the elysian’s company-in-residence
The Elysian Company-in-Residence program supports and champions early-career collaborative collectives as they create genre-defying performance pieces, devised theater, and comedy. We welcome each group to create within, around, and for our space over a course of a year, enlivening and enhancing our environment with their ideas, and inviting our audiences to follow along as they build new work. We hope to encourage and nurture process-focused development and strong ensemble creation, and to help each collective achieve tangible artistic and career goals that move their work and their aesthetic forward.
CLOWNS OF COLOR are the comedy duo DeShawn Ball and Jamonte Williams:
We met while working as bartenders in L.A. and formed a bond over our dreams, upbringing, and both having served in the United States military. We would describe our work as an exaggeration of the relatability of the black experience but also the subtleness of the climate we face today. Overall, we are two playful clowns who enjoy having fun and expressing our love of art with our audience. We enjoy using physicality to express ourselves, whether slapstick, performance art, or dancing. Our goal for this residency is to provide an undeniable, prolific, profound show. A show that we can tour the world and amplify our dreams Also, with this residency, we want to amplify our community and show. Black men are not a monolith and can provide depth, vulnerability, and love to the community and the stage. And becoming a light to our audience.
You can catch Clowns of Color as they take over The Elysian Vault! Every month, they'll be exploring specific characters from their diverse repertoire, building towards an unforgettable variety show that you'll get first looks at. @clownsofcolor
2024 COMPANY-IN-RESIDENCE
FREAK NATURE PUPPETS
Freak Nature Puppets are a prolific collective of self-taught puppeteers and comedians. They perform inside and alongside their large-scale creations, with a performance style that is a modern mix of the legendary Bread and Puppet Theater with Pee Wee's Playhouse. Freak Nature Presents: Freak Nature was developed at the Elysian Theater, where they were the 2024 Company-in-Residence. They quickly garnered a devoted following and packed sold-out houses for their delightfully whimsical, childlike, madcap aesthetic. @freaknaturepuppets
