WICKED CLOWN LOVE by Neal Medlyn, the HIGHLIGHT REEL!

Wicked Clown Love, which recently completed a sold-out run in its world premiere at the Kitchen in New York City, is a new work from performance artist Neal Medlyn. The sixth in Medlyn's ongoing pop star series, Wicked Clown Love is built around the music and culture of hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse, their devoted fan base the Juggalos, and other forms of male bonding and ritual. Starring Medlyn, Carmine Covelli, Farris Craddock and others, the piece features design by Madeline Best (lighting), Kathleen Hanna (set) and Larry Krone (costumes). Wicked Clown Love is Neal Medlyn's dark specter version of the Insane Clown Posse (ICP) world, incorporating influences ranging from the writings of Mythopoetic Men's Movement figure Robert Bly, especially his popular book Iron John: A Book About Men and his analysis of Grimm's fairy tales, to visual design elements that reference dollar store displays, haunted houses, and the TV show COPS. In addition to their infamous clown face painting and the Juggalos, ICP is known for a type of Midwestern, underground, hardcore rap laced with horror film references called horrorcore. Medlyn's show will feature rap and spoken word, terror and horror, male bonding activities like flashlight wrestling, Faygo showers, clown love and more. Neal Medlyn is a performance artist who has been creating a series of pop star/music-based performance pieces over the last several years in New York and on tour in the U.S. and Europe. There have been five previous works in the series: Neal Medlyn's Lionel Richie Opera (Ars Nova), Coming in the Air Tonight (Galapagos Art Space), Unpronounceable Symbol (PS122), ...Her's a Queen (Dance Theater Workshop) and Brave New Girl (Chocolate Factory). His work has been presented by the above institutions and organizations as well as the New Museum for Contemporary Art (The Neal Medlyn Experience Live, a faithful reenactment of a Beyoncé concert DVD), the Andy Warhol Museum, Joe's Pub, the TBA Festival, the Fusebox Festival, Duckie (UK), as well as in Canada, Australia and Berlin. He collaborates with a wide range of other artists. In the past he has worked with Karen Finley, Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys (Neal & Bridget Are F**king, and Adam is Watching at Le Poisson Rouge) and more. Along with Kenny Mellman and Bridget Everett, Medlyn is a cocreator and co-host of Our Hit Parade, the very popular monthly show at Joe's Pub, which has been named among the top cabaret shows in New York for three years. He is also active in the dance community as a dancer and a Bessie Award-winning sound designer, working with artists Miguel Gutierrez, Adrienne Truscott and David Neumann, among others. For more information, go to www.nealmedlyn.com. Video by Carmine Covelli