About Jeff Raz
Jeff Raz has performed nationally and internationally for decades, starring in circuses (Cirque du Soleil, Pickle Family Circus and more) and plays, including Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors on Broadway. He is a graduate of Dell’Arte International, has written 15 plays and has directed dozens of circus, puppet and theater productions. Read more about Jeff...
About Jeff Raz
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The Art of DyingDriving home from a memorial for my friend Joan […]
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The Secret Life of Clowns: A backstage tour of Cirque du Soleil and The Clown Conservatory
"This book inspires from beginning to end: it captures the sweat, the sinew and the soul of clown."
~ Patty Gallagher, Professor of Theatre Arts, U.C. Santa Cruz
More than one million people saw Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo with Jeff Raz in the starring role. Every night after the show, Raz hurried back to the hotel to do his “day job” as the director of the only school for professional clowns in the United States. The Secret Life of Clowns was born from Raz’s attempts to take the principles he taught at The Clown Conservatory into the grand chapiteau in front of 2,800 Cirque du Soleil fans eight times a week. The form of the book is modeled on Constantin Stanislavski’s brilliant trilogy that brought the Moscow Art Theatre to the world through the eyes of a fictionalized student. Since Raz was simultaneously running a school and starring in a show, he has doubled up on Stanislavski with twin narratives - a fictionalized Clown Conservatory and a backstage tour of Cirque du Soleil.
The Snow Clown: Cartwheels on Borders from Alaska to Nebraska
Forget what you know about clowns. The Snow Clown brings to life a circus made to reflect, and reflect on, crossed borders. A thoroughly absorbing read.
~ Zofia Burr, Dean, George Mason University Honors College; author Of Women, Poetry, and Power
Some artists thrive by taking risks, exploring unknown territory, living on the edge. The title character in The Snow Clown takes this literally, flying tiny planes out to Eskimo villages in the dead of winter to teach kids who have never seen a circus. The unforgiving tundra and triple-digit wind chill are the least of his worries as he navigates a world where traditional Yup’ik culture is fighting off TV America and missionary teachers.
Years later, the Snow Clown finds himself in Nebraska, America’s Heartland, performing a comedy about the Holocaust and his father’s suicide. It doesn’t go well. He is a Jewish artist out on the plains where Jews are as rare as buffalo but burning crosses are not. Using skills he honed on the Alaskan tundra, he writes plays with students that blow the lid off of “Nebraska Nice” and eventually get him run out of town.
The Snow Clown: Cartwheels on Borders from Alaska to Nebraska
Vivid and universal with profound vulnerability, great humor and generosity of spirit.
~ Chris Ertel, Author of the National Bestseller Moments of Impact
Frank Singer gets the call he's been waiting for his whole career, an invitation to fly to Europe and star in the best-loved circus on earth. But he can't say "yes." His circus family - strong, independent, wildly creative people - need him at home like they never have before. As high-flying as they are on stage, literally and figuratively, Franks community comes right down to earth when people start dying.
Reviews of Jeff’s Books
Jeff Raz writes with a keen eye, an open heart, and a delicious sense of detail. He lifts us 100 feetin the air and plunges us into a world of fear, doubt, excitement, and delight.
Stephen Buescher, Theater Professor at UC San Diego – on Love Death Circus
Stephen Buescher
Vivid and universal with profound vulnerability, great humor and generosity of spirit.
Chris Ertel, Author of the National Bestseller Moments of Impact – on Love Death Circus
Chris Ertel
Jeff Raz has drawn on his life’s work to write a pair of narratives – one following a professional clown joining a huge show, and one following a clown student who just wants a job in a circus. It’s a good book, and if you’re curious about the clowning profession, you’ll turn these pages.
Bill Irwin, MacArthur “Genius” and Tony Award winner
Bill Irwin
The Secret Life of Clowns is a lively, informative and engaging book. Jeff Raz writes from the heart and tells much of what he knows from his four decades as a performer in a way that readers will be able to follow and enjoy.
Joel Schechter, D.F.A., author of Durov’s Pig: Clowns, Politics, and Theatre and The Pickle Clowns: New American Circus Comedy and Professor of Theatre at S.F. State University
Joel Schechter
The Secret Life of Clowns emphasizes learning and development in a vivid and universal way with profound vulnerability, great humor and generosity of spirit.
Chris Ertel, author of the national bestseller Moments of Impact; How to Design Strategic Conversations that Accelerate Change
Chris Ertel
Raz captured two key, but often neglected features of the clown, wandering and being contrary. The clown sees the world differently than others, helping re-create a new world.
David Carlyon, director, actor, ex-Ringling/Barnum clown, award-winning author of Dan Rice: The Most Famous Man You’ve Never Heard Of and Education of a Circus Clown.
David Carlyon
Forget what you know about clowns.The Snow Clown brings to life a circus made to reflect, and reflect on, crossed borders. A thoroughly absorbing read.
Zofia Burr, Dean, George Mason University Honors College; author of Women, Poetry, and Power
Zofia Burr
What is a clown? And if you think you want to be one, what do you do? Jeff Raz has drawn on his life’s work to write a pair of narratives – one following a professional clown joining a huge show, and one following a clown student who just wants a job in a circus. It turns out the calling involves a lot of work, and, no surprise, it has mundane and spiritual sides that intertwine. The questions don’t all get answered – how could they? – but the oldest craft in the world gets examined, with just the right amount of historical sidebar. It’s a good book, and if you’re curious about the clowning profession, you’ll turn these pages.
Bill Irwin, Sesame Street’s Mr. Noodle, MacArthur “Genius,” and Tony Award winner
Bill Irwin
Jeff Raz has written a fun, informative read, an up-close-and-personal look at what it is to train as a clown, to teach clowning and to clown in one of the most renowned circuses in the world. This book is also chock-full of asides on the history of clowning, clown trivia and profiles of unique clowns. Could there be a more comprehensive take on the life of clowns?
Melissa Smith, Conservatory Director at the Tony Award-winning American Conservatory Theater
Melissa Smith
A spot-on account of the insecurities, the flops and the triumphs of a student of clown, whether in school or in the biggest circus in the world. It brought a lot of memories back, both as a clown with Cirque du Soleil and as a student of clown. I liked being reminded of the unknowns of it all, when it looked impossibly bigger than life. For an old clown, it jogs memories; for a new one, it’s insightful and affirmative to the challenging rites of passage.
Mooky Cornish, star of Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai
Mooky Cornish