Joan Howard
“I often feel life is an endless opportunity to run, climb, leap, hold, hang, swing and fall upside down and inside out. For me, performance and circus arts are natural expressions of this deep and very human desire to engage fully - and physically - with the world around me. As a performer and a teacher, I strive to share my knowledge and my joy of being in a body while inspiring others to find what moves them.”
Joan began playing sports as a child and has since translated her athleticism into physical theater as an adult. She is trained in acting, improv, stage combat and circus arts and is a graduate of Flying Actor Studio’s Physical Theatre Conservatory. Joan is a co-Founder of Main Street Theatre and has performed physical comedy for such local favorites as Barbary Coast Amusements and The Climate’s Clown Cabaret. Joan also teaches circus camp for children and high school technical theater. She is currently working on a solo show about her life as a cowboy.
Nikolas Strubbe
"I am a Physical Theatre creator-performer with roots in Circus Arts, Clowning & Mime as well as other less-traveled paths of the stage. I hope to share, through my work, an ambitious sense of Possibility. In an ideal show, the audience should leave inspired, affected, and hungry for more. This too is the goal of my work as a teacher... I strive to push the boundaries of human potential through achievement of the seemingly impossible."
Nikolas has been performing and teaching Circus Arts since 2004. He is a graduate of the Flying Actor Studio's Physical Theatre Conservatory, and has been fortunate enough to train with many masters, including: James Donlon, Leonard Pitt, John Gilkey, Moshe Cohen, Patty Gallagher, Judy Finelli and Giovanni Zoppe.
Nikolas is a co-Founder of the Main Street Theatre, co-founder of circus-comedy troupe Hut - Ho ! and Circus Director for the Grand Guignol Sideshow company Dr. Kristov's House of Fun & Horror.
Nathaniel Justiniano
Nathaniel Justiniano (Founder, Artistic Director Naked Empire Bouffon Company) has been a professional actor and director for over 10 years.
In 2007 he co-created Pax Americana, a satire of war as seen through the lens of United States history and EUOI!, a bouffon experiment in ecstatic ritual, inspired by the research of anthropologist, Barbara Ehrenreich.
He has performed with The Thrillpeddlers in their mega-hit, Pearls Over Shanghai, as well as with the SF Buffoons in their productions of The Hasheesh Eater and Spunk, a satire of gold rush-era San Francisco.
In 2009 he led the creation of Naked Empire’s debut production, Shame! as a DIY Artist-in-Residence at the recently-closed Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory, formerly one of San Francisco’s most popular centers for queer and activist performance.
His most recent work, Cousin Cruelty’s Compulsion, addresses violence in society and was the subject of a feature column in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
He teaches workshops in bouffon, commedia dell’arte, and mask performance and serves as the Director of Physical Comedy for the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival as well as a guest teacher of physical theatre at Sacramento City College. He has also been a professional community organizer and educator for LGBT youth empowerment programs for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, as well as a program manager for community-based theatre initiatives out of the National Conference for Community & Justice and Cornerstone Theater Company.
He holds an MFA in Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre.
Natty is a Founding member of the Main Street Theatre, and the Founder of Naked Empire Bouffon Company.
Naked Empire Bouffon Company can be found here.
In 2007 he co-created Pax Americana, a satire of war as seen through the lens of United States history and EUOI!, a bouffon experiment in ecstatic ritual, inspired by the research of anthropologist, Barbara Ehrenreich.
He has performed with The Thrillpeddlers in their mega-hit, Pearls Over Shanghai, as well as with the SF Buffoons in their productions of The Hasheesh Eater and Spunk, a satire of gold rush-era San Francisco.
In 2009 he led the creation of Naked Empire’s debut production, Shame! as a DIY Artist-in-Residence at the recently-closed Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory, formerly one of San Francisco’s most popular centers for queer and activist performance.
His most recent work, Cousin Cruelty’s Compulsion, addresses violence in society and was the subject of a feature column in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.
He teaches workshops in bouffon, commedia dell’arte, and mask performance and serves as the Director of Physical Comedy for the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival as well as a guest teacher of physical theatre at Sacramento City College. He has also been a professional community organizer and educator for LGBT youth empowerment programs for Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the LA Gay & Lesbian Center, as well as a program manager for community-based theatre initiatives out of the National Conference for Community & Justice and Cornerstone Theater Company.
He holds an MFA in Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre.
Natty is a Founding member of the Main Street Theatre, and the Founder of Naked Empire Bouffon Company.
Naked Empire Bouffon Company can be found here.
Audrey Spinazola
Audrey is a musician and clown.
Classically trained in music, she can often be seen playing Chopin on the Toy Piano, or Wagner on Wine Glasses or her own sweet ballads on the Uke.
Audrey's original music can be found here.
Audrey is a graduate of The Clown Conservatory at SF Circus Center.
She actively volunteers in Bay Area hospitals with ClownZero, a San Francisco based, community supported, not for profit organization dedicated to improving life for children and communities worldwide through humanitarian clowning and therapeutic performing arts.
She is a graduate of the Flying Actor Studio's Physical Theatre Conservatory and The Clown Conservatory at SF Circus Center. Audrey is a founding member of the Main Street Theatre.