Richard Clairmont

 

Primary Discipline: Theatre

Areas of Specialty: Mime, Physical comedy, Script, Sketch writing

Additional Disciplines/Specialties: Literary Arts, Playwriting, Clowning

 

Based in: Edmonds
Phone: 425-776-0363
Email: rc@olympus.net

 

Biography: Richard Clairmont began his theatrical career as a mime in New York City, where he wrote and produced many full-length productions for physical theatre. His work as a teaching artist was launched with Alaska Repertory Theatre, for whom he toured native village classrooms throughout the state. He subsequently taught for many years under direct sponsorship of various Alaska school districts. Extending his work into spoken theatre, Clairmont enrolled in the Actor’s Training Program at Manhattan's Circle in the Square, and during the mid 1980s continued performing and teaching while earning a graduate degree in Counseling Psychology. He spent the 1990’s living near Port Townsend, where he began teaching at Mt. View Elementary. During this time he also wrote and produced a comedy cabaret series, The Ed Zeplin Show. He currently lives in Edmonds, appears regularly on the Seattle stage and commutes to Port Townsend to teach.

 

When asked about his approach as a Teaching Artist, Mr. Clairmont wrote this: “As a teaching artist I see my job to be the cultivation of creative process by demonstrating how, with an interesting script and a dozen good sight gags, even a science lesson can feel like a walk in the park. In the classroom context, it’s process that is most important, and the prospect of an eventual performance exists primarily to enable and support the process. The experience of formulating and expressing ideas, particularly among younger children, is more important even than the idea’s merit. My teaching practice focuses on creating original material with the students by first identifying a theme, for example, a history lesson, a Native American story or a teaching unit about spiders and then crafting a beginning, middle and end into our very own stage play. Lines and dialogue emerge naturally, coincident with gesture and physical action. In theatre the instrument of expression is one’s own self. To that extent, theatre offers students an opportunity to examine how much positive public influence that ‘self’ can have.”

 

Suitable for Grades: K-12
Preferred Grades: K-12

Curriculum Integration Possibilities: Literacy, Reading, Writing, Science, History, Social Studies, Other Arts Disciplines

 

Additional Interests/Experience:

• Leading Professional Development workshops for K-12 Teachers
  
• Working with at risk students
  
• Working with students with special needs / disabilities

 

Next Teaching Artist >