you. ABS hole would would be would be the first place I go to. And then just everyone is so so ridiculous nine I am the normal like me. I hope that I hope I articulate
Phil Rickaby
No, absolutely there’s because there is that that thing that people find when they first start like studying clown or doing clown and that first experience putting on that nose and finding this vulnerability and also this, this this freedom to explore and discover and do things that that somehow this this this right It knows pulls off the inhibition that you have when you’re not wearing that knows right that strange thing happens
Kendall Savage
yeah for some it can for some it’s too much pressure like a lot of people put a lot of of of spiritual mumbo jumbo on the nose and a lot of pressure that you know once that nose is on I am a clown and everything and it’s just one tool in my toolbox and it’s a style choice as well. So it the psychological pressures we put on ourselves to simply arrive on stage open and vulnerable with no fourth wall to explore and share our vulnerability and and trust that the humour is going to come through with our moment to moment reactions through clown I mean if you have nothing planned ideally if you’re going on date you might have middle something put together moment to moment and and some people really thrive in the nose I thrive in the nose and then when I ever do the Colgate technique for clowning ice Langer I struggle with my nose is off I am like what is my cloud where am I suddenly I’m not as big an asshole and I get really I get very sad vulnerable so it it is there a lot of it of course nationally is very psychological and how much pressure you put on yourself so for us we can perhaps we feel more free with our nose than for others it really it really is a struggle and vice versa. But But no, but go on.
Phil Rickaby
No, no. That so I guess I will I will move on to how did you first fall in love with clown
Kendall Savage
I was doing to make those calls. No, I was doing a doing a workshop at this thing called the players Academy is an intensive unlike canard of Mump and smooth. My clown master was performing I was teaching it the attend intensive and I Shawn a little bit and he said you know you really should keep going and you should be bringing your cloud to the cloud farm which unfortunately, John Turner Stein farm is no longer with us. But the magic is still in the air. And I remember distinctively looking at him at the corner of Europe and we’re a daughter card and I looked up at him and I said, Yeah, he Chiaki who makes a career out of clown and but I was I was madly in love with it. And then we parted our ways. It was my last day of class and I was like, okay, that’s never gonna happen again. And then I went back to university for theatre in Montreal. And my first year I was scouted by Cirque du Soleil. I was in a Natalie clog show who was an incredible clown. She was a clown in the circus, late Emma Luna. And she was directing the show there. And I was one of the clouds in the performance. And she said she invited each share or service sudden, the story goes to come see. Come see the show and watch out for the very strong cloud woman who did it in a metre. After the show, I ran out San Jose, you’re the casting director. So to slay I’d love to audition for you and you’d like yeah, of course. And now we’re really good friends. He’s wonderful. And I just said you know what, I think I really better start listening to people and take this seriously my whole life. I had been told how much I Shawn comedy and it was very nonchalant about it. But then I started taking inlay. I just ran with it. And it just was like just over I got to experience Montreal, I got to experience so many different styles and so many different circuses and different adventures and I flew, I flew all over and then I went to get a master’s degree in admin tin under Mike canard and I was able to go out to the woods out and only festival of clowns in Vancouver that was really cool. And I got to meet that entire side of the world of clown and I now know the other side of the world as Canadian clown. And along the way it just I fell in love with everything. I just fell in love. I don’t know it’s so magical. It really is.
Phil Rickaby
What was it? I mean, as far as like shining, but what was it that kept drawing you into it? There’s something that about it that resonates with you. So what is it that made you keep going with it?
Kendall Savage
I got I don’t I’m just going to act on it. until you might first got it not judging. But really, when I knew I really, really, really was in love when I was standing on stage at the University of Alberta in front of a couple 100 people, and they were just screaming with laughter. And all I do was doing was just, I’m loving being an asshole to someone in the audience and the app and the person I was directing the asshole towards. They just weren’t loving that I was making them the asshole. So it was this way of being able to make fun of people but having them in on the job. And I think the nose and the humour and not punching down at the same time. I know that sounds contradictory. But there is a magic that clown allows you to excuse your abs holism because it comes from a place of love. And clown allows me if I if I respect it, and I respect the audience well enough to walk that fine line of how far can I go to make fun of other people and the world around me and still be absolutely loved. And I look back fondly on that moment and having a little Aha, or a I like to call it on the Spalding grey moments. Because it’s made me read story until everyone this because Spalding grey, the writer, and he was in the Wooster Group in New York City. Couldn’t leave any experience till he had that press started moment that made everything whole. So everything I do now is I wait for that that moment of Catholicism. And I think it was one of the greatest moments in my life on stage, you have 100 people looking at me, and I just had them in the palm of my beautiful hand. And I got to improvise and drop my script and go deal with all of these little magical gifts from the cloud gods of humour and then come back to the script. And then the the roaring applause from the audience was just It was magic was magical. It’s magical. It’s magical. When you were just that free and funny at the same time. When it’s done, well, it’s done well, even when it’s done poorly. I still kind of love it. Because that cloud try. I’m very very anti clique. And I’m very anti snobbery of life studied with so insane ruining. I’m like, that’s fantastic. But are you a good witch or a bad match? Right? Like, just be? Are you nice? Are you good to work with? Are you funny? Are you a community member? Or are you an insecure person who is just projecting your shit all over us? And then if you are like, how can we help you be a little more happy? Right? So, you know, the two minutes used to be so but
Phil Rickaby
here’s the here’s a controversial topic that I owe anybody who does clown I have to address this. I think you probably know where I’m gonna go. I do. Because I remember years ago, one of the times when I was doing a show, one of the Keystone theatre shows at the Toronto festival of clowns. I mentioned to a friend that I was doing the show at the Toronto festival of clowns. And their response was, Well, I’m gonna go into that, like, there’s this popular trope and I get some people are afraid of that circus clown thing. I blame Tim Curry in it. But there’s like that whole thing where it’s now popular to be like, oh a clown, I’m afraid and in the meantime, people are sort of blocking themselves off to a really because they don’t understand what clown is they only understand like the idea of circus as far as where do you land on the on this thing? What do you think of this this situation where it’s popular to be afraid
Kendall Savage
I would be if they’re never going to come? So I’m not going to waste my emotional energy on them. I would say you’re missing out on some really great stuff. But like, if you want to know more, I’m here. I don’t I don’t oppose horror claim. I work with a lot of blood in my performance and muffin smoke. If you read their stuff it gets into themselves for claim. They have called them that themselves that and since they’re beginning their creation or plans, but the copier copies are arised like it sort of for clown um I don’t have the right to tell no one has the right to tell Anyone what is and what isn’t cloud, if that person believes its cloud, that doesn’t mean I’m going to like it. However, if you are standing in a parking lot in a scary clown outfit trying to intimidate people, Assault is assault. So I like to think that people aren’t really afraid of clowns. They’re afraid of people who are going to assault them. The whole rash of like, those scary clowns that we’re running around where we’re like, that was just that was that’s just people that’s those people that are going to intimidate and insult us. I really don’t believe anyone in their right mind would believe that. That’s what Klan was. I like to get the benefit of doubt that people are not that. Yeah.
Phil Rickaby
Still, I just I think that there’s this idea because when people hear clown the, the circus world has been really great at popularising this particular image of what a clown is Cirque du Soleil. On the other hand, they have like their it’s like more of the European thing. It’s different. But when people think clown, they think like Ronald McDonald or something like that.
Kendall Savage
A party claim child clown? Yes, I do think they I do think I’m gonna say something very controversial. And I’m gonna own it. Yeah, I do think that the world clan association is riddled with problems. I believe they have a lot of deep seated racism happening in there. And if you simply look back to their I believe 2015 award ceremony where they gave someone with yellow feet, and award, a very, very disgusting tribute. For full man, a white man and a fourth woman to outfit mocking Asian people was getting an award, I do think a lot of those clown are not changing with the times. Obviously, they are not catering to a different audience. We’re no longer in these huge rings, we are upfront and personal with children. So you do have to tone things down with children, you do have to be more sensitive. And you do have to get with the times when it comes to what is culturally acceptable. What costumes are appropriate, what makeup is appropriate, I believe. Clown through its entire history. It I have studied quite a bit of this has adapted and changed to its needs of the audience. And I do not believe a lot the hashtag, not all clowns. But I do think the majority of them have not gotten with the times and I believe a lot of middle America party clowns have really, you know, need they need to do better. I primarily focusing on the world clown Association. I am not afraid to say that out loud, because I will fight racism to the bitter, bitter end. And I don’t care. I know there are a lot of people in that association that are trying to do better and it is the world clown association. So there are many different cultures there. But the main focus is based in America. And we are talking primarily about American planning here, we’re not moving into any discussion on sacred First Nations cloud or anything’s that this is my focus on this conversation. And it wouldn’t hurt for people to start updating their image as you update to the needs of your audience.
Phil Rickaby
I mean, in some ways, you could say that about theatre in general. Um, there’s like, a whole lot of things that are done in the theatre world because that’s how we do it. And so it’s not just in cloud, the theatre world could do with that on its own as well.
Kendall Savage
I can believe that. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
Phil Rickaby
I’m trying to remember you mentioning about how you know, mommy and smoothie refer to themselves as horror clowns. And I can remember, I mean, I’m an old man, so I remember them at Toronto fringe and being like it. They were horror clowns, but they were punk rock. Like they were they were punk rock clowns. Like they were like on the edge. Nobody went to that thinking they were getting a circus clown. And this is pre like everybody, like everybody’s free to clowns. They were like, the thing to see. Yeah, and because it was like wild and it was what fringe was meant to be. So it’s it’s, it’s it’s sort of like they were a particular are a thing. And I think that they were making their own rules at the time.
Kendall Savage
Oh, absolutely. And that is something I love about them so much especially, I’ll be returning to apprentice under Mike canard hopefully this following spring. And they do play by their own rules. And when you would go to one of their shows, it was like you, you can be a victim. I was taught very, very much. So how beautiful the gift is, when an audience member that for example, I did a performance last week, and one of my audience members started to drift off to sleep. And I got the biggest laugh when I called them out on it and walked over. So if you went to one of their shows, and anything happened, you would automatically be part of the show and it was welcomed. And that spontaneity is it is another reason that I am absolutely in love with this style of clown I do because you always apply to the fringe, which I believe Welcome. Today, I’m gonna be applying myself. And you I always sign up for 45 minutes show in a lot at least 15 minutes for audience improvisation because anything is possible. And there are beautiful truth of it. And it’s something that very much some teacher dropped the script. Yeah, for the gift of the clown gods in the audience and go out and deal with the problem deal with both an app. And not that doesn’t happen. I don’t see that. I hardly see that in the Montreal style clown. Hmm. And that’s something I wish I really I really did see, because we always talk about no fourth wall and clam. But very rarely do I see the clown when the wall is dropped? They actually deal with the problem that’s going on.
Phil Rickaby
What what do you think it is that as far as the Montreal clown goes that you don’t see that happening? What is the difference between the Montreal clown scene and say, the Toronto clown scene?
Kendall Savage
Oh, they’re both wonderful communities, great clowns, but one is very much European style Gorgui teaching, which is becoming more and more popular here, it is fascinating to watch. And I know why it’s happening. And here very much the Canadian anglais these printers can consume very ugly Pachenko style, for lack of better word for the names of pedagogy. And they’re visually two different ways just to to see a clown and it’s to drastically drastically different styles of learning claims. And they’re both valid. They’re just different ways of approaching. And in the forefront like I abide by 32 rules of clown. And there are no rules taught, really, in the in the galley style of comics very much just go out there and do and be fine. I’m obviously oversimplifying this, there’s much yes, of course, of course. But the style that I specialise in a particular style, you start from absolute scratch like nothing and you learned a long way. And one of the main things is was to react to anything that happens in the world and the audience is in your world. So you have to deal with it. And what a gift what a gift for telephone in the audience to go off. Yeah. Oh my god, I live. I do this show just so shit that happens in the audience I can deal with. That’s where my fine lines, the script and the laughter I get it’s fantastic. But when someone who genuinely genuinely fucked up in the audience, like falls asleep, or their phone was off or even sneezes, what I’m good at I live, I eat that shit up. And that’s what I want to do. That’s where I want to go. I want to be in the audience just like tearing them a new one it and demo loving that they’re getting. They’re getting torn up. Like, that’s the thing with the cloud. You can get away with a lot of shit. I can get away with totally making fun of someone down to their deep dark core. And I know they’ll walk away feeling like they were the most popular person in that room that day. Because it’s how you approach. In essence, I like to believe that because this is how I genuinely feel when I’m out there that everything I do every moment of asshole comes from the most beautiful place of my heart. And love doesn’t always have to be flowers and sunshine. That’s another that’s another thing like work It is rather dark and screwed up. But it always comes from a place of love.
Phil Rickaby
Here’s a here’s a question for you you’ve been posting since I think you’re experimenting with a new with a new clown.
Kendall Savage
Yes and No Yes. So okay,
Phil Rickaby
I want I want to hear about this this this thing that you’ve been working on
Kendall Savage
cool so I I made the choice to put take my nose off and keep my producer hat on when I started the festival it was just too much pressure and people kept coming up to me and being like, Oh, you’re starting a festival. You’re an artistic director suddenly. You must be an incredible clown. And then it started getting in my head. I was like, Whoa, running a festival What about not credible clown? And then it got to the point where I decided okay, you know what, let’s give ourselves a break. It took me there was off and I kept my hand on. So what’s the festival was given that given away I was like, Okay, I’m ready to do this. Let’s let’s find my clan again. Units for three years. I just ripped the band aid off and started performing again, because there’s sweet action theatre that is in town is so it’s like kind of becoming the heart of the clown community. There’s a wonderful, safe places for people to try new things and to learn. There’s Monday night classical play play, where you come in you learn cloud and physical theatre and things along that line for people who may not have a lot of experience performance. And the same people do the same called the dodo dome and John Beale has saved the show, which adds a beast Oh my god. So when I am, my friend asked me you want to perform a Dou Dou Dou, I agreed. And I was like I haven’t performed in seven years, formed in seven years. So I knew I wanted to take advantage of something that I felt I could talk about. And I am a mental health advocate. So I put a lot of this topic into my clown. So Eunice wears a straight jacket, and little television antennas on her head. And what I’m doing is I’m making a comment on society about how quite often people who struggle with mental illness as much as you say you support them are ostracised and treated as other as much people who have differences than the norm are and because of my condition and how I am able to use to my advantage in this situation. Units lives in this world where she is the last sane person and the audience is the madhouse. So what she does in her room when she explores on stage is she’s in a constant state of confusion because everyone is just so mad. And she can’t she can’t understood they actually like clown that is has no gender and they can’t understand why. Why they’re surrounded by such knots. And what I’m doing is I’m making a huge comment in society. That’s what I definitely am working towards heavily. And that’s what I’ll be working towards this next six months was I tried to fit together me my show.
Phil Rickaby
Now I know that you’ve you’ve been in Toronto for a few years from Montreal, and you’ve been doing some some some some work at the Second City conservatory was second city. The reason why you came to Toronto was that like, did you want to take courses there? Did you want to? Yeah,
Kendall Savage
there was a huge part. I was handing over my festival. I was going through a very unfortunate divorce time. My parents who Niagara and I had previously been in Toronto and I thought okay, this might be a good time to go home and start fresh. And I was very, very ready to hand over the festival. I was like I was done. I wasn’t I wasn’t my heart is always going to be in it. And I’m always a little sad that I’m not running it. But I they’re number one supporter so so I came in I started the conservatory and then I needed to take a little break from it and then COVID hit and then as soon as I was is I was able to I jumped back in and one of my goals has been to work towards getting to the main stage to Second City which I am kinda hot and cold on these days. Because there’s so much going on. I’m excited about everything I want to do that I want to do that on demand is I want to do everything so. But right now, I mean my last. I mean, my last semester was just like the most wonderful cast. I just love them so dearly. And Paul Bates is going to be directing a final show who’s an incredible writer media and just a lot of the directing
Phil Rickaby
you’re working on, or a new Toronto clown festival? What’s what’s happening with that? Where are you with that? Well, hey, tell me everything.
Kendall Savage
So there’s not a lot to tell and that’s okay. I when it very first got here in 2019, permanently 2018. I gathered some of the smartest people I knew who I thought would be great at running a festival because I didn’t want to be in charge of festival. I thrive hands on managing the floor when the festival is actually happening and the artists are there and making sure everyone’s happening in the natural flow and having a good time making sure the place apart. So Brian, love you let me pronouncing that right God I hope so. He’s the director of Morrowind Jack. And then Alicia de Stefano, who is the producer of rent knows cabaret. And I see a few others but they’re the two main artistic directors. And they have been getting together and chatting on exactly what their vision is. But we met quite a few times to discuss what we wanted. At first it was really about what does the community need and we had some clown how, as I thought they were so lovely. And we listened to everybody and we knew what they wanted. But honestly, a lot of the things they were asking for as someone who had was stepping back and able to observe an entire community from afar didn’t seem like something everyone was necessarily ready to follow through with. So there was a lot of talk about how bad people wanting for workshops, but I knew that some of the great teachers that were coming here were struggling to find students so I was like okay, I’m gonna So what’s COVID Hit the day down because it is still going on and not necessarily over when we all felt safe to get back together three of us got together and decided okay, well what do we we have enough time to sit and think about this and our main goal is sustainability. Because we want to bring a community together but there is no festival without sustainability which should always be the core of any festival and I can tell you that something is in the works ideally we are aiming for next fall so we all lined up with the other clown festivals in the country and we don’t overlap each other and we can possibly support and attempt artists was by them jumping festivals Festival, the festival craft Canada and we are focusing on a this might change although heavily clown in the clown community. At this point, there is not enough clown who are performing in community to sustain a festival we are moving towards more of a physical theatre more or and we want to focus on weird but not like fetish weird. We want to try to find a little more puppetry some street art and clowning just like like more of the like the outsiders like missing Island kind of kind of treasures. The things that don’t necessarily fit into any festival would fit into this one. And it would be heavily heavily heavily, heavily focused around clowning, and bar and puppetry. And just like really special special things and trying to support artists and make sure everyone gets paid as well as we possibly can until we can get funding.
Phil Rickaby
Yeah. Okay. I’m going to ask you to speculate for a moment. I’m gonna ask you to speculate about why you think that there is not why there isn’t enough cloud have cloud people stopped cloning Have they left the the A clown Destry. What’s
Kendall Savage
I think, a lot? I think I think there is a large group of clouds still in mourning over the unfortunate or is more than unfortunate the devastating loss of Helen Donnelly, who was an incredible clown teacher here, who passed away before her her time. This last year, I think they’re still in mourning and they’re not necessarily prepared to come out. I think there are a lot of what we would call baby clowns to almost intermediate clowns in the city. But from what I’ve seen, there are very few professional level clowns in the city that could say that they themselves could sustain a very solid piece of work or for any festival or for fringe even they and it’s not because they’re not talented or they’re not heart hearts not it’s just there’s not a lot of directors like I very much of myself want to get into directing cloud. There’s just not enough advanced teachers, in especially in the in the world of Pachenko clowning, you have to dry eight hour eight, nine hours north Sudbury, if you want to get to a little more advanced clowning or I am bringing the incredible Jed Tomlinson in from Montreal who is joined Turner’s protege who’s an incredible, credible teacher, an incredible clown, sizzling Spark, incredible clown duo. Oh my god be a tastic he is going to be one of the future masters in Pachinko such as myself, I believe once my apprenticeship has come to fruition. I’m bringing him in in January to try to introduce it. There is a really interesting thing with lots of baby clowns in the improv world right now. And but they also don’t they don’t have the experience or qualifications to hold a solid performance. And what I mean solid I mean like a 45 minute 30 to 45 minutes solid presentation during audience members back in and in trying to baby clowns, but there’s no advanced clouds. And there’s no one really there to guide them right now. Huh?
Phil Rickaby
That’s yeah, definitely. That’s a problem. Yeah,
Kendall Savage
yeah. Yeah. I very much so want to change that. I want to bring people up to their potential and guide them through proper performance so they can be stronger cloud. And it really is like getting blood from stone right now. I don’t know if that’s because people are still pretty COVID. I don’t know if it’s because they’re still in mourning. But the only clowns that I am seeing that are active right now. Are the new improv clowns because Ken Hall and Isaac Kessler have started this thing called clown improv. And a lot of these improvisers aren’t starting to discover how they can mix the two and they’re discovering clown for the first time. And they are bringing in teachers from LA. So John Doe key has been coming up who’s in critical teacher. And again, John Beale, who is teaching a whole new slew of students and he does go through a technique. So this is all sort of bully, an idiot technique, which is very, very different style than what I teach and, and it’s all valid, but there’s just all these fresh faces and I just don’t know where the clown community is, I don’t know what the particular plan community is. You’re not coming out and calling for that. I’m buying mine trying to offer them space sweet, new, and I’m trying to offer directing and and I am here and excited to help create and shape all of these one by ones but I can’t make people clown and I don’t know where they are. And I want the improv clown world and the clown clown world to me and come together. And I’ve liked the clique Enos to just follow up and at the end of the day, just up guys, this is it’s just cloud. Yeah, it’s wonderful, but we really need to come together as a community. You start free, it’s just not happening.
Phil Rickaby
Yeah, that that clunkiness I think is a problem just across the theatre world, we refer to the theatre community, but we don’t know what that is. Yeah, because of all of the silos and the clunkiness it really
Kendall Savage
is. I have zero tolerance for that shit, zero tolerance, or not, I refuse to treat. I refuse to treat anyone any differently.
Phil Rickaby
Well, Kendall Savage, thank you so much for joining me, this has been a delight to have an opportunity to chat with you.
Kendall Savage
Oh, I love it. I love it. I love it.
Phil Rickaby
This has been an episode of Stageworthy Stageworthy is produced, hosted and edited by Phil Rickabu. That’s me. If you enjoyed this podcast and you listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify, you can leave a five star rating. And if you’re listening on Apple podcast, you can also leave a review those reviews and ratings help new people find the show. If you want to keep up with what’s going on with Stageworthy and my other projects, you can subscribe to my newsletter by going to Phil rickaby.com/subscribe. And remember, if you want to leave a tip, you’ll find a link to the virtual tip jar in the show notes or on the website. You can find Stageworthy on Twitter and Instagram at Stageworthy pod and you can find the website with a complete archive of all episodes@stageworthy.ca If you want to find me, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Phil Rickaby and as I mentioned, my website is Phil rickaby.com. See you next week for another episode of Stageworthy