Clown Questions

Emma Heidenheim

1. What is the name of your clown? Why did you choose this
name? What dominant quality of your clown does the name reflect? My
Clowns name is PJ, I chose this name because its tomboyish and my clown is a
tomboy.

2. In what ways does the name of your clown impact his/her development?
The name PJ implies thats my clown is a kid, and so that was a deciding factor
in what the relationships would be between our clown family.

3. What is your clown wearing? My clown wears a pink ball cap (backwards), a
striped top, and a paisley dress.

4. How do these costume choices enhance the dominant quality of your

clown or cause your clown to act in a certain way? PJs clothes are very
comfortable, and stretchy. They dont limit her movement in any way, which is
important because shes always trying to one-up her sister Pepper. Her clothes
have pink accents, but theyre still tom-boyish; backwards hat, and boots.

5. Describe the personal object your clown uses. My clowns personal object is
her chewing gum, she is always blowing bubbles and playing with her gum. (I did
not use the gum as much as usual today, which I was disappointed in)

6. Why did you, the actor, select this for your clown? I chose the gum for PJ
because I felt it fit her personality very well, shes a gross little kid. Chewing gum
always seems to me to give the appearance of indifference as well which suits
PJ perfectly.

7. In what ways does the personal object promote the development of your
clown? At one point Sparkle takes my gum and puts in the soup, this initiates my
bad mood, which lasts until Granny Franny gives me candyand condoms.

8. List the different ways your personal object transforms during the scene. At
one point I use it as a weapon against Pepper, and Sparkle pulls it out of my
mouth for the soup.

9. How does your personal object help develop the action? When I use it to
chase Pepper she gets angry, which causes Sparkle to come and discipline us.
When I pull it out of my mouth, Sparkle throws it in the soup, which makes me
have a tantrum.

10. List your exploits.

 - When Grandma comes to the door, I push in front of Pepper to see her first.

- When I am having my tantrum Granny offers me Candy

- I get sprayed in the face by the water, but then I get to deliver the
baby.

11. What happens each time your clown flips into Major mode? In what ways
does your clown dominate the action? My clown is constantly trying to flip into
Major mode over her little sister Pepper. Every time she does this she gets in
trouble and throws a tantrum.

12. List your flops.

-Getting gum taken away

-getting suffocated by Grannys boobs

-getting sprayed in the face

13. Explain what happens when your clown flips into Minor mode. In what
ways does your clown support the action taking place? When my clown flips
into Minor mode, its usually because she is sulking or scared. This adds contrast
to action going on in the middle of the scene.

14. How does the flop redirect the action in the scene?

15. Describe your forbidden gesture. My forbidden gesture is sticking my gum to

people, in this scene I only threaten to do it to Pepper.

16. Why did you select this particular forbidden gesture for your clown? I chose
this gesture for my clown because its connected to my personal prop.

17. Does the forbidden gesture help you to develop another side of your
clown? My forbidden gesture helped me develop PJs angry side. At first
Coral and I couldnt decide how we should interact with each other, the gum
helped us decide that we should always be bickering.

18. Why do you perform your forbidden gesture when you do (what makes you
do it)? I stick my gum on people when I get so unbelievably frustrated I think Im
going to explode.

19. Explain what your clown was hoping to accomplish each time s/he
performs the forbidden gesture. Every time PJ does this its because she is so
overcome with frustration she wants to get back at the person.

20. Describe how the forbidden gesture changes the direction the action of the
scene take (if this is the case). My forbidden gesture always incites some
 action, usually a fight. For example at the very beginning when Pepper and I are
trying to kill each other.

21. Explain how the scale of your actions (from very, very small to very, very
large) affect the different games your clown is playing with the other clown
in your scene. When I am making small movements in the scene it is usually
when I am being sneaky, like when Pepper and I are playing with the condoms.
Larger movements are saved for complete pandemonium; like when the baby is
being born.

22. Where did you insert your moments of stillness? I inserted moments of
stillness when there are other more important things going on in the scene. For
example when either Granny or Puke arrive at the door. Another time is when we
are sitting with Granny in the corner eating Candy.

23. Why did you insert the moments of stasis where you did?

24. What effect does stasis have at these points in the scene? I think this allows
focus to be on more important action to the story of the scene.

25. Indicate when in the action your clown uses a specific State of Tension or
changes to a new state of tension. How does the state of tension in use
affect the other clowns in the scene and/or change the direction or quality
of the action in the scene? At the end of the scene its theres a bomb in the
room when Granny comes its theres a bomb in the room. When Grandma
smothers me its rigor mortis When we realize the baby is coming itsalsorigor
mortis.

26. List the moments when your clown clocks. What information were you
passing on to the audience each time you clocked?

Clocks:
-FightingwithPJ,thengumgetstakenawayCLOCK
ThiswastosignifyImmad
SuffocatesinGrannyboobsCLOCKToshowtheaudiencethatwas
terrifying
GotohelpGrandmaintochair,Pepperpullsitoutfromunderher
CLOCK.Tosaythatsfunny
ReceivecondomsfromGrandmaalongwiththecandyCLOCKSaying
Thiscouldbefun!
WatchesPepperdropcondomisthesoupCLOCKUhOH!