IN PERSON Classes

SPECIAL ONE DAY RETREAT: CLOWN-PALOOZA

Class Type Open
Dates Saturday December 20, 2025
Times 10am-6pm
Location Sane Living, 316 E Matilija St, Ojai, CA 93023
Instructors David Bridel
Cost $150

The Clown School invites you to take a day out of your life and join us for our long-awaited, first-ever retreat! Refresh, revitalize, and inspire yourself in the magical surroundings of the Sane Living Center in beautiful Ojai, California. Our series of exercises in movement, ensemble work, foolery and clowning offer a transformational experience, filled with connectivity and laughter, that will cleanse the palate and treat the soul around the Winter Solstice.

Ages 18 and older.

No prior experience necessary.

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.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequiste: None

FRIDAY MORNING SERIES: SILENT MOVEMENT PRACTICE

Class Type Open
Dates Fridays in January (9,16,23,30)
Times 10am-Noon Fridays ONLY
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $289

“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.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequiste: None

SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES: CLOWN 3 [PERFORMANCE SERIES]

Class Type Advanced
Dates January 11 - February 22, 2026
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)

“Incredibly transformative! Clown School taught me truly life-altering skills!”CSH, Los Angeles

For participants who have come through the Clown progression, the chance to make a Clown show together. Enjoy the thrills of your clown character making material and creating beautiful routines. Everything culminates in a presentation for friends and family. Don’t miss this totally unique opportunity to be a part of a fabulous adventure!

CLOWN 3 is part of The Clown School’s PERFORMANCE SERIES, offering participants the opportunity to perform their original material to a live audience.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: Clown 2

MONDAY NIGHT SERIES: MIME 1

Class Type All Comers
Dates January 12 - February 23, 2026
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)

A glorious opportunity to explore the art of mime as it relates to the world of clown and physical comedy. Learn isolations that help you to articulate your physical movements; beats, phrasing, punctuation, and sub-divisions to develop the grammar and language of mime; and develop hilarious and poignant scenes that test and stretch your compositional abilities. Perfect for performers who want to practice silent story telling as a unique, magical, and exciting art form.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequiste: None

TUESDAY MORNING SERIES: SHAKESPEARE’s CLOWNS AND FOOLS

Class Type All Comers
Dates February 3, 10, 17, 24 2026
Times 10am-1pm Tuesdays ONLY
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor David Bridel and Christopher Earl
Cost $325 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

Join David and Christopher Earl for a hybrid workshop/scene study class that takes a deep dive into the world of Shakespeare’s Clowns. Explore the role of clowns and fools in Shakespeare’s plays and learn about the actors who played many of these roles (Will Kempe, Robert Armin); witness how clowns embellished the playwright’s script through movement, gesture and improvisation in plays as varied as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Much Ado About Nothing; dig into Shakespeare’s gloriously salacious wordplay, featuring innuendo and raunchy humor; and grapple with the manner in which clowns both mirrored and advanced the throughline of so many stories. 

You’ll play the roles, dive into the comedy, and enrich yourselves in a Shakespeare immersion!

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None

SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES: CLOWN 1 LAS VEGAS

Class Type Beginners
Dates February 15 - March 29, 2026
Times 5-9pm, Sundays ONLY
Location Western Stage Props, 4017 Dean Martin Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89103
Instructor Erik Engman
Cost $299 (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

Hello Las Vegas Clowns! Come and 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. We’re delighted to offer this new section and to welcome a new generation of clowns into the fold!

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!

SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES: CLOWN 1

Class Type Beginners
Dates March 1 - April 12, 2026
Times 6-9.30pm, Sundays ONLY
Location The Stomping Ground, 5453 Alhambra Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90032
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $475 (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. We’re delighted to offer this new section and to welcome a new generation of clowns into the fold!

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None. All experience levels welcome!

MONDAY NIGHT SERIES: MIME 2 [PERFORMANCE SERIES]

Class Type All Comers
Dates March 2 - April 13, 2026
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)

Take your Mime skills to the next level, and build a show out of routines, bits, and stories, all delivered through the magical medium of mime. Using physical characterization, cinematic techniques for the stage, and live foley, creating your original mime material offers you the chance to do something incredible with just your body, your imagination, and your skill.

MIME 2 is part of The Clown School’s PERFORMANCE SERIES, offering participants the opportunity to perform their original material to a live audience.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: Mime 1

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: CABARET - THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF BUILDING AN ACT

Class Type All Comers
Dates March 7-8, 2026
Times 12-5pm Saturday/Sunday ONLY
Location The Industry Loft, 755 Highland Ave, LA CA
Instructor Cleo DeOrio
Cost $325 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

Travel through time with Professor Cleo DeOrio of Dell’Arte International to discuss cabaret acts from the Vaudeville era to today. In this lab-style workshop, learn what it means to build an act, why some acts work and some don’t, and the importance of knowing your audience. This workshop is rooted in devising and will require that students devise an act in solo or small groups, or come prepared with an act to workshop. Time will be allotted for creation, feedback and discussion. Each act will receive individual coaching from Cleo.

Cleo DeOrio (she/her) is a Physical Theatre and Dance artist-teacher from Cleveland, Ohio. Cleo received a BA at Baldwin Wallace University, where she focused her studies in Directing and Choreography and an MFA from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, where she developed works such as Citizens of Nowhere and Visions of a Crying Girl. Cleo specializes in storytelling through movement, physical character development, emotional embodiment, and devising. Cleo is currently teaching faculty at Dell'Arte International and The Sitka Fine Arts Camp. 

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequiste: None

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: DIRECTING

Class Type All Comers
Dates March 28-29, 2026
Times 12-4pm Saturday/Sunday ONLY
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $325 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

For the first time, The Clown School offers a workshop in directing for the stage. David draws on a long career and his vast experience in theater and opera to explore the tenets of directing. From concept to realization, from script work to working with performers, this weekend immersion in the art of directing offers a comprehensive overview of the art form, fleshed out with practical exercises and clearly articulated principles that can be utilized swiftly and effectively.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequiste: None

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: MAD CIRCUS SKILLZ WITH MATT WALKER

Class Type Open
Dates April 18/19, 2026
Times Saturday & Sunday 12-5pm
Location Screenland Studios
10501 Burbank Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA, 91601
Instructor Matt Walker
Cost $325

He’s back! Learn the proper tricks and techniques of various circus skill disciplines, including juggling, balancing, and hat tricks! Ringling Bros. Clown College graduate and former circus clown Matt Walker will guide you through the necessary practices and protocols to add to your bag of tricks! Hands (and feet) on training on all the circus apparatus over the course of the weekend. Develop practical application of these skills to help create a vital, well-rounded clown! Or, just kick-ass at parties!

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None.

SUNDAY NIGHT SERIES: CLOWN 2

Class Type Beginners
Dates April 19 - May 31, 2026
Times 6-9.30pm, Sundays ONLY
Location The Stomping Ground, 5453 Alhambra Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90032
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $475 (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

MONDAY NIGHT SERIES: THE INCUBATOR [PERFORMANCE SERIES]

Class Type All Comers
Dates April 20 - June 22, 2026
Times 6-9pm Mondays ONLY
Location JJ Gym, 6232 Mary Ellen Ave, Valley Glen, CA 91401
Instructor David Bridel
Cost $499 (discounts available for previous Clown School participants)

In The Clown School’s new Incubator, you can develop your own brand new show or routines. Whether you want to build a full length solo show, make mayhem with your clown partners in duos, trios or more, or play with new bits, routines, and variety acts, the Incubator will customize a pathway for you to achieve your goals. Structure, story, script; characterization, scenography, ensemble; gags, improvs, and audience participation; you’ll receive encouragement, feedback, and direction, as you build your own material and share it with an audience.

THE INCUBATOR is part of The Clown School’s PERFORMANCE SERIES, offering participants the opportunity to perform their original material to a live audience.

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequisite: None

FRIDAY MORNING SPECIAL WORKSHOP: THE SOUND HEALING CLOWN

Class Type Open
Dates Friday May 29
Times 10am-Noon
Location Madilyn Clark Studios, 10852 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood, California 91601
Instructor Marisa Petroro
Cost $100

Join Marisa Petroro, Winner of The Clown School’s 2024 Humanitarian Clowning Award, for this very special clown workshop featuring a unique Sound Healing experience. Play, connect, engage, and then immerse yourself in the gorgeous tones and vibrations of Marisa’s sound work for a one-off experience that can’t be replicated!

Ages 18 and older.

Prerequiste: None

SPECIAL WEEKEND WORKSHOP: THOSE MAGICAL LARVAL MASKS

Class Type Open
Dates November 7-8, 2026
Times Noon-5pm
Location JJ Gym, 6232 Mary Ellen Ave, Valley Glen, CA 91401
Instructors David Bridel
Cost $325

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.

Prerequisite: None