Clown Workshop with John Beale -Ottawa

Name: Clown Workshop with John Beale -Ottawa
Start: 2025-11-15T13:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-11-16T16:00:00-05:00
Location: Arts Court/Cour des arts

Schedule

Sat, 15 Nov, 2025 at 01:30 pm to Sun, 16 Nov, 2025 at 04:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Arts Court/Cour des arts | Ottawa, ON

Clown Workshop with John Beale-Ottawa
November 15th and 16th
Saturday 1:30-8:30
Sunday 10-5
Ontario Dance Directive, Studio B
The Arts Court Building,
2 Daly Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario
$300 plus hst
20% discount for students, returning participants, union members. Pre-registration and payment is required as space will be limited to 14 people. E-transfer [email protected]
We’ll explore presence, play, vulnerability, and the joyful chaos of not knowing. This series is open to both newcomers and seasoned performers - everyone meets the training where they are. Classes are typically a great mix of experience levels, which keeps the work fresh and surprising.
This work encourages us to show up- to explore an open channel between ourselves and others. Clown teaches us to play, not to push too much or shy away but to bring our full selves to the moment - to find our open, sensitive, vulnerable, human and ridiculous quality.
"With this work people have to find a way of being beautiful and surprising...and by beautiful I mean being in the grip of pleasure or freedom.” -Philippe Gaulier
Cancelation Policy
Full refunds for cancellations one week prior to the workshop. For cancellations after that point the workshop fee will be put toward any future workshop
John Beale is an actor, teacher and director based in Toronto, Ontario (and Nosara, Costa Rica) . He serves as the master teacher of Clown and Bouffon at Humber College’s Theatre Arts Performance Program and also teaches acting, mask, clown, improv and scene study at Seneca and Randolph Colleges, character study at George Brown College and Embodied Presence (clown) at Stratford Festival’s Birmingham Conservatory . He has led public performance workshops in clown and presence for over 20 years.
John has acted in television, film and theatre for over 30 years. His feature-film highlights include Cloudburst, Blackbird and I Am Lorena Bobbit. His TV credits include principal roles in series such as Suits, Designated Survivor, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Murdoch Mysteries and The Umbrella Academy, and he also had a recurring role as Dr. Peter Perkins in Tom Selleck's Jesse Stone TV movies.
On stage, John originated the role of Kyle Best in Daniel MacIvor’s The Best Brothers (which premiered at the Stratford Festival and later toured nationally). He also originated the role of Nurk in MacIvor’s Bingo at Neptune Theatre (Halifax) and Factory Theatre (Toronto). He earned a Merritt Award for his performance in The Crucible with Two Planks and a Passion Theatre Company. He co-wrote The Peggy Show with Graham Percy and performed the one man two character physical comedy piece for 5 seasons at The Schoolhouse Theatre. John is a graduate of Philippe Gaulier’s prestigious International Theatre School in Paris and also trained, performed and taught extensively with the acclaimed Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. He is known as a highly regarded acting teacher who guides actors to become more present, open, grounded and resilient.

TESTIMONIALS
"Dear John, When you did study in my school in Paris I did recognize you as a great actor. When I saw your show I recognized a great writer, poet and actor. But I knew it already. Thanks for your show, your friend, Philippe Gaulier”
“Mr Beale is a highly regarded acting teacher known for guiding actors to be more present, open, grounded and resilient.” -Anna Mackay-Smith, Head of Acting, George Brown Media Studies.
Past Participants:
"Your workshop knocked a lot of stuff loose for me in a good way. Very grateful.”
"John's workshop and his delivery were brilliant. Being able to play spontaneously allowed me to be at my best creatively. It gave me the opportunity to be "present", feel, let my ego go and unearth some amazing ideas."
"John Beale is a skilled and engaging facilitator. His workshop gave me new confidence in myself. I was brought back to life and discovered a more creative me. I laughed often and harder than I have in a long time. It was a very rewarding experience.”
“Seemed as if whatever plug had fallen out inside my soul was reconnected.”
“Thanks for guiding me through one of the most terrifying and exhilarating moments in my adult life. I very much appreciated your guidance during the last two days, and have certainly found some new perspectives that I would want to pursue further.”
“What a stupendous weekend! I thoroughly enjoyed the work, managing to stay pretty loose (vulnerable) as we leapt from one challenging task to another. I do feel I made some real headway in discovering "who I am" i.e. my essence. I surprised myself! Again, thank you for a most exhilarating experience.”

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