RICHARDSON — At first Leslie Patrick was elated. After two decades of designing makeup for Pegasus Theatre, she was getting to try something new, something she'd dreamed of for years — a murder mystery about clowns.
Then came panic: How was she going to create 10 distinct clown looks with the limited gray palette that gives the Living Black & White series its signature look of 1930s and 1940s black-and-white films?
That meant no red noses, and none of the usual bright reds or yellows or blues.
"I was afraid. How was I going to do this in black and white?" she asked at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, where Clowning Around With Murder! continues through Jan. 20.
The original show, which takes place in a clown college in 1935, marks the 20th Harry Hunsacker mystery created by Pegasus founder and artistic director Kurt Kleinmann. Hunsacker (a comically bumbling Scott Nixon), a repeating character who describes himself as an amateur detective and aspiring actor, has been asked to solve a murder at a clown college.
Harry brings a second repeating character, Nigel Grouse (played with dapper charm by Ben Bryant). Harry's paid-by-the-hour assistant tactfully shares his analysis in a way that allows Harry to think of Nigel's ideas as his. A third repeating character, Detective Lt. Louis Foster (a hot-headed Chad Cline with spot-on timing), is exasperated with Harry and turns up to solve the crime as well.
The show, which opened Dec. 31, proved a tribute not just to black-and-white films but to silent clown routines. Long before the clues began to emerge, the clowning charmed. The audience giggled at old jokes made new again with pratfalls, funny signs, money routines and handkerchiefs on never-ending strings under the crackerjack direction of Michael Serrecchia.
As for the makeup, Patrick, who plays clown Winky, had clearly worked through any initial panic to create deliciously delineated characters that popped on stage. Sticking to the Living Black & White restrictions, she designed contrasts with clown lines overlaying gray and sometimes white foundation and black noses in lieu of red ones.
One secret to the diversity of the looks was learning about three different clown types, she says. Her research, combined with instruction by local longtime married clowns Dick Monday and Tiffany "Slappy" Riley, zeroed in on three distinct clown looks.
While the types are not significant to the plot, the differences allowed for evocative, individualized looks and lent themselves to particular roles in the comic routines. In general, white-faced clowns, who cover everything with makeup or clothing, are straight men or leaders who initiate action, like Bozo the Clown. That was the look Patrick chose for Winky.
In contrast, Auguste clowns are foolish and clumsy — their look includes flesh tones with make-up used to exaggerate their features in a comic way, like the famous Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey clown Lou Jacobs.
The third type of clown is the character clown, most often the tramp, made famous by Red Skelton and Charlie Chaplin. The tramp look borrows from the Auguste approach, but adds a more shabby veneer, often with a face that features white around the mouth and near the eyes.
For Patrick, the more she knew about clown types, the more excited she got about the possibilities. During rehearsals, she sat backstage with her make-up templates and began to sketch. She handed out the templates and followed up with a meeting where she taught all the actors how to create their look for each performance.
"Sometimes, the more rules imposed on an artist, the more freedom you have to be creative," Patrick says. "If you just dump an artist in a room and say create, you can get overwhelmed by so many choices. By having these rules and restrictions, it helps us grow and stretch."
You can get a close-up look at those designs after each performance when the actors come out to the lobby to pose for photographs in their black-and-white comic splendor.
Details
Continues through Jan. 20 at the Eisemann Center, 2351 Performance Drive, Richardson. $24-$44; eisemanncenter.com. Performance reviewed was Dec. 31. Running time: 1 hour, 58 mins.
