Whether you're a seasoned performer or just someone who wants to stop doing boring presentations, our sessions will amp up your ability to create those unforgettable, magical moments where your audience thinks,
"Whoa, this is amazing!"
Together, we can harness your unique quirks and bring your stage presence to new heights. Play with your audience, not just for them, and leave them craving more. Ready to make 'em laugh, cry, and hang on your every word?
let's find your clown:
- One-on-One
- In a Group / Ensemble
- Virtually
- In-Person
does this sound cool?
TESTIMONIALS
a bunch of super nice
"Natasha unleashes life-changing creative superpowers using her amazing ability to be in tune with each student's unique potential. I’m convinced she has X-Ray vision into our creative souls. I look back at my own transformation since my first session with Natasha and I am in complete awe as to what I have accomplished. My own anxiety with physical comedy had been like kryptonite holding back the positive impact I seek to make, but through Natasha’s safe, nurturing environment, all the worry went away. Natasha made every session so rewarding and I was always looking forward to the next session.. I came away with many new creative superpowers that can only be learned from a true superhero and there is only one SuperNatasha!"
David Wall / Senior Data Analyst
"Natasha’s Soft Clown™️ challenged me and began the process of liberating my most genuine inner artist. She has an uncanny ability to foster a beautiful, curious space, while also facilitating folks to take risks and explore the depths of their vulnerability/ humanity in genuinely playful ways. Equipped with the tools to bridge the gap between audience and performer, I left the workshop with a short clown piece I’m proud to put up and continue to devise."
Alyssa Klein / Drama Therapy
"Natasha cultivates bravery and acceptance by truly creating a safe space where you feel supported to do anything, say anything, and explore what’s possible within yourself. I have never taken an acting class before and knew nothing about clowning, but Natasha’s inviting, playful, yet grounding energy eased my fears from the very beginning. I had a blast! Even over zoom, she created the perfect playground to safely study different aspects of myself in ways that I didn’t expect. I found that the concepts introduced in Natasha’s Intro To Clown workshop add an extra dimension to any creative field and the experience of life in general. I feel liberated, empowered, and awakened from the exercises we did in class and am forever changed. Natasha is such a beautiful, special soul and I am beyond grateful our paths have crossed!"
Elora Lyda / Character Designer & Creative Life Coach
"Natasha was fabulous. She created a safe space where we were encouraged to play and stretch. [She] balances giving constructive feedback while keeping a positive environment extremely well."
Anonymous Feedback from Stomping Ground Comedy Theater
Natasha’s clown workshop has been transformative on my acting and life journey. I have taken many acting and comedy classes at world-renowned institutions all over the world. Natasha’s class has been the most tremendous in terms of true improv, comedy, and play. I have been able to tap into the essence of not only my clown and my funny, but also my being. The vulnerability aspect has opened the door for the hidden me, that I’ve protect from the cruel world, the chance to come out and play. I was trying to find her in every class I had taken before, but couldn’t. She was my missing element on my journey and I was clueless as to how to coax her out. Natasha’s classes was a safe place where she finally came out willingly and boldly to play. Her classes helped me to find that piece I felt was missing in my art. These are big statements. Yet, they are also genuine truths that have transformed my acting, comedy, and life journey. I hope they guide. I hope they give you the courage to take the leap and sign-up for one of her classes. Most importantly, I hope they transform your life as it has mine.
Mary Irongod / Consultant
Anytime clown comes into conversation, I find myself immediately raving about Natasha Mercado and recommending The Soft Clown Workshop. It was my first experience clowning and I left the two-day intensive feeling reinvigorated as a performer/ comedian/ clown/ person. And as a highly sensitive person, I really loved the soft approach. I mean, I have thick skin, but I am still veryyyy in touch with my thin skin. Natasha creates such a fun environment where it feels safe to be vulnerable and silly or whatever you want to be. Learning from Natasha, I’ve become a more connected, confident, and curious performer. I could go on and on, and I will if clowning comes into conversation.
Chad Fisher / Comedian
Soft Clown was the first clown class I had ever taken and my intro to performance of any kind. I was so terrified, and found myself laughing for 2 days straight. Natasha is an incredible teacher, and I felt so held by her in how she teaches and facilitates. The class opened up so much for me in how I understand myself and relate to others, and gave me so many tools for how to make sense of the world around me. Soft clown is finding silliness and play in the real feelings that come up for you in performance, in the space, with those around you, and seeing what changes when you surrender to those feelings and let others into them. Too, we spent so much time reflecting on how things feel, what feels sticky, what we want to experiment with, and having that reflection space has made performance feel so much more accessible to me–– you mean I’m not the only one freaking the f out?! I feel like I’ve been cracked open and can let some more of myself out.
Kenna Fallen / Senior Education Designer
Don’t be fooled - there’s nothing ‘soft’ about the feeling of putting yourself out there vulnerably in live comedy, flying without a net. Radical exposure and vulnerability in front of an audience is already difficult, but simultaneously mining humor, artfully managing physicality and staying engaged with an audience while doing so is truly no small feat. What makes Natasha’s approach to clown so original is that she simultaneously refuses to shield her students from that vulnerable exposure while creating a ‘brave space’ where those trust falls can be caught, lessons can be learned and failures integrated. Where performers can get in touch with their humility without having to fear humiliation. In Natasha’s ‘Soft Clown’, the aspiring clown gets a blend of right-sized performance challenges, direct, observant and supportive feedback, and insights/clear applications from (for lack of a better phrase) historical clown theory. Attuned to but not intimated by the actual emotional risk of Soft Clown, this is a course that helps you become a better performer, a more connected listener, and a stronger person.
Jake Fertig / Creative Director