You may have seen Avner (the Eccentric) Eisenberg in the title role of the movie “The Jewel of the Nile.” Or in his solo clown show, which ran on Broadway for nine months and has toured the world. Or in “Comedy of Errors” which we performed, along with many others, at the Goodman in Chicago, the Olympic Arts Festival in L.A. and Lincoln Center in NYC.
Avner is also a great teacher. Here are six of his principles that apply to many jobs that don’t involve wearing large shoes:
- The most basic technique of a clown is to create and maintain rapport.
- Everyone needs to breathe all the time and the audience breathes with you.
- Be interested, not interesting.
- Don’t tell the audience or your partners what to think, do or feel.
- Don’t leave your comfort zone; make your comfort zone bigger.
- Tension without release undermines your performance.
Speaking of releasing tension, San Francisco city hall is offering more than 100 San Francisco artists a guaranteed $1,000 a month for six months.
“The arts are truly critical to our local economy and are an essential part of our long-term recovery. If we help the arts recover, the arts will help San Francisco recover.”
The deadline is April 15 and you can apply here:
https://ybca.org/guaranteed-income-pilot