OUR INSTRUCTORS
Meet Our Masters of Merriment & Mayhem!
At Coney Island Clown Skool, we believe that the best way to learn the art of clowning is from the very best in the business—and that’s exactly who you’ll find leading our workshops! Our instructors are professional, working clowns with extensive experience in circus, theater, vaudeville, puppetry, physical comedy, and more. From seasoned slapstick specialists to masterful mime artists, each instructor brings their unique expertise and passion to help students develop their own comedic voice.
Whether you dream of dazzling on the big top stage, entertaining audiences as a street performer, or simply honing your ability to captivate and connect through comedy, our instructors will guide you every step of the way. With decades of experience making audiences laugh around the world, they’re here to share their knowledge, challenge your creativity, and ensure you leave Clown Skool with a big red nose and an even bigger skillset!
The Incredible Minds of 2025
Instructors for our 2025 session will be announced soon. Please join our mailing list to be notified as soon as we break the news!
Our Amazing 2024 Faculty
Broken Box Mime Theatre
Broken Box Mime Theater (BKBX), founded in 2011, is a contemporary physical theater company that reimagines the medium of mime for contemporary audiences. Based in NYC, BKBX's 20 members hail from Jamaica, Switzerland, Australia, Turkey, Argentina, New York City, and various hometowns across the US. In 2024, BKBX produced PhysFestNYC, a month-long physical theater festival featuring performances, panels, and events.
Tyler Bunch
Tyler Bunch is an American puppeteer, puppet designer, director, actor, and voice actor who has been performing with Sesame Workshop since 1993. In addition to his work with the Jim Henson Company since 1997, he has created and performed puppets for PBS, Nickelodeon, and Disney's The Muppets Studio. He has acted in off-Broadway productions, multiple commercials, and has made appearances on The Tick on Amazon, Uncoupled on Netflix, and Search Party on HBO Max. Tyler portrays Elmo’s Dad, Louie.
Hilary Chaplain
Hilary Chaplain has blended clown theater, movement, and puppetry in her solo and ensemble work for over 40-years, performing in over 20 countries, on Broadway, in television and films - including “Forrest Gump”. Famous for her touring the award-winning solo show “A Life in Her Day”. Hilary co-created “The Last Rat of Theresienstadt”, which won 4 top awards at the 2018 Lalka Tez Cztowiek Puppet Festival in Warsaw, Poland. Since 1987, she has entertained children as “Nurse Nice” with the Big Apple Circus Hospital Clown Program.
Glen Heroy
Glen Heroy is an actor, clown, singer, spoon player, celebrity tribute artist, and Santa Claus. He was a clown doctor on the pediatric floors of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and was a clown in residence at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Glen was a featured clown in the 2008-2009 tour of the Big Apple Circus and was featured prominently in the documentary CIRCUS on PBS. He is on the faculty of the Academy Of Clown Arts and is the founding director of the Coney Island Clown Skool.
Joel Jeske
Joel Jeske is a physical comedian, director, teacher, experimental clown and clown historian who helped create and star in multiple productions of The Big Apple Circus. He has also created clown acts for Ringling Bros/Barnum & Bailey and Cirque Du Soleil. He co-starred with Peter Shub at the Apollo Variete/Dusseldorf, headlined Festival Der Traume in Austria, and was most recently seen in his one-man show, “The Artist Will Be With You In A Moment”. Joel is the associate artistic director of the Drama Desk-nominated Parallel Exit.
Matt Mitler
Matt Mitler is an actor, educator, comic, mime, and filmmaker whose training spans from Grotowski to Carlo Mazzone-Clementi. He is the founding director of Dzieci Theatre, which balances work on performance with acts of service. Dzieci is firmly dedicated to the process and includes in its repertory the critically acclaimed Fools Mass. Matt's first feature film, Cracking Up, won Best Film in International Critic’s Week at the Venice Film Festival and the People’s Choice Award in The NY Underground Film Festival.
Trav S.D.
Trav S.D. is a journalist, playwright, lecturer, and stage performer, and is a leading voice in the New Vaudeville movement. He is the author of "No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous," "Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube," and "Rose's Royal Midgets and Other Little People." He also maintains the blog Travalanche, which features biographies of vaudeville, burlesque, circus, sideshow, and variety art performers. Trav received the MacDowell Fellowship in 1994.
Michael Troutman
Michael Trautman is a visual comic, performance artist, new vaudevillian, mime, physical comedian, storyteller, magician, clown and fool. He has appeared in the New York International Festival of Clown Theater, Festival D’Ete in Quebec, and the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. From 2016 to 2018, Michael served as the Artistic Director and Creative Director at the Maine Circus Academy. In 2010, Michael collaborated with Robert Post to create KING PONG’S PING PONG RODEO.
