CLASSES
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CLASSES 🍎
The Pandemonium Workshop (6-Day)
SECOND INTENSIVE ADDED DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND!
Internationally renowned clown and commedia master Christopher Bayes, the founder of The Pandemonium Studio in New York, current Head of Physical Acting at Yale School of Drama, and author of Discovering the Clown, or The Funny Book of Good Acting, is coming to Los Angeles to teach a special 6-day immersion workshop at the Elysian! For clowns, comedians, actors, and curious performers/non-performers of any experience level wanting to throw themselves into the thrill of pandemonium. Don’t miss this rare chance to train with Chris on the West Coast.
Over six days of radical play, we pursue the clown together in all of its messy and hilarious beauty. Learn to listen and respond with your whole body; develop a more playful and dynamic relationship with the audience, with your collaborators, and with yourself. Take a risk! Have some fun! Bring the ruckus! Let's find out what's funny about you!
Final class on Saturday will be opened to an invited audience.
CLASS IN THE SKUNK ROOM:
May 12-17th, 2025 11am-5pm (1 hr break for lunch, final day open workshop with audience)
Payment plans available at registration
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“Christopher Bayes is a master, an extraordinary visionary who has done more to liberate young American actors over the last two generations than I can possibly express. His classes in Clowning are philosophical manifestos; the power of his laughter inextricable from the depth of his spirit."--Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director, The Public Theater
‘MORE BAYES!!!’ is what students at Yale School of Drama write to me, again and again, about studying with Christopher Bayes… They invariably type in ALL CAPS…because he is a master teacher of a generation of remarkably gifted and successful actors who have learned to own the softness of their brains while finding out what makes them funny.” -James Bundy, Dean, Yale School of Drama / Artistic Director Yale Repertory Theatre
Student Testimonials:
"This is not just a class. It is a communal experience of discovery. Chris facilitates masterfully, with the spirit of inclusion, play, and care. Not only are all welcome - all aspects of the human experience are invited in and celebrated. To discover the clown is to rediscover yourself - the impulsive, enthusiastic, sensitive child-like self that has been left behind and all of the beauty and magic that comes with that. Clown with Chris is a transformational adventure for the artist and the human. And it’s really really fun!!! Did I mention that?!"
"Wow, is all I have to say. I had no idea what was coming, but this intensive was a truly transformative experience. I would fervently recommend this workshop not solely as an actor and artist, but for anyone willing to bravely plumb the depths of their emotional and psychological wells, in search of truth, freedom, and ultimately love."
About the Instructor:
Christopher Bayes began his theater career with the internationally acclaimed Theatre de la Jeune Lune where he worked for five years as an actor, director, composer, designer, and artistic associate. In 1989 he joined the acting company of the Guthrie Theater where he appeared in over twenty productions.
He was part of the creative team for the Broadway and Touring productions of THE 39 STEPS for which he created movement/physical comedy and served as Movement director. On Broadway his work as comedy consultant has been seen in South Pacific, Moulon Rouge and Clyde’s.
In New York, he has directed Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni at Theater for a New Audience, Red Noses by Peter Barnes, Four by Feydeau, The Bourgeois Gentleman, The Moliere One Acts, and The Love of Three Oranges by Carlo Gozzi at the Juilliard School; The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere, The New Place by Carlo Goldoni, We Won’t Pay... by Dario Fo, and his new adaptation of Moliere’s The Reluctant Doctor of Love for New York University’s Graduate Acting Program; The Raven by Carlo Gozzi at NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing; Ubu Roi at both NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing and Fordham University; and Timeslips at HERE. He has staged several original works including Wreckage at P.S. 122, The Big Day (a clown show) and The Fiasco Bro. Circus at the Juilliard School, Zibaldoné at HERE and the Present Company Theatorium, The Fools/Los Locos Del Pueblo at Touchstone Theater, Necromance, A Night of Conjuration at Dixon Place. Clowns at the New York International Clown Festival and The Public Theater, Even Maybe Tammy at The Flea and For the Honey, you gotta say when at NYTW.
Outside of New York, his directing credits include Servant of Two Masters (Yale Rep, The Shakespeare Theater, The Guthrie, Seattle Rep, Arts-Emerson) Doctor In Spite of Himself by Moliere (Intiman Theater, Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep) Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo (Yale Rep, Berkeley Rep), Scapin at the Intiman Theater in Seattle and Court Theater in Chicago, Comedy of Errors at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, The Birds at Yale Repertory Theater, Endgame at Court Theater, The Moliere Impromptu at Trinity Repertory Theater.
He has taught classes and workshops at Cirque Du Soleil, The Dome Studio in Beijing China, Williamstown Theatre Festival, , The Big Apple Circus, Interlochen Arts Center, Vassar College, Stella Adler Conservatory, Bard College, Fordham University, University of Texas Graduate Acting and Directing Programs, National Shakespeare Conservatory, University of Minnesota Graduate Acting Program, the Guthrie Theater, Iowa State University and Theater de la Jeune Lune.
He has served on the faculty of the Juilliard Drama School, the Actor's Center (founding faculty & master teacher of physical comedy/clown), Yale School of Drama, the Public Theater’s Shakespeare Lab, the Academy of Classical Acting at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington D.C., New York University's Graduate Acting Program and Tisch School of the Arts. Clinical Professor of Theater, Speech and Dance at Brown University and Director of Movement and Physical Theater at the Brown/Trinity Consortium in Providence, RI. Christopher is currently a Professor in The Practice of Acting and Head of Physical Acting at the Yale School of Drama (2006-present).
Class cancellation policy: Full refund up until 5 days before the class. If you cancel in the five days before the workshop, 25% of the tuition is retained by the Elysian.