CLOWN DOWN: Failed to Mount with Carla Rossi, Portland's Premiere Drag Clown

Risk/Reward, a presenting organization in Portland, Ore., has supported local Native performance artist Anthony Hudson's work since 2012, when The DECEPTiCONS, "the most prestigious post-contemporary performance dance group in PDX that has never done a show before" (featuring fellow drag artist Kaj-Anne Pepper), premiered W*RQ at the Festival of New Performance.

Now, following the critically-acclaimed solo work Looking for Tiger Lily (solo), which premiered in a 20-minute version at Risk/Reward's yearly Festival of New Performance, Anthony Hudson has performed this work across the country, in Canada, and there is no end in sight. Portland's TBA Festival has presented the full-length work, and the piece will be adapted into a multi-person cast play as the finale of Artists Repertory Theatre's 38th season.

This November, get ready for a clown to go down in the FIRST evening-length Carla Rossi (Anthony's drag alter ego with a mind of her own) show since 2014, premiering November 14-17th at PNCA's Mediatheque.

Presented by Risk/Reward, CLOWN DOWN opens with Portland's premier drag clown Carla Rossi (Anthony Hudson) being crushed by a new cabinet after she fails to mount it to the wall. Taking the traditional one-person show and turning it on its head by trapping its star under a piece of furniture, CLOWN DOWN tackles anxiety, depression, artistic blocks, and your favorite everyday traumas in a warped tribute to Mister Rogers and absurdist theatre. Using song, dance, video, and a talking pickle, Carla asks what it means to make art when our physical and mental health is under constant attack, nonetheless in a world on the brink of environmental and nuclear apocalypse - and all from underneath a hastily-made Swedish cabinet.

Portland Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. WAITRESS (Broadway Rose Theatre)

7.9% of votes

2. SWEENEY TODD (Twilight Theater Company)

6.4% of votes

3. FUN HOME (Metropolitan Performing Arts)

6.4% of votes

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