Summer
Summer Shapiro is a physical comedienne, and has completed training in acting at UCLA School of Drama, the Samuel Beckett School of Drama in Dublin, Ireland, the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco School of The Arts, California Institute for the Arts, the San Francisco Clown Conservatory, and is currently a resident artist at the Climate Theater, San Francisco.
Now having written and performed three original physical comedy shows in the last year, two of them going to the New York Clown Theater Festival, and one of them performing along side Cirque Du Soleil veteran, John Gilkey, Summer is grateful for her choice to study clown.
In addition to studying performance extensively for the last 13 years Summer has worked in many different communities around the world to develop human bonds through the performing arts. She was an artist in residence with The Medea Project in County Jail #8, San Francisco, where she did autobiographical performance work with incarcerated women. Summer has taught clown workshops to inner city middle-schoolers in East Brooklyn, NY, performed at disabled youth, adult, and elderly homes throughout the greater Bay Area, she has facilitated storytelling workshops between Northern and Southern Irish youth in Belfast, Ireland to promote peace across borders, as well as performed clown shows for ages 3-9 at Los Patojos, a grassroots after school program in Guatemala.
Summer is currently one of three Directors of The Extra Mile Adventure. She is heading off the trip’s fund raising as well as gathering the individuals who are traveling on the bus. Her personal goals for the trip are:
1. To develop an expressive performance workshop that operates beyond cultural and linguistic barriers. She will utilize games, movement, props, face paint, and costumes.
2. Performing her foolish physical comedy acts and shows to the general public.
This will take a lot of patience, respect, and deep listening for what these communities would like to do and how they would like to play, which is a level of training Summer is seeking. Through all her work her intention is to enliven our differing communities together with the power of laughter.
