San Francisco Circus Community to Honor Peggy Ford, 3/13

The international clown, circus and theatre communities will come together 7pm, Tuesday, March 13 at the Z Space (formerly Theatre Artaud), 450 Florida St., San Francisco, for an evening of laughter, gags, graceful acrobatics, and uproarious pratfalls, to pay a joyful, loving tribute to one of its own, Peggy Ford, a major figure in the Bay Area and national circus communities, who died in January after several years of illness.

Peggy was one of the first female clowns ever to matriculate from the famed Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College (she graduated in 1974, alongside Bill Irwin and Barry "Grandma" Lubin). She toured with Ringling Bros. as one of the first female members of its famed clown alley, then went on to become the Artistic Director of the seminal social circus company Make*A*Circus. Later, as Program Director of the Circus Center, Peggy helped to establish and run San Francisco's famed Clown Conservatory, one of the nation's most respected training grounds for clowns, whose graduates are to be found in the companies of Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Bros., and many other national and international shows. The evening's proceeds will help defray unpaid medical expenses from Peggy's illness, and establish the Peggy Ford Award, given to help young women become professional clowns.

The benefit extravaganza, directed by veteran circus performer/director Paoli Lacy, will feature performances from many of Peggy's close friends, colleagues, and a few of the hundreds of students she mentored over the years, now internationally known variety, theatre, and circus performers,
who will return to San Francisco to pay tribute. The line-up of talent includes: Cirque du Soleil headliner and Pickle Family Circus mainstay Jeff Raz; Barbary Coast Amusements Boss clown and former Ringling Bros. clown Sara Moore; a Grand Guignol turn by The Thrillpeddlers (Eric Tyson Wertz and Kara Emry); Cirque du Soleil/Teatro Zinzanni stars Sam Payne and Sandra Fuesi, performing their famed Vertical Tango (Gold Medal winner at the Paris Circus Festival); theatre artist/juggler extraordinaire Sara Felder; East West Duo (Xiao Hong Weng and Jennings McCowan) performing their hand-to-hand double acrobatics, internationally acclaimed aerialist Veronica Blair, and a special Clown Alley composed of a hilarious troupe of young women clowns including Summer Shapiro, Tristan Cunningham, Natasha Kaluza, Texas Holly, and Circus Finelli, (Lux Gaxiola, Molly Shannon, Verka Zoskodna, & Mahsa Matin), as well as other surprise guests. The event will be accompanied by a live band led by musical maestro Randy Craig, who was an actor, composer and
band leader with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, before becoming a founding member of both The Pickle Family Circus and San Francisco Make*A*Circus. He has been composer and musical director at many San Francisco theaters, including Teatro Zinzanni, and has written more than 40 scores for theatre and 16 films.

The evening will also include an auction of various fine and eclectic items, including wine, paintings by Mickey Spenser, Segway Tours, Peggy Ford costumes, and a ticket/back stage package for Tony Award nominee Coleman Domingo's new play "Wild with Happy" at Theatre Works.

Ticket prices are $20 for general admission. Sponsor seats are $50 for third row seating, $75 for second row, and $100 for front row - and each sponsor ticket underwrites a ticket for someone who could not otherwise afford to attend.

Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com. For information the public can call the Z Space at 415-626-0453 or visit www.zspace.org.

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