PARIS – World-class clowns Avner the Eccentric and Julie Goell will present an evening of family entertainment Saturday, Aug. 9, at Celebration Barn Theater.
“Avner and Julie have been teaching their eccentric performing workshop at the Barn for 15 years and they have each performed here as solo artists. This year, we’re presenting them together, which promises to make this a very special evening,” said Celebration Barn Director Amanda Huotari.
Avner is probably best known for his endearing portrayal of The Jewel, the scene-stealing holy man in the film “The Jewel of the Nile,” co-starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. He was also featured in the film “Brenda Starr” and in the television series “Webster and Mathnet.” Avner’s one-man show, “Avner the Eccentric,” was a hit of the 1984-1985 Broadway season. He co-starred in Lincoln Center’s production of Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” and returned to Broadway in 1989 in a principal role in “Ghetto.”
In regional theater Avner has played both Estragon and Vladimir in “Waiting For Godot,” played the title role in “R. Crumb Comix” and co-starred with his wife, Julie Goell, in the world premier of “Zoo of Tranquility.”
Avner’s new show, “Exceptions to Gravity,” defies the barriers of language and culture and has toured extensively all over the United States and abroad.
Goell earned a degree in theater from Emerson College and completed the School of Music of the University of Southern Maine. Residing in Rome for a decade in the ’80s, she performed in music and theater, film and television. In the United States, she acted in “Ghetto” on Broadway, directed several productions in New York and directed “Commedia Dell’Arte” for Spoleto Festival and Epcott Center in Orlando.
Recently, Goell was a Henson Foundation-supported artist in residence at the University of Connecticut’s puppet arts program, where she developed and directed a full-scale graduate puppet production, “By the Willow,” which is now touring. From 2005-07, she was Irving Suss guest artist at Colby College, where she taught musical theater and Commedia and directed “Servant of Two Masters” and “The Fantasticks.”
Her solo opera, “Carmen: The Mopera,” recently headlined at festivals in Andorra, New York, Rome, Spain and Rio.
The show will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $8 for students and children. Reservations are required and may be made by calling the box office at 743-8452. Celebration Barn Theater is on Stock Farm Road, just off Route 117. For more information, visit www.CelebrationBarn.com.
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