Wolfe Bowart
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Wolfe Bowart (born May 28, 1962) is a physical comedian,
actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
,
director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
and
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
. He is the creator and performer of the physical theatre productions ''LaLaLuna'', ''Letter's End'' and ''The Man the Sea Saw''. Bowart is the son of writer
Walter Bowart Walter Howard Bowart (May 14, 1939 – December 18, 2007)Fox, Marglit (Jan. 14, 2008)(obituary). ''New York Times''. was an American leader in the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture movement of the 1960s, founder and editor of the first ...
and Linda Dugmore, and grandson of the
abstract expressionist Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...
artist
Edward Dugmore Edward Dugmore (February 20, 1915 – June 13, 1996) was an abstract expressionist painter with close ties to both the San Francisco and New York art worlds in the post-war era following World War II. Since 1950 he had more than two dozen solo e ...
.


LaLaLuna

In 2006, Bowart premiered ''LaLaLuna'', a surreal tale about the night the light went out in the moon, at the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...
, the
Adelaide Fringe Festival The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, ...
, and the
Queensland Performing Arts Centre The Queensland Performing Arts Centre (also known as QPAC) is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank, Queensland, South Bank precinct. Opened in 1985, it ...
during the production’s first Australian tour. Written, directed and performed by Bowart, ''LaLaLuna'' contains a poetic narrative by
Roscoe Lee Browne Roscoe Lee Browne (May 2, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American actor and director. He resisted playing stereotypically black roles, instead performing in several productions with New York City's Shakespeare Festival Theater, Leland Hayward' ...
. Critic Fergus Shiel of
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
proclaimed the show “luminously inventive and magically silly” and Ari Sharp of ''The Program'' wrote “Bowart is the ultimate physical performer. He has a breathtaking awareness of his own body, and glides effortlessly across the stage with balletic skill. His sleight-of-hand is magnificent and fits in so neatly that you sometimes barely notice that it’s there, which allows the audience to be swept away in the dreamy mystique that Bowart seeks to create.” In 2007, ''LaLaLuna'' made its UK premiere at the
Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...
as part of the
London International Mime Festival The London International Mime Festival (LIMF) is an annual theatre event in London. Its directors, Joseph Seelig and Helen Lannaghan, are winners of the International Theatre Institute Award for Excellence. LIMF features live art, a new cir ...
(see review). Bowart also undertook a 40-performance national tour of Australia, and presented ''LaLaLuna'' at the Volos International Festival in Greece. In 2008, Bowart performed ''LaLaLuna'' in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Greece and Brazil and returned to Australia for seasons in Sydney (see review), Hobart and in Melbourne at the
Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...
. Bowart’s 2009 UK tour included performances at the
Theatre Royal, Bath The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, was built in 1805. A Grade II* listed building, it has been described by the Theatres Trust as "One of the most important surviving examples of Georgian theatre architecture". It has a capacity for an audien ...
, where ''LaLaLuna'' headlined the inaugural Family Theatre Festival. In 2010, Bowart premiered ''LaLaLuna'' in New Zealand and Austria, and returned to the UK, where the production was part of the
Brighton Festival Brighton Festival is a large, annual, curated multi-arts festival in England. It includes music, theatre, dance, circus, art, film, literature, debate, outdoor and family events, and takes place in venues in the city of Brighton and Hove in Engla ...
(curated that year by
Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
), the
Salisbury International Arts Festival Salisbury International Arts Festival (founded in 1974) is an annual multi-arts festival that delivers over 150 arts events each year in and around the city of Salisbury, England. Events include concerts, comedy, poetry, dance, exhibitions, outdo ...
, and completed seasons at the
York Theatre Royal York Theatre Royal is a theatre in St Leonard's Place, in York, England, which dates back to 1744. The theatre currently seats 750 people. Whilst the theatre is traditionally a proscenium theatre, it was reconfigured for a season in 2011 to offer ...
(see review),
The Lowry The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England. The complex ope ...
in Salford, and Newcastle's Northern Stage, among others. Bowart continues to tour ''LaLaLuna'' internationally. Recent seasons include the Bahrain Summer Festival (2015), Australia's 2015
Awesome Festival The Awesome Festival (in full the Awesome International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things) is an arts event in Perth, Western Australia held annually since 1995. The participation and interaction of younger visitors is encouraged by street ...
(see review), and the 2016 Kuala Lumpur International Arts Festival in Malaysia.


Letter's End

Bowart’s production ''Letter's End'', the story of a man inhabiting a magical lost-letter office, made its U.S. premiere in January 2009 in Tucson, Arizona. Bowart's company SpoonTree Productions was awarded a grant from the Australian government to tour ''Letter's End'' nationally in 2009. The Australian tour spanned five and a half months and incorporated 43 venues and 91 performances (see reviews). Reviewing for
The Mercury Mercury most commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * M ...
, Robert Jarman noted "the show combines comedy and pathos, mime, magic and sleight of hand, shadow puppetry, film and sound in an exemplary and enchanting mix. The sheer amount of invention is staggering." In August 2010, ''Letter's End'' was nominated for a
Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production __NOTOC__ The Helpmann Award for Best Regional Touring Production is an award, presented by Live Performance Australia at the annual Helpmann Awards since 2007. The award recognises excellence in a production which has toured in the last thr ...
. In 2013, Bowart was again invited to participate at the
London International Mime Festival The London International Mime Festival (LIMF) is an annual theatre event in London. Its directors, Joseph Seelig and Helen Lannaghan, are winners of the International Theatre Institute Award for Excellence. LIMF features live art, a new cir ...
. His season of ''Letter's End'' at the
Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
marked the production's UK premiere. (see review) The French premiere of "Letter's End" followed soon after, during a tour that included dates at the 2013 Festival Effervescences alongside works by Philippe Genty, Daniele Finzi Pasca and
James Thiérrée James Spencer Henry Edmond Marcel Thierrée (born 2 May 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is a Swiss-French circus performer, violinist, actor and director who is best known for his theatre performances which blend contemporary circus, mime, dance, a ...
.


The Man the Sea Saw

Bowart's Australian premiere of ''The Man the Sea Saw'' took place in 2011. He undertook a 66-show national tour that spanned 27 venues and concluded with a season at His Majesty's Theatre in Perth, Western Australia, where ''The Man the Sea Saw'' headlined the 2011
Awesome Festival The Awesome Festival (in full the Awesome International Arts Festival for Bright Young Things) is an arts event in Perth, Western Australia held annually since 1995. The participation and interaction of younger visitors is encouraged by street ...
. The adventures of a man adrift at sea on a melting iceberg prompted Perth critic David Zampatti to write "Bowart acts wordlessly but with boundless expression, his silent movie-actor's face, acrobat's body and magician's hands telling us all we need to know." In 2012, ''The Man the Sea Saw'' was nominated for a Helpmann Award for Best Visual or Physical Theatre Production. In 2014, Bowart undertook a 7-city of China and South Korea with ''The Man the Sea Saw.'' The tour marked Bowart's Chinese premiere.


The Shneedles

As artistic director and co-creator of ''The Shneedles'', Bowart, together with fellow clown
Bill Robison William Ray Robison (born December 5, 1957, in Denver, Colorado) is an American physical theatre artist. Career Bill Robison is currently working as a solo act. In his previous work, he was one of the two clowns that made up the performance duo ...
, have performed in Japan, Singapore, Australia (see review), Germany, Austria, Spain, Iceland and the U.S. The Shneedles most recently completed a 6-month season in Germany in 2007 for GOP-Varieté Theaters.


Director/actor/writer/artist

As a guest artist at the
University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...
School of Theatre, Film & Television, Bowart directed ''From the Fishbowl'', an original work co-devised with theatre students. Created during the COVID-19 pandemic, it streamed online for a global audience in April 2021. The production features seven actors moving between stage and screen as they explore what it means to live in a world that has become both socially distant and yet somehow more personal. In a review for ''The Theatre Times'', Michael Schweikardt wrote that ''From the Fishbowl'' "documents the moment of a young person struggling to come of age during the pandemic better than any oral history or written diary account ever could." As an artist, Bowart was commissioned to create the masks for the visual theatre production ''Bocon!'' by the
Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighboring ...
in Los Angeles. As a playwright-performer, Bowart created ''Harold's Big Feat'', which was directed by Peter Brosius and produced by the
Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust stage at the Los Angeles Music Center designed by Welton Becket and Associates on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles. Named for real estate developer Mark Taper, the Forum, the neighboring ...
's P.L.A.Y. (Performing for Los Angeles Youth). As an actor in the U.S., Bowart has guest-starred on TV programs on ABC, CNBC, the Disney Channel and PBS. On the stage, he has performed in such productions as ''Moon Over Madness'' at the
John Anson Ford Amphitheatre The John Anson Ford Theatre is a music venue in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The 1,200-seat outdoor amphitheater is situated within the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains. Located in a County regional pa ...
in Hollywood, and in ''The Joy of Going Somewhere Definite''Julio Martinez
“New Theatre for Now”
''Variety'', May 9, 1997
at the Mark Taper Forum. Bowart has also co-written several motion picture and television screenplays on assignment, including “eye-see-you.com,” the season finale episode of the television series The Net for the
USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
, which aired in March 1999. Bowart is a Theater graduate of
Cornish College of the Arts Cornish College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art college in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1914. History Cornish College of the Arts was founded in 1914 as the Cornish School of Music, by Nellie Cornish (1876–1956), a teacher of pi ...
in Seattle, Washington.


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowart, Wolfe 1962 births Living people American male comedians 21st-century American comedians American mimes Cornish College of the Arts alumni