IN PERSON Classes

SILENT MOVEMENT PRACTICE

Class Type Open
Dates Fridays in August, 2025
Times 10am-Noon, Fridays ONLY
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $249 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

“Understanding each other without verbally communicating is so powerful. Thank you so much for this incredible experience.” NM, Los Angeles

A unique, original class that explores energy, physical communication, and connection - with self and others - in silence. Fusing elements of meditation, contact improvisation and balance work, Viewpoints, and David’s own movement curriculum, each session unfolds without speech and opens up new channels of somatic listening and learning. By joining this class, you pledge to enter the studio in silence and to maintain that silence throughout the class experience.

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: MEDICAL AND HUMANITARIAN CLOWNING

Class Type Open
Dates August 23/24
Times 12-5pm
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor Raquel Gendry
Cost $299

Discover how the magical, transformative power of the clown can be applied in hospital, care-giving, and crisis settings to access healing through humor and spiritual renewal. The clown has been a healer throughout time, bringing a message of hope and wonder to societies and individuals in every corner of the world. Now you can study this beautiful application of the clown arts at The Clown School.

Raquel Gendry is an award-winning actress and master trainer in performing arts with over 30 years of professional experience in theatre. radio, television and film. She has performed and taught in North and South America as well as western Europe. But what she is most passionate about is her work as a humanitarian clown and bringing back hope and joy to the lives of those who have lost them.

She is the founder and president of Narices Rojas, an Ecuadorian non-profit organization that she started in 2006 after experiencing a life-threatening disease herself, and the depths of despair that can exist in hospital intensive care units. She has since trained over 200 volunteer humanitarian clowns. Together they have positively impacted over 290,000 people in local hospitals and refugee camps, and continue to do so.

Ages: 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!

SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES: CLOWN 1

Class Type Open
Dates September 7 - October 19, 2025
Times 6-9.30pm, Sundays ONLY
Location The Stomping Ground, 5453 Alhambra Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90032
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $449 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

“I think all people, big and small, fat and tall, outlandishly extroverted or shy and squeaky, believing or non-believing, happy or sad, beautiful or butt ugly, ready or not, should TAKE. THIS. CLASS.” KS, Los Angeles

Delve into the magical world of the clown. Learn to meet an audience on equal terms. Discover the energies inside you waiting to be tapped, relish the liberation of laughter, confront your fears and support your peers. You’ll be amazed how the clown inside you emerges into the limelight and experiences the pure pleasure of connection.

Clown 1 is our foundational class, and most popular offering.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!

MONDAY NIGHT SERIES: SLAPSTICK & PHYSICAL COMEDY

Class Type Open
Dates September 8 - October 20, 2025
Times 6-9pm, Mondays ONLY
Location JJ Gym, 6232 Mary Ellen Ave, Valley Glen, CA 91401
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $399 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

If you’re a fan of fights and mud-pies, comic gags and routines, the work of Chaplin, Keaton and Lucille Ball, this class is for you! Learn the hidden principles of Slapstick and Physical Comedy, and then apply them in a series of improvisations and routines that will illuminate your approach to creating and sustaining physical comedy! David’s incisive curriculum offers take-home methodologies that you can utilize in your own practice. And it’s a great workout for your clown, comedy, and character muscles! First offered in early 2025, the class is back because it was too much fun to leave in the locker!

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: CHEKHOV’S CLOWNS

Class Type Open
Dates October 4/5, 2025
Times Saturday & Sunday 12-5pm
Location TBA
Instructors David Bridel and Christopher Earl
Cost $299

Join David and Christopher Earl, the team that brought you the wonderful Shakespeare’s Clowns, for a unique examination of Chekhov’s final masterpiece, The Cherry Orchard, through the lens of clown and comedy. Slip-ups, malfunctions, quirks, missed connections, physical comedy, self-centered foolery, mood-swings, and the heartbreaking humor of lost opportunity… The poetry of clowning is a magical way to encounter and experience Chekhov’s timelessly eccentric characters. With character study, improvisations, and comic business galore, don’t miss this one-of-a-kind chance to see behind the drab curtain of sincerity and discover just how and why Chekhov was convinced that his plays were comedies at heart.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!

SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES: CLOWN 2

Class Type Intermediate
Dates October 26 thru December 14, 2025
Times 6-9.30pm, Sundays ONLY
Location The Stomping Ground, El Sereno
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $449 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

Clown 2 offers an amazing opportunity to explore clown archetypes. Bring your vulnerability and playfulness to the Auguste, the clown at the very bottom of the ladder, and the Joey, also known as the boss clown, the clown that wins! The class brings incredible transformations, a deeper connection with your clown, and the joy of creativity in this beautiful discipline.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: Clown 1 or Intensive

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: LARVAL MASK

Class Type Open
Dates November 15-16, 2024
Times Noon-5pm
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructors David Bridel
Cost $299

The Larval Mask is the “baby clown” of the theatrical world - and so much more. A manifestation of total innocence, the mask offers up a beautiful, profound, and highly unusual experience for the performer, who has to forget everything and start from the most basic prompts in order to unlock the treasure in each mask. The enlightenment of simplicity follows!

Ages 18 and older.

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: THE DYNAMICS OF PLAY

Class Type Open
Dates December 14/15, 2024
Times Noon-4pm
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructors David Bridel
Cost $299

The concept of play lies at the heart of everything in the clown and theatrical universe. Join David for this deep dive into play, complicity, game, structure, and sensitivity, opening up new revelations about the performer’s process and offering amazing moments of joy and excitement. In particular, watch out for a completely original version of the children’s game Hide and Seek, which David has translated into theatrical form with remarkable results…

Ages 18 and older.

Book your place now for the astounding Clown School Winter Intensive at The Clown School in January 2026. Welcoming participants from all over the country and all over the world to Los Angeles, the Intensive is rigorous, irreverent, playful, personal and profound, with a unique and transformative clown curriculum that can’t be found anywhere else! From vulnerability to a relationship with an audience; from levels of energy to physicalization and imagery; from emotional connection to archetypes and routines; this comprehensive exploration of the beauty and wonder of clowning offers a breakthrough experience for performers, comedians, artists, professionals, the curious, and the seekers of all stripes. A rare opportunity for newcomers and returners alike to go big and go bold - and release parts of the self into the creative process that have, until now, remained blocked.