HUMOR ABUSE AT THE MARK TAPER FORUM

LORENZO PISONI’s HUMOR ABUSE AT THE MARK TAPER FORUM

 In past years the word clown is often used as an insult – to describe a few people who make life miserable for the many.

 
However, I say it’s time to support and cheer the true clown!  True clowns make us laugh until we cry… in a healing way.  I witnessed such a clown at the Mark Taper Forum last week in the one-clown show HUMOR ABUSE.

Lorenzo Pisoni made the audience laugh, taught us about clownery, and shared stories about his father, their relationship and the days when, as a child, he was his father’s clown partner... As with many father/son stories, these times together are not always fun.  So, yes, the evening was sad, too. 

 
BUT, much of the evening was belly laugh time when you feel the surge of naturally-occurring chemicals in your own mind and body lift your spirit.  
 
I was upset when the Taper delayed WHAT THE BUTLER SAW to next season. I’d looked forward to seeing it because I’d played Geraldine in summer stock.  It’s a great farce with lots of laughs.  BUT the replacement show seemed like a dream come true for me… it was the medicine I needed to keep me working on my stories about clown dog Pebbles.  Last December I published A CLOWN DOG’S CHRISTMAS, the first of what I hope to be three books about Clown Dog Pebbles, Master Clown Beppo and their friends. There's nothing like a good play to ignite my creative self.

What the world needs now are clowns are more clowns.  I’m talking about those special ones who, with good hearts and comic talent, create pure joy.

 

Cheers and thanks to the wonderful LORENZO PISONI.

HUMOR ABUSE plays until Nov. 3 at the Taper in Los Angeles.

If it comes to your area, see it.