About this Event
Musical guests: West End Junction (https://westendjunction.com/)
Featured speaker: Audrey Crabtree: "Social Clowning — How Laughter Heals"
Join Audrey Crabtree in an exploration of the different types of social clowning around the world and how laughter heals and connects others.
Audrey Crabtree has worked in social clowning for more than 19 years, bringing clowning into hospitals, medical education, community spaces, international festivals, and large-scale public events. She is the founder and former director of the International NY Clown Theatre Festival and has worked with Clowns Without Borders and the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit, where she performed as Dr. Pepper and developed and led workshops for Clown Care Unit artists, medical students, and healthcare professionals.
Audrey has performed, taught, directed, and coached clown artists around the world. With CREACTIVE by Cirque du Soleil, she performed in and directed 32 shows and led the team of artistic coaches. She was a performer and teacher at the Congreso de Payasos Hospitalarios, a hospital clowning symposium in Cali, Colombia, and a speaker at the Performing the World Conference. She has also served as a clown and coach for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Her social clowning work has taken her throughout the United States and to Mexico, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Colombia, India, and the Dominican Republic. She has taught and performed with Circus Harmony at City Museum and worked with Laughter League, including living in clown character at Camp John Marc, a medical camp for children and families. In St. Louis, she coordinated Clowns On Call and performed as Dr. Pepper with Circus Flora.
Audrey’s work explores the clown not simply as an entertainer, but as a tool for human connection — using play, vulnerability, improvisation, and presence to meet people where they are. She is currently the Executive Director of KC Fringe Festival and continues to work as a performer, director, teacher, and advocate for the transformative power of clowning.
Event venue & nearby stays
Kansas City Oasis, 1717 West 41st Street, Kansas City, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.