Bill Irwin and David Shiner lead a Celebrity Guest Panel where accomplished performers talk seriously about clowning. Also featuring Sue Morrison and Chris Bayes.

The Director of Pedagogical Research at The Dell'Arte School in Blue Lake California show a multi-media presentation on the clown in North American Clown, past present and future. Discuss on performance styles, how they developed and a discussion on where they are headed today.

A discussion that reinstates the sacred position of clown, which has been usurped by balloons and birthday parties. Sue Morrison discusses the Pochinko Technique, which combines European and Native American clowning philosophies to reinvent the classic themes of clown, in order to find new ways to make us listen.

Short films and Q&A with directors of the two clown-based service organizations:

Big Apple Circus' Clown Care Unit, a hospital clowning program that brings laughter and joy to the bedsides of acutely and chronically ill children year round, and Glass Contraption, which offers outreach throughout the five boroughs and to developing countries across the globe transform the found materials, stories and characters within a community into art.

See how the masters of silent comedy film did it! Ben Model, noted film historian and MoMA silent film accompanist, will show short films and clips of the great clowns of the silent screen, and will talk about the aesthetics of transitioning live performance into a screen entertainment.

Michael Bongar, president of Bongarbiz-a leading entertainment source for events including The Late Show with David Letterman, Cirque du Soleil and the Walt Disney Company-talks about his experiences as a performer, agent, producer and casting director. Identify your potential as a performer. Find where you can work and be happy. Discover and exploit your unique identity as a performing artist. Think about how to market yourself and put a price on your services.

A provocative teacher and director, Ronlin Foreman is Director of Pedagogical Research and Master Clown Teacher at the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in California. Zany and poignant, Foreman's uniquely confrontational and poetic brand of physical theatre has been featured at major international Movement, Theatre and Clown festivals in Mexico, Spain, Canada and the U.S.

Foreman's hallmarks are his character (drawn from the fool, the clown, and the grotesque) and his ability to play profoundly with comedy, and irreverently with the profound, and outrageously with an audience.

In this workshop, on day one, students will learn "The Loop," exploring repetition as an organic base for "the gag"; revelation of character; development of logic and theme; the setup, interruption and payoff (the rule of three). On day two, the workshop explores "The Abyss" and "The Enigma," encountering the limits of one's knowing, comfort and willingness. Engaging the impossible is the dynamic realm of the clown and the beginning of glorious failures as a pathway to laughter

Philippe Gaulier is a world-renowned teacher/writer and director with a distinctive approach to the world of performance. Currently based in Paris, France he runs his own international theatre school, Icole Philippe Gaulier, where, each year, he welcomes students from up to 36 different countries. Founded twenty-four years ago, it continues to produce enriched theatre artists that take their craft back to their many corners of the world. Theatre artists that have trained with M. Gaulier include Oscar-winning actors Geoffrey Rush (Shine), and Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful), Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility), Helena Bonham-Carter (Fight Club/Big Fish) and the very popular satirist Ali-G.

London's internationally acclaimed, cutting-edge theatre company Compliciti, under the direction of Simon McBurney and Marcello Magni, was founded on and guided by the principles at the heart of Philippe Gaulier's teachings. Philippe Gaulier does not teach a style of theatre, but an approach to theatre that allows an actor to find his or her own style. Gaulier's approach, puts a great emphasis on character development; however, play creation, writing and directing are also fundamental aspects of Gaulier's belief in giving birth to unique creative artists.

Each class is filled with fun improv games, basic tumbling and partner balancing. Other exciting circus skills include juggling, stilt walking, hoop tricks and plate spinning, just to name a few. Working with clown noses and classic clown routines, this workshop plays kids natural abilities while teaching new skills. Each class will feature new and different skills.

Aimee German has taught gymnastics, drama and circus skills to children all over the world for over 12 years. She performs as a comedienne and clown at numerous New York City venues. She studied dance and movement at the American Academy of Dance and Stanley Holden's in Los Angeles, then moved to London to complete her post graduate degree in classical theatre.

Audrey Crabtree teaches acting, writing, comedy, and improv for kid and teens. She started teaching kids by providing roller skating lessons in the driveway at age 8. She has been teaching ever since. Former students of hers have appeared on HBO, Comedy Central, in major motions pictures, national commercials, and stages worldwide. Audrey has trained and performs as an actor, improviser, clown and works on stage, video and film.

In this workshop, traditional and non-traditional exercises are used to explore and unlock the creative impulse, freeing the true expression of the clown under any given circumstance.

Jef Johnson is a principal clown in the company of Slava's Snowshow. As clown, he toured with Cirque du Soleil and also served as Artistic Director for the tour's 2003 stage parody of Dralion in Mexico City. He has more than fifteen years experience in costume character and large format puppet performance, walk around character development and free form clown performance. He has studied in a wide range of Old World disciplines, including Clown, Mask, Mime, Dance, Commedia Dell'arte, Circus and Improvisation.

Sue Morrison, Artistic Director of the Theatre Resource Centre, has been teaching, directing and collaborating on Clown and Bouffon across the globe for 25 years. Today, Morrison's unique and powerful work brings together the diverse elements of Native American and European Clowning, Bouffon, le Jeu and Improvisation. Her students are currently featured in Cirque du Soliel, The Blue Man Group, Slava's Snow Show, the Second City and on other International stages. She has taught at the dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre and teaches and creates regularly with the LUME group of Brazil. ?She has also been a presenter at International Theatre Conferences in Brazil and Argentina. Her work has been the focus of several International documentaries.

Mr. Bayes' workshop is focused on the courage, risk and death-defying artistry that it takes to perform the "greatest trick in the world". And, of course, because it springs from the mind of the clown is mostly a celebration of the stupid. It encourages the emotional imagination and the clown's capacity for triumphant delight. Chris Bayes has directed numerous plays including Red Noses, Four by Feydeau, The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Moliere One Acts, The Love of Three Oranges, The Imaginary Invalid, The New Place by Carlo Goldoni, We Won't Pay, and his new adaptation of Molière's The Reluctant Doctor of Love, all at the Juilliard School and NYU's Graduate Acting Program. He has staged original works including Wreckage at P.S. 122, The Big Day and The Fiasco Bro. Circus at Juilliard, Zibaldoné at HERE, The Fools/Los Locos Del Pueblo at Touchstone Theater, and Necromance, A Night of Conjuration at Dixon Place. Chris has served on the faculty of the Juilliard School, the Actor's Center, Yale School of Drama, the Academy of Classical Acting at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington D.C., NYU's Graduate Acting Program, and as the Director of Movement and Physical Theater at the Brown/Trinity Consortium. His new book, detailing his approach to clown and acting is due out this Spring.

David Shiner is best known for his starring role in Cirque du Soleil. He has starred in the German and Swiss National Circuses and between circus engagements appeared in the films LORENZO'S OIL, SILENT TONGUE and MAN OF THE HOUSE. Mr. Shiner has made several appearances on the TONIGHT SHOW and was guest director at the Wintergarden Theatre in Berlin and the Apollo Theatre in Dusseldorf. In 1999 He and Bill Irwin were awarded, a special Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award for " Unique Theatrical Experience" and an Outer Critics Circle Award for "Special Achievement", for their two man show Fool Moon.

David Shiner is currently creating, conceiving and directing a new show for Cirque du Soleil that will open in 2007.