Clowns Of Many Emotions In Play

    What drives comedy, asks Jeremy Aluma? Something that takes from a kaleidoscope of emotion?

    The director of “Four Clowns,” a joint venture of Long Beach Playhouse and Alive Theatre, said he sought to combine many different aspects of live performance in creating a unique theater platform – with a special emphasis on the physical.

    “As a director, I always try to implement that into the play,” he said. “I try to make the bodies of the characters an important part of the play.”

    Collaborations, like this one with Alive Theatre, are something the Long Beach Playhouse is looking to really focus on, said Lauren Morris, managing director.

    “They’re doing great work and they deserve to be showcased,” she said. “It’s great for them, but it helps us too because they have a great and young audience and it helps introduce us to that community.”

    The Long Beach Playhouse has been running a schedule for 82 years — Alive Theatre, in contrast, is in the midst of its third season. Morris said the Long Beach Playhouse was shrinking its production slate (five shows instead of eight) in order to produce more collaborations.

    “We all know each other anyway because the theater community is so small, so it doesn’t feel that different to be working with these people,” Morris said. “It’s been pretty seamless.”

    Aluma created “Four Clowns,” a tale of, yes, four clowns who represent four different moods: Sad, mischievous, angry and nervous. The four clowns reminisce on how they grew up, and eventually, how they come to die. There is a chest that includes prop set pieces that inspire different scenes from each clown’s life that keeps the story moving forward.

    “At the end, the idea is that through these experiences with each other, they can become a well-rounded clown,” Aluma said.

    The journey will include plenty of humor and physical comedy, as well as some crass language and sexual references, he added.

    “Nothing is taboo,” he said.

    Having known Aluma since going to school together at California State University, Long Beach, actor Kevin Klein said he was eager to take part in the project. When it initially ran, he played the angry clown, but for the Long Beach debut he will be mischievous.

    “You would think on the surface that it’s just a funny clown play,” Klein said. “It’s actually a very good challenge to develop something that does have meaning to it.”

    Klein said that the actors and director made the decision for an organic feel — about 20% of the play is improvised.

    “That’s part of the art of clowning — that it can change on any given night,” he said.

    Each clown has a specific, and often dark, reason for why he embodies a certain type of mood, Klein said. The mischievous clown was neglected, and lashes out for attention, while the angry clown suffered abuse.

    More than anything, what makes the play come alive is the commitment to physicality and the cast taking on that challenge, Aluma said, which garnered them an award at 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

    “The strength is the physical comedy and the ability of the actors to take risks and be 100% involved in the show,” Klein said. “Boring will never be tied to his show. This is the type of show that in rehearsal there was blood, sweat and tears — we don’t hold back.”

    And it’s by showing this full spectrum of emotion as honestly as possible that the play succeeds, Aluma said.

    “That’s the beauty of life,” he said. “The joys and the sorrows are equally meaningful. Laughter and tears are really a beautiful part of our lives and I think it’s important we’re in touch with both sides.”

    “Four Clowns” will take place at 8 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from March 4-19 at the Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St. Tickets cost $10. Visit www.lbplayhouse.org or www.alivetheatre.org.