Volunteers
Clowns Without Borders Volunteers make things happen! This is just the beginning of a long list of dedicated, enthusiastic, and talented volunteers who support Clowns Without Borders in many ways. We are forever grateful for all the smiles and laughter they bring to children around the world.
Anna Zastrow
Anna Zastrow went to Thailand and Cambodia in October-December 2008 and worked with street kids, victims of trafficking and other disadvantaged youth! Anna grew up in Sweden but has spent most of her adult life in New York City. She studied physical theater at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France, and has performed her clown work at various variety venues in NYC and as part of three productions with Cirque Boom. She premiered her solo clown show Breathe… Or You Can Die! for the 2006 NY International Fringe Festival, and will be performing in the international women’s clown Festival de Pallasses in Andorra in May 2009. Anna was once a ringmaster for a circus in France, where she had to brave a berzerking bear and 3,000 panicking spectators! She holds a B.S. degree in psychology, culture and the creative arts from The New School.
Anne Olivia Eldred, Board Member
Anne Olivia has spent the last 19 years dedicated to social justice and solidarity movements in the U.S. and internationally. She has studied and worked in Spain, Mexico, El Salvador, Japan, and the United States on trade, economic development, electoral and social justice issues serving as an elections monitor, translating, organizing delegations to and from the U.S., recruiting and training staff and volunteers, and fundraising. She has coordinated solidarity efforts with Turkey, England, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. Anne Olivia received her degree from Portland State University, was a Carnegie Melon Fellow (Public Policy and International Affairs), and Studied in Barcelona at the Academy of Liberal Arts. She has worked in and with numerous non profits over the years, consulting, creating fundraising programs, and developing corporate and community partnerships. She is a proud aunt and dedicated to improving the world her nieces, nephews, and all children will grow up in.
Ashwath Bhatt
Born in Kashmir, Ashwath Bhatt, after his graduation from National School of Drama- New Delhi, did his Post Graduation in Classical acting and Acting instruction from LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) London. He is a visiting faculty to various prestigious institutions like- TUT- Clown School- Hannover, FTII-Pune, BNA-Lucknow, Theatre Academy-Mandi etc; and worked with reputed theatre companies like Oxfordshire touring theatre Company- Oxford, Flying Fish Theatre Company- Berlin etc. He has done plays for BBC worldwide and National Theatre, Mannheim/Germany etc.. He has acted under the direction of various Indian and Foreign theatre luminaries and conducted workshops on various aspects of acting in England, Germany, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Nepal, Pakistan and India. Apart from instruction, he regularly performs his one man show ‘Ek Mulaqat Manto Se’ (A rendezvous with Manto) based on life and times of Sadat Hasan Manto. In 2007, he established Theatre Garage Project (Not for profit company). He is widely known in India for his work on 'Red Nose Clowning' theatre form. The philosophy behind this work is 'Finding something in nothing'. Ashwath has received numerous awards, including: LAMDA associateship award, Indian foundation award, and the Indo-UK cultural connection networking awards.
Audrey Crabtree
Audrey Crabtree is thrilled to be working on her first CWB international tour. She is an award-winning actor, director and collaborative artist based in NY. After training in classic theatre, working in improvisation and sketch, she stumbled into physical comedy and clown. She is co-founder/co-director of the International NY Clown Theatre Festival, has worked with Big Apple Circus as a hospital clown, teacher and artist. In the US and Mexico she has played and performed with children and adults in compromised communities; working in theater, improvisation, circus and clown. With creative partner Lynn Berg, Ten Directions brings together artists of all mediums to create physically dynamic, dark and/or funny pieces of theater and film. Also keep your eyes peeled for her non-verbal clown piece ‘FLOCKED’ created and performed with Gaby Munoz directed by Hilary Chaplain. www.audreycrabtree.com
Barnaby King
Barnaby King is a clown performer, researcher and teacher, originally from the UK. He completed his MA in Theatre Studies at Leeds University in 1998, after which he spent eight years working in the UK as a professional theatre director, specializing in clown, improvisation, and social interventionist theatre. He is currently undertaking a PhD in Performance Studies at Northwestern University, where his research revolves around multiple clowning practices and how they interrelate with social, political, and cultural scenarios within which they are located. He performs clown whenever and wherever possible, in theatres, cabarets, bars, city squares, hospitals, academic conferences, or in his living room, and he loves every minute of it! He trained with Sue Morrison, his wonderful clown mentor from Toronto, who also directed his acclaimed one-man show, Flawed Genius (which may still be seen from time to time)
Billy Schultz
Billy Schultz is is a clown and physical theater based performer in Brooklyn. He went to college and studied urban planning and economic development (in Central America), Spanish and a variety of other subjects. Then, after working for Habitat for Humanity in NYC, he needed a break. He began performing and then realized he didn't know what he was doing! So he took workshops in clown and theater and vowed to never turn back. Currently, he teaches workshops for the New Victory Theater and Gymstars, a Brooklyn-based gymnastics and circus arts program for children ages 2-10.
This is his first trip with Clowns Without Borders and he's super excited and honored to be a part of such a wonderful group!
Bruce MacPhail
Bruce Macphail first got involved with Clowns Without Borders in the 2004 Balkans project which brought him to perform in orphanages, IDP camps, schools and hospitals in Kosovo/a, Serbia and Bosnia. His clown performance credits range from New York City’s Lincoln Center where he appeared in Comedy and Crumbcakes , various appearances in NYC off off broadway theatres as well as extensive street performance. He is the co-author of The Beak, the Sausage and the Axe, a multi-media clown fairy tale which played at the now defunct Chashama Theater on 42nd and Broadway in NYC, which the New York Times called “hilarious”. Bruce has taught a number of clowning/circus workshops in schools and colleges in the US and abroad. He holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, NY and an MA from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Currently he is volunteering as a project manager for CWB Project Sudan.
Dan Roberts
Dan Roberts is a professional clown and circus performer from Chicago, USA. Raised around the world, Dan spent 6 years growing up in Jakarta attending Jakarta International School until his graduation in 2002. After leaving Jakarta, Dan moved to Chicago to attend university at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, Theater Conservatory. He spent four years studying acting in Chicago, where he was introduced to Clown and the world of Circus. After Dan graduated he worked for many different youth circuses including; Circus Smirkus, Cirque du Soleil’s Cirque du Monde and Chicago’s CircEsteem. When Dan found out about Clowns without Borders he submitted a proposal to create an expedition to Jakarta, Indonesia. Five years later, the Hidung Merah Circus, a social circus non profit project is into it's third year offering Circus skills and education to Indonesian children.
David Lichtenstein, President
David Lichtenstein has been a professional performer specializing in street, clown and physical theater for over 20 years. He has performed various versions of his one-person Leapin’ Louie Comedy Shows at festivals, theaters, and other events in 21 different countries and 30 something states of the United States. 12 countries in 2008 alone! David has been was a company member of Do Jump Movement Theater for 3 years, and has collaborated with many performers over the years. He has written and performed two reading encouragement themed shows for young people that he has performed at over 100 different schools and libraries. He has a Masters Degree in Education from Portland State University and taught 4th and 5th grade for two years before being drawn back into performing. He has studied physical theater in workshops with Phillipe Gaulier in Paris, Sigfrido Aguilar in Mexico, Sue Morrison, Dell'Arte and others. David produced the first Portland area Clowns Without Borders Benefit Show starting in 1999 and is co-producing the 11th annual Benefit this year. He has performed on five Clowns Without Borders expeditions, all in the Mayan lands of Chiapas and Guatemala, organizing the last three trips himself. David is based in Portland, Oregon and lives with his wife Lisa, a journalist, and their two teenage kids.
Deven Sisler
Deven Sisler was absolutely enamored with the concept of Clowns Without Borders during a benefit performance she attended while in her Professional Training year at Dell'Arte School of Physical Theater. She has since perfomed on expeditions to the Katrina stricken New Orleans/Mississippi area and most recently to Haiti. She continues to fall in love with the volunteer work, the children CWB reaches, the people who make it happen and most of all, the beautiful, silly and heartfelt way in which they make it happen. When she is home she is honored to to share the practices of yoga, Circus and AcroYoga with children, families and adults through classes and workshops in New York City. She would like to thank her super cool family, and friends for simply being wonderful and supportive of CWB.
Elisa Lane
Elisa has been leading the yearly Project Egypt expeditions since 2006. She also joined the Haiti expeditions (2006-2007) and New Orleans expedition (2007). She studied clown at Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre and also with Brazilianteacher Ricardo Pucetti, co-founder of Lume Teatro. Her love for the performing arts began when she was seven years old taking dance classes. She currently lives in Philadelphia where she still gets to dance from time to time. Her day job is renovating homes using environmentally-friendly products and techniques. One day she plans to build a straw bale/hobbit house for herself, her hubby, and their cat and dog.
Gulshirin Dubash
Gulshirin is originally from Bombay, India and has been actively involved in social and political theatre in India and the United States for the last several years. She has her MFA in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre and her BA in Theatre and Anthropology from Beloit College, Wisconsin. In India, she was co-creator of an environmental theatre company called Clean Air Island, which was commissioned by Greenpeace International to tour a show about the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984. She has also been a student of Japanese Noh theatre for the last 5 years. Through her toughest times of being a free lance artist, it is her involvement with CWB that continues to being a smile to her face and as well as using the website , the mission and the particpants as a source for inspiration and hope.
Gwendolyn Rooker
Gwendolyn Rooker has been a volunteer for Clowns Without Borders since 2006, when she and Elisa Lane organized CWB USA Project: Egypt. Since then, she has returned to Egypt twice to clown for Sudanese refugees living there. She also volunteered for Clowns Without Borders: Katrinaland, the expedition targeting children living in communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. Gwen received a BA in Theatre from San Francisco State University, and holds a Certificate of Training from The Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She currently resides in Philadelphia, PA where she plays coronet and accordion in the band, Acres of Diamonds, creates puppet theatre, and plans more trips with CWB in order to bring more children more laughter!
Hilary Chaplain
Hilary Chaplain has been working for the Big Apple Circus Hospital program entertaining hospitalized children and their families as “Nurse Nice” since 1987. Also a founding member of the New York Goofs (est.1998), Hilary has appeared with them in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall, and on tour at Wolf Trap with Bob McGrath from Sesame Street. She has performed for children internationally in theatres, on the street, at corporate events. As an actress, Hilary was an original cast member in Bill Irwin's Largely/New York and appeared on Broadway and at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park as the Goddess Ceres in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of The Tempest directed by George C. Wolfe. She played a featured role in the 1994 Oscar winning movie Forrest Gump, a lawyer on Law and Order Criminal Intent. Hilary has taught clowning and circus to school children and adults through the Big Apple Circus, with the New York Goofs on her own in NY, Jordan, Thailand, Spain, Finland, Brazil, Colombia, Austria and was an adjunct professor at NY Universities Tisch School of the Arts for 8 years. She was educated at Hampshire college and the National Theatre Institute and with studied with many luminaries of the clown world including Aitor Basauri Barrabuena, Avner Eisenberg & Julie Goell, Tony Montanaro, Philippe Gaulier, Bob Berky, Ronlin Foreman, Angela de Castro, Giovanni Fusetti. http://www.hilarychaplain.com
Jamie McLaren Lachman
Jamie McLaren Lachman, aka Jabulani Nene Mshengu, is the founder and director of Clowns Without Borders South Africa. Born in South Africa, Lachman left at an early age only to return in 2004 with 3 other clowns - Tim Cunningham, Jonathan Gunning, and Liz Turkel - to begin an amazing journey that led to Clowns Without Borders South Africa. In 2007, he worked in Durban as the project manager of Circus Life South Africa, a cultural exchange partnership between the BAT Centre in South Africa and Cirkus Cirkor, a Swedish Cultural Exchange Program. It was here that he met many of the artists that are the foundation for CWBSA. As well as a clown, Jamie is a singer/songwriter, banjo player, poet, and dreamer. He is also graduate of Yale University and the Dell'Arte International School for Physical Theatre. Always looking for laughter in the life's simplicity, Jamie strives to live each day fully with compassion and amazement.
Jan Damm
Jan Damm is a clown, juggler, circus artist and teacher who has performed professionally around the world, from his home state of Maine to the San Francisco Bay; from Houston, Texas to Yamaguchi, Japan. He graduated from Bard College with a BA in economics and then immediately applied it to going broke street performing in Canada. In the past he has used clowning for recycling education in Oakland and peace protests in New York. A veteran of stateside CWB benefit shows, Jan was proud to finally join Clowns Without Borders on their Fall/2010 project in Grand Goave and Les Cayes, Haiti. He currently resides in a gym in San Francisco, where he happily throws objects in the air and attempts to catch them 6-8 hours a day.
John Leo
John Leo got his BA in Drama/Dance from Bard College (’97) but he wasn’t quite making ‘dances’ or ‘drama’ and so he ended up at the Dell’ Arte School of Physical Theatre (’99). He has studied with ruthless Clown mentors to whom he is grateful: Ronlin Foreman, Sue Morrison and Ricardo Puchetti. For seven years (2001-2007) he lived in Juneau, Alaska performing/creating with Perseverance Theatre, Kitschy Yum-Yum Burlesque and Wild Rumpus Clown Theatre (Best of San Francisco Fringe 2003). Mr. Leo has toured his solo clown work throughout Mexico, Canada and the ‘Lower 48’ and has received funding from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Rasmuson Foundation. Mr. Leo is currently a member of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit, as a Pediatric Clown in NYC area hospitals.
Julie Pasqual
Julie Pasqual became a clown completely by accident! She really meant to be a ballerina, but when a distinct lack of aptitude (ooh, big word) for that classical art form showed itself, she turned to musical theatre, which led to clowning. She is ENORMOUSLY proud to be part of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care hospital program, where she performs for the children at Harlem Hospital. She is also a storyteller, yoga teacher, and chimney sweep - okay, not really a chimney sweep, but things sound funnier in threes! She is THRILLED to be part of the Clowns Without Borders family!!!!
Leah Abel
Leah James Abel sprang about in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has continued performing all over, including New York, Hawaii and Korea — dancing, clowning, stilting, twisting around trapezes, or parading around with someone standing on her shoulders. For two years she focused on frolicking with Portland, OR based mask and puppet theater Imago’s Frogz and Biglittlethings. Leah proudly worked as a company member, performer, and choreographer with two New York-based circus-theatre companies - Kirkos and Cirque Boom. Leah has been on one Clowns Without Borders trip to Haiti and loved each and every single, solitary, particular, specific, various moment of it; without exception. She looks forward to many trips to come. Lastly, Leah would like to take this moment to thank humanity, her friends, green tea and coco for inspiring her daily.
Les Rivera
Les has traveled the world as a core company member of Philadelphia based hip hop dance company Rennie Harris Pure Movement. Traveling the world for 12 years ‘opened up’ Les’ views of the world and his surroundings. Les works extensively with Philadelphia’s dance community documenting and creating work for a myriad dance performances. Les currently holds a position at Temple University documenting all their dance concerts. He has worked with highly regarded companies like Paule Turner/COURT, dance theater X, Headlong Dance Theater, Melanie Stewart Dance Theater, Nicole Canuso Dance Company, and many more.
Marykristñ Simoneau
Marykristñ has been living around the world since 2001, roving to over twenty countries. Professionnal performer, she started building independent circus projects while being aboard. Her humanitarian involvement started simultaneously with her involvement in the professional artistic scene, and they have evolved in parallel to one another since then. She has been involved in various projects over the years including but not limited to: Birman’s Refugee Camp, Quebec Youth Centre, Nepaly hospital, Indian shelter for kids of sex workers, Indonesian orphenages and senior house. She shared adventures with organizations as ; Exeko, Spark Circus and now, Clowns Without Borders.
Marjoria Armstrong
Molly Armstrong is an actor, director, devisor and teacher in Humboldt County California. Molly holds a BFA in Acting with an emphasis in Original Work from Cornish Collage of the Arts. She recived her certificate from The National Shakespeare Conservitory and Dell'Arte International's Professional Training Program. Molly strives to be an ambassador of joy; to invigorate an audience with the knowledge and capacity of their own empathy and to remind them of their humanity. Her goals are to always be a student and a teacher, and to give and receive well. She believes in the power of play and its ability to inspire, heal, and create community through a common emotional experience.
Rob Scarr, Board Member
Rob got a job as a costume character in 1975 at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA after graduating from college at William and Mary. However, he got diverted from his career in entertainment later that year when he attended medical school at the University of North Carolina. He has worked as a physician for 33 years and continues in his role as a primary care Internist at The Everett Clinic, outside of Seattle, WA. Rob hopes to support this important work of bringing human connection to people in crisis.
Rudi Galindo
As a performing artist, Rudi has toured his unique style of physical theater to over 1 million smiling faces on four continents. He is Artistic Director of Teatro Pachuco an award winning international theater company (Grand Prix International Street Festival Gent 2005, Silver medal La Merce, Barcelona 2003). In addition he has collaborated with Los Payasos Mendigos, Dell Arte Players and the Flying Karamozov Brothers. He has been an active member of Clowns Without Borders USA since 1999; participating in many expeditions as both a leader and mentor. His grassroots fundraising technique has been imitated and inspirational in bringing in new core members to CWB.
Sayda Trujillo
SAYDA TRUJILLO is an actress, writer and teacher. Work abroad includes performing, teaching and directing in Guatemala, Singapore and Turkey. Sayda has worked on two expeditions with Clowns Without Borders performing physical theatre for thousands of children in the highlands of Guatemala. Sayda teaches Tai Chi Chuan, Contact Improvisation, Voice and Physical Theatre. Sayda is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and the Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She lives in NYC and teaches voice and movement at Pace University.
Shea Freedomhowler
Shea Love Freedomhowler is a professional circus performer, juggler and clown. Shea has performed his solo street shows and unique performances on four continents, eleven countries, across the US and extensively in the Pacific Northwest. Shea founded the Humboldt Circus in 2000, a student produced and directed ensemble-based production company and club at Humboldt State University. He was the president and coordinator of the Humboldt Juggling Festival from 2004-2006. Shea joined David Lichtenstien and Sayda Trajillo on a Clowns Without Borders expedition in response to the Hurricane Stan crisis in Guatemala in 2006. Since then, he has been producing annual CWB benefit shows in Arcata CA, originally started by Rudi Galindo in 1999. Shea is currently the manager of the FreeLove Circus which has appeared Internationally in Singapore, Hong Kong and most recently on a humanitarian mission to Kenya.
Tapasya Dasgupta
From the small town of Jamshedpur, Tapasya ultimately moved to Kolkata to pursue the violin. After the move she was admitted to Calcutta School of Music, and began her magical journey with music. For the last 18 years, she has been connected to the “Kolkata Music Academy” and plays regularly at concerts. In 2005, she had the opportunity to play at the birth centenary celebration of the great music director of Bengal-Sri Timir Baran.
She first joined stage theatre to play the violin in “Dushman No 1”, an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s “Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui”. She has since performed in “Raktogantha” adapted from “Mourning Becomes Electra” by Eugene O’Neill, and “Ranjabati Sen” adaptation of Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler”. In 2010 Tapasya joined the Theatre Garage Project workshop-a 15 day residency in Ramgarh, and performed in the company’s first production-“Infinite Stupidity” directed by Ashwath Bhatt.
Tapasya joined CWB Project India for the first time in February 2012.
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