West Virginia State University will present “Funny Bones: The Comedy of Charlie Chaplin” on Thursday, April 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Fannin S. Belcher Theatre of the Davis Fine Arts Building as part of Essential Stages: The Donna Skeen Visiting Theatre Artists Series.
Celebrated comic mime artist Dan Kamin will draw the audience into Chaplin’s enchanted comic world through a lively combination of film clips, live performance, audience interaction and the screening of a newly restored version of Chaplin’s hilarious 1916 comedy classic “The Pawnshop.” The film will be accompanied with live music by pianist and WVSU graduate K.W. Morrison. “Funny Bones” is free and open to the public.
Kamin, considered the world’s leading authority of Chaplin’s mimetic artistry, trained Robert Downey Jr. for his Oscar-nominated performance in “Chaplin,” and also taught Johnny Depp his comedy moves for his Golden Globe-nominated performance in “Benny and Joon.” He played the wooden Indian that came to life in the cult horror favorite “Creepshow 2.” Kamin performs in theatres and with symphony orchestras worldwide, and has written two acclaimed books on Chaplin.
In addition to “Funny Bones,” Kamin will host a workshop, “The Magic of Movement” on Wednesday, April 22, at 7 p.m. in the Fannin S. Belcher Theatre of the Davis Fine Arts Building. He promises to reveal the secrets behind his amazing movement illusions and provide participants with ways to get more comfortable physically. The workshop lasts two hours, and is also free and open to the public.
Essential Stages: The Donna Skeen Visiting Theatre Artists Series began in fall 2014 with the goal of featuring various artists from around the nation performing and leading discussions about how theatre works, their experiences as working artists and how communities benefit from the arts. “Funny Bones” is the concluding event of Essential Stages: The Donna Skeen Visiting Theatre Artists Series.
For more information, please contact Professor Susan Marrash-Minnerly at (304) 766-5110 or visit www.wvstateu.edu/ArtistSeries.
