ATELIERS
ALEX TATARSKY
SIGN UP INFO COMING SOON
DETAILS
Clown Rot is a two-day immersive workshop that dives joyfully into decay, failure, mess, and transformation—the fertile ground where clowning truly lives.
Guided by Alex Tatarsky and Jean Saucier, participants are invited to explore what happens when things fall apart on stage: when control dissolves, when the body breaks down, when logic rots—and something raw, hilarious, and deeply human emerges.
Over two days, we will:
- Play inside chaos, dirt, and disorder
- Embrace failure as a creative gift
- Explore the clown as a being of decomposition and renewal
- Follow pleasure in impossible circumstances
- Turn embarrassment, breakdown, and “shit” into theatrical gold
Drawing inspiration from compost heaps, mud, rude children, and elemental forces, Clown Rot treats the trash bin as a museum of civilization and the clown as its most honest guide.
This workshop is an invitation to decompose old habits, soften control, and discover new theatrical life inside the mess.
About Alex Tatarsky
Alex Tatarsky is a clown, performance artist, and self-described compost theorist of comedy. Described as a “hilarious, finely tuned absurdist” (Theatre Jones), their work lives at the intersection of clown, dance-theatre, performance art, song, and unruly rant.
Alex has performed internationally at venues including La MaMa, MoMA PS1, The Whitney Biennial, Abrons Arts Center, Playwrights Horizons, and countless bars and basements. Their recent works include Sad Boys in Harpy Land and Dirt Trip, a compost-themed clown lecture-performance.
They have taught at institutions such as The New School, Pig Iron School, Celebration Barn, Harvard, MIT, and NYU, drawing from Lecoq-based clown training, performance studies scholarship, and ongoing research into rot, magic tricks, and soil remediation.
Alex performs their show, Dirt Trip, on April 18, 2026 at the MEM – Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises for the Montreal Clown Festival.