CREATIVE MENTORSHIP
with Ira Seidenstein

MY METHOD

My method is a concise pathway to practice finding and using one’s instincts in a practical and philosophical way.

FRAMING

In addition to explicit principles there are aspects which may be of the mind or heart or spirit depending not on their reality but on the terminology we frame them in.

In a practical way the method teaches a principle I call “Framing”. The performer learns to frame what they are feeling in an explicit way that their stage partners and the audience can read.

CREATIVE MENTORSHIP is a direct way to utilise this unique information and techniques in your own way. You will have a year of support and feedback along the way. You will have practical and adaptable tools to use for a lifetime and throughout your career.

CREATIVE MENTORSHIP: PRACTICAL SCHEDULE AND APPLICATION

Please offer an introduction to yourself by providing:

• CV and/or a Biographical paragraph
• If you have, a short video(s) of yourself performing or training
• A Brief Letter Of Interest
• Send these direct to Ira at iraseid@gmail.com
• In return you will receive a personal reply and all practical information.

“What did the ‘real’ clowns ACTUALLY do to learn their craft?”

In the book Clown Secret, I list seven things they did.

For example; “7th - they constructed a short act of a few minutes and found some situation to perform it in. Then they created another short piece of a few minutes and began to perform it, etc. For example one of Slava’s earliest acts was a ‘simple’ mime of a runner in a competition”. 

Generally speaking, my generation learned by observation of the best such as; Chaplin, Keaton, Lucy, Skelton, Burnett, to quickly name just a few. Most of those clowns had directors and, or, writers. Even Chaplin and Keaton learned directly growing up touring on the Vaudeville and Music Hall circuits for years. When they began to work in films they learned from the directors Mack Sennett, Roscoe Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, who along with others were creating film comedy. 

Then came an abundance of TV clowns. Most of my generation, born shortly after WWII were able to see a lot of films and television clowns. Many of us as children imitated what we saw. The alternative lifestyles of beatniks and hippies began to show that one could create their own lifestyle.

Those are the seeds of what I call “The Clown Movement”. We caught on quickly and each ran in a different direction. Yet the common anchor was learning from those who came before. Learning by our individual observations and experimentation how to construct short acts. 

Personally I have worked in over 140 live productions in a very wide variety of genres. Along the way I created, choreographed, directed around 200 short pieces/acts. Like all theatre clowns, I took small acts and found links to create longer works. It is this method and craftsmanship that I will begin to formally teach to assist your own creative potential.

For more information about the CREATIVE MENTORSHIP, write directly to Ira.