The NOLA Project to Present CLOWN BAR

Ten clowns walk into a bar. This is not a joke. This is the premise of Adam Szymkowicz's new noir comedy "Clown Bar", brought to life at the Little Gem Saloon by New Orleans based independent theatre company, The NOLA Project. A script that truly bends genres, "Clown Bar" combines the melodramatic acting of classic film noir, the intensity and action of a Quentin Tarantino movie, and good ole' fashioned circus slapstick.

As the story unfolds, a clown's been killed, and former-clown-turned-detective Happy Mahoney (played by NOLA Project company member Alex Martinez Wallace) returns to the life he left to get some answers. But is Happy a little TOO close to this case...? Happy must solve the clown crime so he can finally close the dark chapter of his own white-faced, red-nosed existence. Upon returning to his old haunt, Happy runs into a few familiar faces-Blinky Fatale, his former clown fling, Twinkles, a clown hit-man, Dusty, the sad clown bar crooner, and Petunia, the clown bar-keep-all played by NOLA Project company members, Kali Russell, Richard Alexander Pomes, Keith Claverie, and Natalie Boyd, respectively.

A play like this deserves a truly immersive setting. To this end, The NOLA Project will turn the upstairs Ramp Room of
the Little Gem Saloon into the "Clown Bar," a place of clown drinking, clown lust, clown music, and clown MURDER. In this site-specific theatrical experience, audiences are invited to dress up as clowns or don clown noses themselves as they enter the seedy clown underworld where broken rules could mean broken legs. Audience members will be seated at cocktail tables as actors weave between them. The bar will be open and serving specialty, clown themed cocktails (which will come in handy for the drinking game).

NOLA Project Artistic Director, AJ Allegra, on performing "Clown Bar" in an actual bar: "We have performed plays in nearly every venue in the city including our frequent favorite spot, The New Orleans Museum of Art. But a bar brings new and exciting challenges. How does one block the performers when patrons can be literally anywhere? How do we manage clown murder in a room full of witnesses...er, patrons? For us, the rewards of such challenges far outweigh the risks, and the process thus far has been invigorating."

"Clown Bar" is being presented as part of Faux/Real New Orleans Festival of the Arts. Visit feauxrealnola.com for info.

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