Former Ringling clown to teach clown workshop

Two years ago, Matthew Belopavlovich stood stranded atop a 25-foot tower while a handful of clowns, dressed as knights, circled beneath, trying to figure out how to save him. They couldn’t. Then, a very small man arrived, shimmied up Matthew’s hair and carried him to safety.

Welcome to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Matthew was living the dream, his dream: life as clown with the greatest show on earth.

“To be a clown, you need a big heart. You need an open mind,” said Matthew, now a Patel Conservatory theater instructor.

Matthew will be teaching clowning skills, like slapstick comedy and juggling, and passing along his experience with the circus in an upcoming clowning workshop.

Clown Boot Camp

For students in Grades 3 - 8

Feb. 7, 2015

2 to 5 p.m.

“I had a dream to be a clown since second grade. My parents took me everywhere there was a show,” said Matthew.

In “the Rapunzel gag,” he starred as the long-locked lass with about 30 feet of fabric “hair.” He was one of 12 clowns in the 120+ person cast, and learned a lot during his time in the magical world of makeup, costumes, high-stakes improv, unpredictable audience interaction and adrenaline-by-way-of-comedy.

A native of Wisconsin, Matthew earned his bachelor of fine arts degree in acting at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After graduating, he auditioned twice for Ringling, and didn’t get the job. Instead of giving up, he took a piece of advice from a former theater professor: create your own work if there’s no work for you.

So Matthew staged two of his own clown creations, By the Time You Read This and LAUFFITI, the latter shown at Silver Meteor Gallery in Ybor City before going to New York City.

He auditioned again in New York for Ringling, who had set up an impromptu ring in Grand Central Station during the middle of the day.

“They said, ‘you should be able to captivate us, but can you capture the people in their day-to-day routine and bring them to the ring?’” said Matthew. “It was nerve-wracking. And awesome.”

The intensity of the audition spurred Matthew to step up his game, and that audition landed him a contract to travel with the circus starting in 2012. He was off to clown college, then into the show.

“To work with Ringling and the people on their clowning staff was heaven. I got to be in a clown costume and design my own makeup and be on the floor during clown college—that alone was a dream come true. I lived on a train, a real circus train! I went to almost every state, we did outreach in hospitals, with the Sunshine Kids organization and Boys & Girls Club. It was mind-blowing. It was everything.”

Matthew re-joined the Patel Conservatory theater department in 2014 after two years with the circus. (He also taught here from 2010 to 2011.)

“It was a whirlwind of experiences—so much more than clowning. I learned a lot about the circus, and I learned a lot about myself,” he says. “The Patel mission, to dream, reach, discover, create … I can speak to this mission because I did it. Nothing was handed to me, although I had a lot of love and support, but I made it happen. I applied myself to my career.”

Matthew will teach the upcoming workshop along with guest artist Dustin Portillo and student guest artist Wesley Williams.

Portillo is a highly skilled improv and comedy actor who toured with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for seven years. His performance credits also include work at Six Flags Great Escape, Busch Gardens Tampa and with the clown troupe, Aga-Boom.

Williams, adept at juggling clubs, knives and fire, recently completed his second summer tour with the Vermont-based Circus Smirkus.

During the workshop, students will learn basic slapstick comedy techniques, proper clown makeup application, balloon twisting, juggling and get an inside scoop on what it’s like to be a professional clown.

“For the students, I say to them: ‘I did it, and you can do it, too.”

For more information, or to register, call 813.222.1002.

Interview with guest director Rob Nash

According to Rob Nash, just about everyone you know has a dream to do something creative.

Nash, a veteran actor, writer, director and stand-up comedian, didn’t wait for his breaks in the entertainment industry to make his dreams come true. He wrote his own one-man plays and managed to maintain a career as a stand-up comedian for the past 24 years. In two free workshops this week at the Patel Conservatory in Tampa, he shows you how to get your creative ideas out of your head! (The workshop is free and open to high school through college-age students.)

Get to know Nash and hear how he got his start in the business in the following interview with Beth Miller, Patel Conservatory Community Ambassador/blog writer/part-time novelist...

Q: Tell me a little about yourself.

A: I started doing musical theater at age 11. I started writing and doing stand-up when I was 20 while I was still in college. I think I was the first out gay comedian doing mainstream clubs outside of New York or L.A.

My first one-man show was 12 steps to a More Dysfunctional You at Off Center [now the Shimberg at the Straz Center]. It was like: gay, 12 steps and AIDS 101. None of that was talked about at the time. I think it was one of the first plays outside of New York or California to talk about AIDS .

I was on the road for 21 years, and I’ve been on VH1 and Comedy Central.

Q: You wrote material that was edgy at the time. Was that something you struggled with?

A: No, I’ve never been able to keep secrets. I‘ve always been kind of out there. I was the black sheep of the family; they were all very conservative. I was the underachiever at school, but I was funny. In the 70’s, in school we always heard, Be yourself. I really took those mantras to heart.

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: Houston, TX. I’m now living in Austin.

Q: What inspired you to become an actor?

A: When I was seven years old, I memorized The Chicken Heart by Bill Cosby, and everyone loved it. I always wanted to be a comedian after that.

Q: What inspired you to start writing one-man shows?

A: The stand-up comedy world was dying in the late 1980’s. Clubs were folding all over the country. I was a feature act, which meant I’d come on second. I thought I’d jump over the headliners spot and go right to a one-man show. I was very much inspired by Lily Tomlin.

Q: How did you get your first show produced at the Off Center Theater [now Shimberg]?

A: Wendy Leigh [now the Vice-President of Education for the Straz Center] was booking the Off Center at the time. She watched the video (yes video!) the day I came through Tampa with a stand-up comedy tour, we met and she booked my first play, 12 Steps to a More Dysfunctional You.

Q: What was it like having a successful show off-Broadway? [Holy Cross Sucks!, 2005]

A: It was so great. It was eight years of work to finally get to that point. It was rated in the Top 10 Broadway and off-Broadway shows of 2005 by Time Out New York Magazine, so that was exciting.

Q: Do you have a favorite actor or comedian?

A: Lily Tomlin. She is the mother of my kind of work, playing all characters and changing characters on a dime. She saw my play Senioritis! (about 12th-graders’ irritation with their last year in high school) at the West Beth Theatre in Manhattan around 2000/2001. I told her I do what I do today because of Appearing Nightly and Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. She told my manager she loved [my show]. Yay!

Q: As a writer, I struggle to make the time for my personal creative pursuits. How did you make that work before you were able to do this for a living?

A: You need a deadline. With 12 Steps to a More Dysfunctional You, I booked the theater before I even wrote it. I had no idea what I was going to do. I thought I’d do some stand-up and monologues, but then I started writing the characters and it turned into a play.

Just about everyone you know has a dream of writing a book or something else creative. There’s nothing like the support of a workshop to inspire you: having to show up for it forces you to be creative.

Q: Tell me about Cindrella, from which you'll be performing excerpts at your workshops?

A: It's a 10-minute play showcasing my kind of work for all audiences. Cindrella is Spanish for Cinderella. She's a young Latina girl whose ugly step-mother and ugly step-sisters won't throw her a quincinera and try and keep her from the skater prince's ball.

Q: You’re directing LOL: the Musical this summer at the Patel Conservatory. What can students look forward to with this production?

A: The ride of a lifetime! I'm bringing 10 years of teaching, 34 years of musical theater, 24 years of standup and improv and 21 plays worth experience. We're gonna make some great art!

Make 'em laugh!

Do you love to make people laugh? Do you know someone who always gets people ROFL?

Calling all comedians, actors and anyone who thinks they'd like to perform comedy. Popular comedian Ranney Lawrence, "ranney," will conduct a comedy workshop at the Patel Conservatory on July 12 and July 19.

Here's your chance to learn from a professional in the entertainment industry. Improve your skills, gain confidence and learn about the ins and outs of the business of comedy.

Ranney has performed worldwide, mounting eight one-man shows over the last decade. Most notably, he headlined at the Comedy Cellar in Dublin, Ireland, and The Comedy Store in London, England, where he was nominated for Best International Poet by London’s Farrago Poetry Group.

His latest show, The Chicken or the Egg will be July 16-17, 2010 at American Stage. He co-founded and co-stars in The Unusual Suspects of Comedy: Stand-up’s Fearless Foursome in central Florida since May, 2009.

At the upcoming workshop, Ranney will help students of various experience levels learn the path to their own brainstorming, writing and developing process.

So what are you waiting for? Here's your chance to learn how to hone your ability to make people laugh!

Tuition is $110 for both nights. To register, or for more information, call 813-222-1002.