The Comic Impulse

with Julia VanderVeen

As we grow up and become socialized, we push down many of our impulses so we can fit into society, so people will like us.

The work of discovering your clown is the process of embracing your vulnerability and excavating the parts of you that are most interested in pleasure and in fun. In this workshop, we will work on unlearning some of those social norms and getting back to the play and impulse of our bodies. When we see people playing hard, and see their appetite for pleasure, that is when we begin to see their clown peeking out. 

About Julia

Julia VanderVeen is a New York based actor and physical comedian. 
Julia has trained extensively in Clown and Bouffon, and apprenticed under head of physical theatre at Yale University, Christopher Bayes.

As an actor, Julia has worked all over the United States, and performed in places as remote as Alaska, and as tropical as the Mediterranean; appearing in Hairspray on Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas.

Julia has been creating clown material for the past ten years. Currently, she is developing two all female Bouffon shows: one entitled Stand Back and Stand By about the January 6th insurrection at Washington’s Capitol Building, and one entitled Supreme Cream about the Supreme Court overturning women's rights to abortions in the US.

She lives with her husband, her two cats, and her ambitious plant collection.

Don’t miss Julia VanderVeen’s My Grandmother’s Eye Patch at RocHaha Clown Festival 2024.