human cartoon
core clowning for all levels
With Toby Moore
Put the dope in dopamine! Free ALL your funny bones and join us for this weekly rumpus room where we explore gags, routines, sketches and skits from European and American clowning and vaudeville! One thing’s for sure: you’ll laugh at yourself and your fellow fools as we practice these golden comic routines and eventually create our own. There will be jokes! There will be pies! There will be slapdash talent shows! And often there will be donuts in this wonderful trip to “human Toon Town.”
SATURDAYS AT 1PM
ABOUT TOBY
Sara Toby Moore (Toby) is a celebrated, award-winning San Francisco actor, writer, educator and Clown, joyously returning as Director of Circus Center’s Department of Clown. Over a 35-year career Moore has created & performed eccentric characters and full shows for Circus, Off-Broadway, Nightclub and Regional Theater. Moore’s high-octane style of performing was championed early on by impresario Merv Griffin who licensed her to conjure and perform such mayhem as a tap-dancing Harpo Marx, a flying diva with a hydraulic-rising wig and a spring-action human cannonball at his casino showroom! Toby arrived in San Francisco in 1999 and quickly became Artistic Director of the beloved one-ring Make*A*Circus, traveling most of California for several summers.
As an educator, Toby was most notably Director of The Clown Conservatory at Circus Center, garnering the program’s 2nd NEA award for her audacious capstone show’s interpretation of the Superman immigrant story through the clown’s eyes. She has also taught Acting, Improv, Solo Performance and Clowning nationwide to both youth and adults. Her students have gone on to appear with Cirque Du Soleil and on Broadway and continue to work theatrically worldwide. Other career highlights: As a creative consultant, gag writer and clown with Circus World and Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey Circus and as a Puppeteer for The Krofft Puppets, as well as leading roles in the San Francisco Bay Area with American Conservatory Theatre, where she is also on faculty, Circus Bella, Cutting Ball Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre, George Coates Performance Works and Oasis, and in New York at Ars Nova, La Mama ETC, The Women’s Project and P.S. 122, among others. Her one-person, multi-character circus play Show Ho has played to sold-out houses in San Francisco and New York and garnered effusive reviews for Moore’s ability to character morph! She also wrote and directed the cult indie film Homo Heights starring the late Quentin Crisp in his only leading role, prompting Daily Variety rot rave about its “Witty narrative clowning, continuous laughs and many brilliant performances.”
Toby is also the founding Creative Director of Thrillride Mechanics in residence at both Z Space and Circus Center, a physical theatre ensemble specializing in the company’s own brand of “human cartoon fantasia,” and “Clown Opera,” eliciting rave reviews for their productions of Wunderworld (Creativity Theatre & Center Rep), Atomic Comic (Potrero Stage & Z Space) and The Supers (Z Space). Forthcoming at Z Below in late summer 2025 is The Mechanix starring Moore alongside master clown DeMarcello Funes: a parable about hapless ride operator-mechanics who discover an astonishing secret about the rides they caretake - not to be missed clown theatre! Tickets and info at www.zspace.org/mechanix More info and press about Tobes: www.saratobymoore.com