Classes and workshops 🍏
Classes and workshops 🍏
Clown Fundamentals (4-week)
Study the fundamentals of modern clown with the artists that make the Elysian “clowning’s North American nerve center.” Use your body, hone your presence onstage, connect vividly with your audience, and create performances that are radically playful, vulnerable, strange, mischievous, gloriously dumb and beautiful.
Sold out! Join the Waitlist!
Clown Fundamentals (4-WEEKS)
Study the fundamentals of modern clown with the artists who make the Elysian “clowning’s North American nerve center.” Use your body, hone your presence onstage, connect vividly with your audience, and create performances that are radically playful, vulnerable, strange, mischievous, gloriously dumb and beautiful.
Pandemonium Workshop (5-day)
Over five 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!
Accelerator (3-days)
ACCELERATOR is a three-day intensive that focuses on solo work. Each student will perform a five-minute piece at a class show – based on a pre-existing idea or something we generate from scratch.
Bleeding Character
Work out the full emotional range of your character in this high octane clown class with Big D.
Clown Fundamentals (4-WEEKS)
Study the fundamentals of modern clown with the artists who make the Elysian “clowning’s North American nerve center.” Use your body, hone your presence onstage, connect vividly with your audience, and create performances that are radically playful, vulnerable, strange, mischievous, gloriously dumb and beautiful.
Classical Acting for the Modern Clown (6-WEEKS)
A class for any clown or performer ready to dive into the world of classical acting.
How To Stand (Up) (6 Weeks)
Guy Branum leads a six-week class to teach performers new to stand up the fundamentals. The class will start the process of identifying the comic's voice, use that to build a five minute set, and explore tools to learn from stage time.
Clown Fundamentals 2 (4-WEEKS)
Pre-requisite: Clown Fundamentals at the Elysian
The second 4-week session in our Clown Fundamentals series--clowning techniques taught through a modern and practical lens.
Study the essential elements of contemporary clown with the artists who make the Elysian “clowning’s North American nerve center.” Use your body, hone your presence onstage, connect vividly with your audience, and create performances that are radically playful, vulnerable, strange, mischievous, gloriously dumb and beautiful.
Unleashing the voice: power, resonance, and presence
An embodied voice workshop exploring power, texture, and presence through breath, movement, and vocal experimentation. Expand your range, discover new sounds, and reconnect voice to body and expression.
BOUFFON INTENSIVE w/ eric davis (3-days)
Experience the wild eyed ecstasy of grotesque outsiders who are ready to mock anything and everything! The bouffon are ready to eat the world and turn it into poetry and play!
CLOWN COLLEGE (2-days)
This class for clowns, physical comedians, character/sketch performers, actor/devisers encourages you to take your idiocy to a new degree with a holder of many degrees, cultural critic and multidisciplinary performer Gregory Nussen.
Camp Elysian - Teens (1 WEEK)
Kids will explore the fundamentals of modern clown and performance art that make the Elysian the buzzing center of Los Angeles’ underground comedy scene. Guided by teaching artists who actively create and perform at the theater, campers will be empowered to make their own work for the stage, trying out different genres of comedy to devise unique bits, invent new characters, and experiment with solo and ensemble performances. The camp celebrates creative curiosity, inventiveness, collaboration, and unabashed play.
Mornings begin with group exercises and games focused on an essential tenet of comedic performance. Improvisation, character building, stand-up and sketch writing will be taught, and with a clown edge. This isn’t your grandmother’s clown–there will be no red noses here (well, maybe one will get snuck in). After lunch, we’ll start crafting their performances together. The encouragement is around experimentation, audience connection, and unleashing imagination to find the funniest parts of themselves as they create new material.
To inspire the work of the week, the first day of camp includes a special kids-geared performance of our in-house show Bizarre Bazaar, starring a cast of Elysian’s favorite comics and clowns!
As a bookend, the camp will culminate with an Elysian-style variety show, feat. L.A.’s freshest and weirdest young comics (your children).
Camp Elysian - Pre-Teens (1 WEEK)
Kids will explore the fundamentals of modern clown and performance art that make the Elysian the buzzing center of Los Angeles’ underground comedy scene. Guided by teaching artists who actively create and perform at the theater, campers will be empowered to make their own work for the stage, trying out different genres of comedy to devise unique bits, invent new characters, and experiment with solo and ensemble performances. The camp celebrates creative curiosity, inventiveness, collaboration, and unabashed play.
Mornings begin with group exercises and games focused on an essential tenet of comedic performance. Improvisation, character building, stand-up and sketch writing will be taught, and with a clown edge. This isn’t your grandmother’s clown–there will be no red noses here (well, maybe one will get snuck in). After lunch, we’ll start crafting their performances together. The encouragement is around experimentation, audience connection, and unleashing imagination to find the funniest parts of themselves as they create new material.
To inspire the work of the week, the first day of camp includes a special kids-geared performance of our in-house show Bizarre Bazaar, starring a cast of Elysian’s favorite comics and clowns!
As a bookend, the camp will culminate with an Elysian-style variety show, feat. L.A.’s freshest and weirdest young comics (your children).
Camp Elysian - Kids (1 WEEK)
Kids will explore the fundamentals of modern clown and performance art that make the Elysian the buzzing center of Los Angeles’ underground comedy scene. Guided by teaching artists who actively create and perform at the theater, campers will be empowered to make their own work for the stage, trying out different genres of comedy to devise unique bits, invent new characters, and experiment with solo and ensemble performances. The camp celebrates creative curiosity, inventiveness, collaboration, and unabashed play.
Mornings begin with group exercises and games focused on an essential tenet of comedic performance. Improvisation, character building, stand-up and sketch writing will be taught, and with a clown edge. This isn’t your grandmother’s clown–there will be no red noses here (well, maybe one will get snuck in). After lunch, we’ll start crafting their performances together. The encouragement is around experimentation, audience connection, and unleashing imagination to find the funniest parts of themselves as they create new material.
To inspire the work of the week, the first day of camp includes a special kids-geared performance of our in-house show Bizarre Bazaar, starring a cast of Elysian’s favorite comics and clowns!
As a bookend, the camp will culminate with an Elysian-style variety show, feat. L.A.’s freshest and weirdest young comics (your children).
Faceoff (3-days)
CLOWN BOSS Chad Damiani (STAND UP AND CLOWN, STAMPTOWN, CLOWN ZOO) brings his popular theatrical mask workshop to The Elysian! This is not a workshop focused on creating traditional mask pieces, but how mask principles can make you more physical, present and dynamic on stage. Ideal for clowns, improvisers, stand-ups and performing artists.
CLASS CLOWN
CLASS CLOWN is the Elysian Theater’s first youth performance class, and we're excited to introduce kids of all ages to the joyfully weird comedy that defines the Elysian! If your kid loves making people laugh, has lots of energy and big feelings, likes coloring outside of the lines...send em our way!
AGES 11 and up
Two separate weekend sessions! Sign up for one or both
The Standup Special
Join FOUR PILLS director Cameron Esposito (New York Times, LA Times, NY Mag & Vulture Best of 2025) for a one day workshop focused on shooting your standup special your way.
Pandemonium Weekend
Work with Annelise Lawson, co-founder of The Pandemonium Studio in New York, and Lecturer at Yale School of Drama to keep building your skills or develop new ones. Jump into your body...open like a little flower...rediscover your playful spirit and the simple pleasure and ferocious generosity of performance.
Clown Curious (1-DAY)
People are talking about the LA Clown scene! We're excited for these idiots! If you're curious about the approach to performance driving its energy and want to learn more, see clown training in action, and perhaps try a little something yourself, join us for a free workshop led by Jet Eveleth, one of our favorite clown-comedian-teachers. Come to play or just to observe!
King of Clown
In this two-day intensive workshop and show, we will discover hone, and fully work out the man inside of you, so that you can slay the competition at being a hilarious, unique and manly king. Through the lens of modern clown and character work, we will hone your man body and character, clarify your physical and vocal expression, and get you pumped full of generally funny man juice.
Call it Character (Don’t Call it Clown)
This workshop takes the participant through a journey based in modern clown work to hone an electrifying performing presence, rooted deeply in who you are, that the audience can't get enough of. We will learn about your unique connection to the audience, your mission, and your special brand of vulnerable ferocity.
Movement for Clowns, Comedians & ImprovisErs
Rooted in Play, Lecoq Technique and Laban/ Bartenieff fundamentals, this class will get you laughing, sweating and give you greater awareness of your body as well as a theatrical language to articulate your comedy on stage.
All the Hats
You made a show! Now what? Learn how to find festivals and other places to perform, how to put together a tour, and, even better, how to come home with a return on your investments (ROI).
We'll examine how to make a budget that fits your needs and how to dream scalable when the numbers tell you you can't dream as big as you want. Karen will share with you her personal experiences from twelve festivals and strategies for tour profitability.
For the independent artist and producer who wears all the hats.
Elysian Class: Pandemonium Workshop- Advanced Clown (5 day)
Prerequisite: Pandemonium Workshop at the Elysian, or other training with Christopher Bayes and/or The Pandemonium Studio
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 5-day advanced immersion workshop at the Elysian. Jump into your body...open like a little flower...rediscover your playful spirit and the simple pleasure and ferocious generosity of performance.
Elysian class: Faceoff
CLOWN BOSS Chad Damiani (STAND UP AND CLOWN, STAMPTOWN, CLOWN ZOO) brings his popular theatrical mask workshop to The Elysian! This is not a workshop focused on creating traditional mask pieces, but how mask principles can make you more physical, present and dynamic on stage. Ideal for clowns, improvisers, stand-ups and performing artists. This is about more than being comfortable in your body. It’s learning how to trust your impulses and generate material from a physical space – as well as creating deeper audience connections through play.
Open to all levels. Neutral mask provided.
SOLD OUT! Join the waitlist
Elysian Class: Pandemonium Workshop (5 day)
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 5-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 a rare chance to train with Chris on the West Coast.
Over five 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!
Elysian Class: Language of Nonsense
This two-day intensive explores a fundamental element of clown work - communicating through The Language of Nonsense. How do we start a conversation? Build a vocabulary through movement and pattern? Establish games people will be excited to play? A deep exploration of primal communication. It’s also a chance to be live directed by Chad in a class show!
Elysian Class: Language of Nonsense
This two-day intensive explores a fundamental element of clown work - communicating through The Language of Nonsense. How do we start a conversation? Build a vocabulary through movement and pattern? Establish games people will be excited to play? A deep exploration of primal communication. It’s also a chance to be live directed by Chad in a class show!
Elysian Class: Crash course in neo-futurism
The SF Neo-Futurists are bringing their classic Crash Course in Neo-Futurism to The Elysian for one day only! Looking to expand your artistic practice and create new performances based on your own lived experience? In this three-hour workshop, you'll learn how to create original non-illusory plays based on the aesthetic principles of Neo-Futurism, turning your personal stories into theatre that's absurd, honest, and oddly affecting. Expect easy movement warm-ups, creative writing prompts, and opportunities to collaborate with other students. You'll leave the workshop with new two-minute plays to start or add to your body of performance work!
Elysian Class: Clown Lit (2-Day)
Clowns? Writing? Pfffft! Yes. You.
Writers? Doing clown? Writing as clown? Suss.
This is a class for making our words sing as loud as our bodies. This is a class for writers and comedians of all kinds who want to make a playful and fulfilling writing practice. The first session will include movement and writing exercises to loosen up our hands and brains. The second session will focus on getting our clown voice into our writing voice, and practical tips to help create unorthodox scripts for our live work. There will be a wee overnight homework assignment.
Come, let us pull our heads out of our asses.
Elysian Class: Spymonkey - Introduction to funny (1-Day)
This one day workshop is an introduction to the key concepts at the heart of Spymonkey’s Theatre of the Funny. We believe that everyone can be funny in their own unique way, and that the best theatre is one that embraces this quality in its artists. With the emphasis on supporting a space that is accessible, supportive and safe for all to laugh, we will use our favourite games and exercises as practical illustrations, to create belly-laughter – improv exercises (the sometimes scary pleasure of saying ‘yes’ to the unknown), explore practical concepts such as ‘finding the game’, the importance of complicity, or fixed point, of playing together with our friends, and of sharing that particular quality of Funny that you and only you can be.
We have taught these workshops all over the world for 30 years and we are still amazed how much fun can be had by a brand new group of people, as long as they come ready to laugh and equipped with a sense of humour about themselves and others.
Language of Nonsense w/ Chad Damiani (2-Day)
A two-day intensive from the creator/director of STAND UP AND CLOWN, CLOWN ZOO and co-creator of RORY AND CHAD WIN COMEDY TONIGHT! Chad Damiani (aka "Clown Boss") offers this intro class for veterans and newcomers, looking to explore how clowns connect and play with audiences through joy and nonsense.
How can we get a roomful of strangers to not only go along with our joyfully dumb ideas, but also become our eager co-conspirators? A deep exploration of primal communication. It’s also a chance to be live directed by Chad in a class show!
The Pandemonium Workshop (6-day)
A weeklong immersion in Clown with internationally renowned director, teacher, 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. Jump into your body...open like a little flower...rediscover your playful spirit and the simple pleasure and ferocious generosity of performance.
The Pandemonium Workshop (6-day)
A weeklong immersion in Clown with internationally renowned director, teacher, 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. Jump into your body...open like a little flower...rediscover your playful spirit and the simple pleasure and ferocious generosity of performance.
Language of Nonsense w/ Chad Damiani (2-Day)
A two-day intensive from the creator/director of STAND UP AND CLOWN, CLOWN ZOO and co-creator of RORY AND CHAD WIN COMEDY TONIGHT! Chad Damiani (aka "Clown Boss") offers this intro class for veterans and newcomers, looking to explore how clowns connect and play with audiences through joy and nonsense.
How can we get a roomful of strangers to not only go along with our joyfully dumb ideas, but also become our eager co-conspirators? A deep exploration of primal communication. It’s also a chance to be live directed by Chad in a class show!
All The Hats (1-Day/Info Session)
You made a show! Now what? Learn how to find festivals and other places to perform, how to put together a tour, and, even better, how to come home with a return on your investments (ROI).
For the independent artist and producer who wears all the hats.
Language of Nonsense w/ Chad Damiani (2-Day)
A two-day intensive from the creator/director of STAND UP AND CLOWN, CLOWN ZOO and co-creator of RORY AND CHAD WIN COMEDY TONIGHT! Chad Damiani (aka "Clown Boss") offers this intro class for veterans and newcomers, looking to explore how clowns connect and play with audiences through joy and nonsense.
How can we get a roomful of strangers to not only go along with our joyfully dumb ideas, but also become our eager co-conspirators? A deep exploration of primal communication. It’s also a chance to be live directed by Chad in a class show!
Playing Yourself (8-Week)
Kickstart the creation of the show that only you could dream up. Generate new material from prompts that unpack your memories, your stories, your opinions, your quirks, your obsessions, and your big ideas, and maybe even your unsent email drafts–in order to turn them into performance-worthy gems. Find the incredible thing waiting to be discovered inside the personal collection of seemingly-random material and ephemera you already have.
Improv: Fast and Loose, Slow and Steady (8-Week)
An improv class for anyone who wants to learn to be more present, become a true active listener and be free on stage. And anyone who loves to have fun.
All The Hats (1-Day/Info Session)
You made a show! Now what? Learn how to find festivals and other places to perform, how to put together a tour, and, even better, how to come home with a return on your investments (ROI).
For the independent artist and producer who wears all the hats.
Language of Nonsense w/ Chad Damiani (2-Day)
A two-day intensive from the creator/director of STAND UP AND CLOWN, CLOWN ZOO and co-creator of RORY AND CHAD WIN COMEDY TONIGHT! Chad Damiani (aka "Clown Boss") offers this intro class for veterans and newcomers, looking to explore how clowns connect and play with audiences through joy and nonsense.
How can we get a roomful of strangers to not only go along with our joyfully dumb ideas, but also become our eager co-conspirators? A deep exploration of primal communication. It’s also a chance to be live directed by Chad in a class show!
MOVEMENT FOR COMEDIANS, CLOWNS & IMPROVISERS (2-Day)
Critically acclaimed, award-winning Clown & Bouffon, Eric Davis leads you through a masterclass of movement to help you create dynamic comedy.
Rooted in Play, Lecoq Technique and Laban/ Bartenieff fundamentals, this class will
Get you laughing, sweating and give you greater awareness of your body as well as a theatrical language to articulate your comedy on stage.
BOUFFON 1 (4-Day)
A Satiric Ensemble of Mocking Madness and Mayhem!The World laughs at the Clown, but the Bouffons laugh at the World! Unleash your inner Bouffon in an explosion of fun and comedy gold.Imagine a wild-eyed pack of Players, ecstatic to mock anything and everything. Ridiculous, confronting and poetic, this Satyric chorus teeters on the seesaw of fun and uncomfortable truth. To begin this journey, we focus on the role of “The Player”.
Language of Nonsense w/ Chad Damiani (2-Day)
A two-day intensive from the creator/director of STAND UP AND CLOWN, CLOWN ZOO and co-creator of RORY AND CHAD WIN COMEDY TONIGHT! Chad Damiani (aka "Clown Boss") offers this intro class for veterans and newcomers, looking to explore how clowns connect and play with audiences through joy and nonsense.
How can we get a roomful of strangers to not only go along with our joyfully dumb ideas, but also become our eager co-conspirators? A deep exploration of primal communication. It’s also a chance to be live directed by Chad in a class show!
The Simple Clown (3 Days)
The simple clown is simply you without all the know-how and wherewithal, left only with hope and an unrelenting pursuit of play amidst the unknowns of the audience, and the world around you.