Comedy students learn to get physical.

Byline: Lynne Klaft

LEOMINSTER - Chevy Chase, Dick Van Dyke, Lucy and Ethel, and of course, the Three Stooges, all great physical comedians. Who knew there was an art to it?

Tatsuya Aoyagi's Physical Comedy Technique workshop at the FourPoints Sheraton was filled Saturday morning with theater and fine arts students from all over New England participating in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

"We went to a workshop on random acts of violence and learned how fights are staged, using all kinds of foreign objects for the sequence - a catcher's mitt, curtain rods, a wooden block of cheese," said Fitchburg State College theater student Michael R. J. Babineau, a physical comedy aficionado.

"There were 40 kids at the event, just to see how it's done," said Mr. Babineau. "There are no classes (at our school) like this one."

Mr. Aoyagi teaches movement, stage combat and physical comedy techniques as an assistant professor at Salem State College.

"We are doing demanding work, but safety is first," said Mr. Aoyagi, who warmed up the students with stretching exercises.

"What's funny? Pain, farting, falling - a true struggle is funny, but it's all about rhythm, timing, repetition," said Mr. Aoyagi.

The students learned how to fall in a variety of ways - the butt fall, the knee drop, the twist and fall, the front fall, the side fall, fainting - all with a comic element.

"You are all young and fit now, but if you want to still be doing this in your 50s, you want to trust your butt. Butts have padding; knees and wrists are fragile. Protect your head; tuck that chin in," said Mr. Aoyagi.

Then there were lessons on pushing someone, being pushed, tripping, slipping, hair and ear pulling, choking, grabbing someone by his clothes and "dragging" him, and takes and double takes.

"Look at your partner, look at the audience, look back at your partner - that is a take. It focuses the audience's attention on what you want them to focus on. It's funny. There's the slow take, the quick take, the double take - the head snap is clearer to the audience than just eye movement," said Mr. Aoyagi.

The students created comedic scenes in groups of three using all of the techniques.

"You will have a boss, a middleman and a stupid guy, and you will be moving chairs. Go for it," said Mr. Aoyagi.

The resulting scenes were hilariously full of pratfalls, hair pulling, lots of squealing, tripping and falling.

"There's a stuntman in everyone," said Brady Kuech of the University of Southern Maine.

"I want to do props and special effects and robotics in movies. This class, improv, all that helps me understand how to incorporate props, or what kind of facial expressions to put on a robot," said Mr. Kuech, an industrial technology, mechanical engineering student.

Mr. Aoyagi, a native of Saga, Japan, holds a master's degree in fine arts from Towson University in Maryland and is a graduate of Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre, in California.

He recently participated in the International New Media Festival in Warsaw, Poland, performing contemporary dance movement.

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Acting students Tiffany Plante, left, of Keene State College and Jordan McCormack of Fitchburg State College work on their physical comedy skills Saturday.

PHOTOG: ED COLLIER