University Communications
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322

Release date: Sept. 20, 1999
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Assistant Director, 404-727-0644, or dhammac@emory.edu

THEATER EMORY KICKS OFF SEASON SEPT. 24 WITH 10-DAY "FOOLS' FEST"

WHAT: "The Last Laugh: A Fools' Fest to Usher in the New Millennium." A 10-day series of events featuring the country's best "new vaudeville" artists.

WHEN: Sept. 24- Oct. 2

WHERE: Black Rose/Mary Gray Munroe Theater, located in the Dobbs University Center, 605 Asbury Circle on the Emory campus.

COST: Some events free. Prices for ticketed events are $16 general admission; $12 students, senior citizens, Emory faculty and staff; $6 Emory students.

CONTACT: For information or tickets, call 404-727-5050 or send e-mail to boxoffice@emory.edu. Additional Theater Emory information is available on-line at www.emory.edu/ARTS.

Theater Emory kicks off its 1999-2000 season Sept. 24-Oct. 2 with "The Last Laugh: A Fools' Fest to Usher in the New Millennium," a 10-day festival featuring some of America's best "new vaudeville" artists. The event is co-produced by Atlanta, native Kenny Raskin, known to theater audiences for creating the role of Lefou in "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway and touring extensively as the principal clown for Cirque du Soleil.

Before his two and a half years on Broadway as Lefou, comic sidekick of the villain Gaston, Raskin starred as Monsieur Everyman in Cirque du Soleil's acclaimed "Novelle Experience." He recently finished an IMAX film with Cirque, "Journey of Man," scheduled for release in 2000.

Raskin has recruited fellow "new vaudeville" artists Tim Settimi, Hilary Chaplain, Dick Monday, The Waldo-Woodhead Show with The Lenny DeLuxe Quartet, Enzo the Clown and Avner the Eccentric for the festival. Highlights are "A Night on the Clowns" Sept. 24-25 and a solo performance by Avner the Eccentric on Oct. 2. "Last Laugh" also will feature performances between classes at Emory Sept. 27-30 by The Waldo-Woodhead Show and Enzo the Clown.

Avner Eisenberg-Avner the Eccentric-also has had extensive Broadway experience including his acclaimed one-man show. He has received rave reviews for his one-man show as well as other solo performances. "They had to drag me kicking and screaming to see Avner the Eccentric, but when the show was over, they had to drag me kicking and screaming out of the theatre," said ABC-TV's Joel Siegal of Avner's 1984 one-man show. "I laughed for two solid hours. The show only lasted an hour and a half," he said. While Avner, also a native of Atlanta, is one of the most popular comic performers in the world, he probably is best known for his role as The Jewel, the scene-stealing holy man in the movie "The Jewel of the Nile" starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. He will give a solo performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2.

Tim Settimi is a Chicago native now living in Atlanta whose talents range from comedy and mime to slapstick and music. He has proven to be one of the most popular entertainers on college campuses nationwide during the past 10 years, garnering entertainer of the year awards six times by the National Association of Campus Activities.

Dick Monday is a graduate of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and former clown with the Greatest Show on Earth". He was director of the college from 1994 until it closed earlier this year. Monday was the founder, artistic director and producing clown for the L.A. Circus. He starred in the award-winning film "Love and Greed" and had roles on television shows "Saved by the Bell" and "General Hospital." Monday recently founded The New York Goofs, a company of physical comedians.

Hilary Chaplain is a 15-year veteran of the comedy/vaudeville/clowning world who currently is a member of the New York Goofs with Dick Monday. She has been entertaining hospitalized children since 1987 as a Clown Doctor with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit. Her varied career has included a stint on Broadway in "The Tempest" and a feature role in the movie "Forrest Gump."

Extraordinary comic jugglers The Waldo-Woodhead Show offer an unforgettable mix of ridiculous low-brow comedy and amazing juggling feats. Modeled after traditional vaudeville comedy teams, in the classic sense of the straight man and the fool, Waldo (Paul Burke) and Woodhead (Mark Keppel) are like a modern day Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis or Abbott and Costello, yet their characters are hilariously original. They will be joined by the Lenny DeLuxe Quartet.

The schedule of "The Last Laugh" is as follows:

o Sept. 24-25: "A Night on the Clowns" featuring Kenny Raskin, Tim Settimi, Hilary Chaplain, Dick Monday, and the Waldo-Woodhead Show with The Lenny DeLuxe Quartet. 8 p.m. $16 general admission; $12 students, seniors, and Emory faculty and staff; $6 Emory students.

o Sept. 26: "Humor and Healing" symposium. 2 p.m. Free.

o Oct. 1: Kenny Raskin lecture and demonstration featuring Emory students. 7:30 p.m. Free.

o Oct. 2: Avner the Eccentric. Solo performance by the star of "The Jewel of the Nile" and his one-man Broadway show. 8 p.m. $16 general admission; $12 students, seniors, and Emory faculty and staff; $6 Emory students.

Performances will take place in the Black Rose/Mary Gray Munroe Theater, located in the Dobbs University Center, 605 Asbury Circle on the Emory campus. To see a map of campus, go to www.emory.edu/MAP.