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Clown describes something much deeper than funny gags and big
shoes. It addresses the human spirit and its liberation through the
imagination, fantasy and atmosphere of "Play."

Clown is an expression of the core of the being, of the true state of
innocent, naive, childish, pure and universal, cosmic, divine spirit. It
resides in each of us.

At our core, we are universally ignorant of complex experience and
therefore idiotic, stupid, naive, curious and driven.

Clown describes a primal, sensate, animistic, dynamic being.

JEF JOHNSON'S CLOWN LAB

“The way to have and to be a sharp, powerful instrument is to be
minutely sensitive, and use that sensitivity to see the epiphanies that
have been sitting around you all along.”

Stephen Nachmanovitch

JEF JOHNSON'S CLOWN LAB

"Jef Johnson himself is a deft combination of Charlie Chaplin, Buster
Keaton, Jean-Louis Barrault, Jacques Tati and Danny Kaye, all blended
into some mad Russian cocktail! I've never seen anything in the theatre
that so perfectly synthesized the metaphysical with the purely physical."

Mark Adams, COM Theatre

THE EXPERIENCE

"Discovery leads to knowledge. Information only leads to discovery."

Jef Johnson

“In youth we are twofold, our innate intelligence coexists with the
stupidity of our inexperience.”

Fernando Pessoa

THE LOCK
On stage, too often, we lose Experience. “Performing” is a locked-up condition. The
mind is working ahead of the individual’s unique, simple, physical, sensate, dynamic
discovery.

THE KEY
Everything we do has a physical base. We are sensate creatures. When we recall
that the world our characters exist in is a physical one, we can better understand how
to connect with the spectator.

THE PROCESS
My interest is in unlocking the life of the character through physical experience and
discovery. The work is focused on perception. How we “think” about what we are
actually doing often pollutes the transposition of idea to expression. When we let go,
impulse can be identified and better understood. When we return to the base, the
idea of “Creative Play,” we can begin to construct meaningful and truthful character.

The feeling I have experienced
is that you can’t escape that                                   What the theatre needs in order
‘just right’ place. It becomes                                   to find its way back to its beautiful
a sacred space, if you allow it.                               roots, the truth.
Jef Johnson and his teachings
brilliantly place the person in                                                 Michaela Lind, Actor/Clown
just the right space for this to occur.

Jef not only teaches but seems
to live what he teaches.                                          The Lab works out the senses in the
I am confident in saying                                         deepest ways. This makes me feel alive
this has been one of the best classes                        from the inside out.
I have ever experienced in my life.

Julie Josephson, trombone artist                                                       Jillian Kaplan, Clown

Suddenly there I was, standing blindfolded,                Jef Johnson creates a safe environment
trying to count in two directions while walking             to explore our inner child and unlock
sideways and I had the most beautiful feeling             our freedom to play. Personally,
of stupidity...When the control was gone I felt             Jef has helped me confront my fears of the
the greatest potential--the greatest freedom--             unknown in acting and I have begun
as if the control was actually big steel chains              to open up in the Lab as well as in
holding me down.                                                   auditions and other projects.

Thomas McGinn, Actor/Director                                                      Andrew Greer, Actor/Director

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