Editor's Rating
A FOOL’S IDEA PRESENTS is an inspiring, independently produced, large-scale documentary project that revolves around many eccentric performing artists and their journey to pursue their passion in life. The series gives viewers an exclusive look into the real lives of these performers while also sharing their work and their inspiration behind their work.
What’s it like to work in show business? More specifically, as an eccentric performing artist? It’s all about love, passion, fear and being inspired to do what you love to do. An artist makes the world his/her canvas and begins to paint.
A FOOL’S IDEA PRESENTS is an independently produced, large-scale documentary project that explores the lives, the work and the inspiration behind the world’s most eccentric performing artists. They all come from different backgrounds and share their stories of pursuing their passion whether it be vaudeville, circus, clowning or mime. A FOOL’S IDEA PRESENTS is written and directed by Brian A. Bernhard and features video interviews with several of these eccentric performing artists. These interviews give us a glimpse into the interesting and creative lives of eccentric performers. Let’s take a look at who viewers will get to meet.
The first artist we meet is Chase Culp in “Promoting Fool’s”, “A Clown @ SXSW 2013” or “Helping out Fool’s!” Chase describes himself as a fairly traditional circus clown. He’s a part of the Circus Smirkus which is America’s only touring youth circus with European style. This circus features a Big Top Tour which seats 850 people. Chase’s dream is to make a living as a clown. He was inspired by the Ringling Brothers Circus that he would attend with his father.
As a clown, he describes his character as being the lowest of the low of the clown hierarchy. He likes to play jokes and place himself in funny situations. His character is in a world he is not used to and each experience sparks a new discovery.
The next artist featured is Summer Shapiro in “Just Be Yourself!” or “Everything She Does Must Fail!” Summer describes herself as a physical comedian, theatre maker, mover, still struggling about what she calls herself and summarizes it as “nonverbal clownish productions.” She started in the bathroom mirror, losing track of time when she would pretend to be 2 or 3 different people at once.
Shapiro began to pursue comedy when she decided to take an elective at UCLA in “vaudeville.” She was really slacking in school at the time even with this class as she showed up not prepared in the assignment she was given. She got up in front of her class, made everything up and people laughed. She found that she enjoys writing shows where she traps her character and her character has to struggle. The character’s “attempts to succeed must fail.”
Then life kind of derailed plans for Shapiro. She found out from the doctor that she had lymphoma, a form of cancer in the lymphatic system of her body. This occurred right when she began getting more attendance at her shows. Shapiro began to get really obsessed with her health, but eventually she just let go of control. She states that that moment felt amazing. She got back on her feet and is still performing today. I believe viewers will find her story to be very powerful. It definitely left a mark on me.
David “Leapin’ Louie” Lichtenstein is an artist focusing on circus and vaudeville. He’s involved in comedy cowboy shows and comedy variety shows. He views a clown as a “pure theatre form” and “extreme character portrayal to make people laugh and to cast a different view of the world.” He grew up in Eugene, Oregon and has done street shows around the world for 30 years.
He believes that the characters he creates are an exaggeration of himself. His grandmother taught him to trick rope when he was a kid and it has become a major part of his acts. He pursued circus and vaudeville type work because of his obsession with trick roping and juggling. He was living in Eugene and going to college when he met a juggler that had been performing in Paris with a partner. After David learned this, he thought “That is the life for me.”
David traveled to Paris trying to make a living at Pompidou Centre at Paris doing street shows. He had no money and his show was failing. It was very cold and snowing. He decided to take a one way ticket to Marrakech, Morocco. During his first show, he was pulled aside by an old man who happened to be the father of 7 person acrobatic troupe. David began working with them performing every day at sunset. Through his career, he’s balanced having a family, being at home and being on tour all of the time. He has no idea where he will be in 5 years, but he’s sure he will eventually transition to “Limpin’ Louie” where he’s not doing 75 ft lassos and jumping up on 6 ft unicycles constantly.
Thomas “Tommy Twimble” Schroyer in “When the audience laughs together” is a musician as he plays accordian. He’s also a mime that incorporates elements of magic although he doesn’t call himself a magician. He likes doing “random acts of surprise.” He calls himself a vaudeville circus clown. Tommy Twimble is the silent character that he portrays. He looks to famous figures such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton for inspiration for his acts. It was easy to figure out his inspiration based off how the cinematography differed from the other episodes. Schroyer’s episode looked like a silent film when his character was represented. It was visually interesting to watch. He refers to his character as an “old school gentleman in a modern world” and believes that characters are “an extension of ourselves.”
Schroyer recounts his meeting with a mime in Europe as captivating. He’s deaf in his left ear so he’s always looking out for what is visual. He wants an element of comedy in his act, but he also wants a magical experience. He wants to surprise people with magical elements. He feels the rewarding part about comedy is bringing “everyone together as one entity.” The shared laughter from an audience is definitely a reward.
Avner “The Eccentric” Eisenberg is a physical comedian, clown and teacher. He has a one man show called “Avner The Eccentric.” He began juggling at the age of 12. He went to college as an honors chemistry/biology major and by some stroke of luck he ended up cast in a play at his college. Eisenberg’s path was forever changed.
He went to 4 colleges finding his path. He eventually found his way into being a mime. He went to Paris to study under Jacques Lecoq. Eisenberg returned to the United States in 1974 and decided to give himself 5 years to see if he could make a living at his passion. If not, he’d go back to his original plan to possibly attend medical school. After 3 years, he realized that he was making a living and never looked back. He was cast in “The Jewel of the Nile” and was the first solo clown to ever play on Broadway. His appearance on Broadway received good reviews and ran for almost a year.
Eisenberg’s inspiration comes from real life activities and looking at everyday accidents. His one man show is based off of balance and how to balance objects in surprising ways. He also works as a coach for aspiring artists.
Faeble Kievman in “Humans are Weird” is an eccentric performer, aspiring clown and human. He started out as a social activism performance artist and from there moved into clowning. He has been involved with political activism, spirituality, studying Native American dances and asking questions about life. He decided clowning was a path he wanted and needed to pursue.
Kievman believes that “gender is fluid and society doesn’t rule all.” He created his character, FaFa, who is a courageous clown that “dances for his heart and dances for his community.” He sees his grandfather as a big influence as he would dress up as different superheroes and always had imagination.
The production as a whole was well done. I was greatly engrossed with the story of all of these artists. It was definitely inspiring to hear all of their stories and be able to take their lessons with me. Viewers will almost certainly come through this experience changed in some way.
The shooting and editing style was top notch. The cinematography was clear, the shots were set up well and steady, especially with the interviews. It was nice to see each of these artists in their element. There were clips of them doing a show, being in their own world and being themselves. It was very entertaining. There is a lot of knowledge being shared with each episode.
A FOOL’S IDEA PRESENTS is a wonderful, independently produced documentary that shares the accounts of several eccentric performing artists and their journey to do what they love. This documentary was inspiring. If you would like to learn about vaudeville, mime, clowning or circus acts or just want to be inspired by the determination of these artists, you should check out this series!
For more information about the show, please check out:
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: http://www.afoolsidea.com/
