Photo by Marc Norberg:

This is Marc’s favorite from the Egghead photo shoot.  I never used this shot in any of the Fringe Festival promotion because I was billing the show as a dark comedy.

Today when I look at this shot I see why Marc loved it so much.  It was a really a rough period in my life, and seeing me smile here is like watching the sunrise after a dark night of the soul.

The twinkle in my eye is the spark in my imagination that hatched the idea for The Wacky Chicken Show.

It has been quite an journey.

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Photo by Marc Norberg:

The is the second picture that I’m posting on my blog from the same photo shoot with Marc Norberg.  This photo represents a very dark period of my career.

I first thought of this character after I had returned home to Minnesota from directing the Disney Entertainment Arts Festival in Florida.  He was a character I wrote into a play called “Which Came Last The Chicken Or The Egg?”  I was going to play The Egg and Rosie was going to play The Chicken.

Before we ever had a chance to mount the show, our second daughter Katya died at six days old.  I remember Rosie and I each needed to grieve in our own way.

My way of processing my grief was through my art.  I’ve always believed that clowning is a healing art.  I premiered The Egghead at the first Minnesota Fringe Festival in 1994.

*<{:o\

 

 

 

Photo by Marc Norberg:

I guess I’m on a Marc Norberg binge.  Whoever has been following these posts on my new blog, knows that he has taken some extraordinary pictures.   Marc has captured Rosie and I in his photographs throughout our entire career together, which has been the gift of a lifetime.

This photo session took place in 1994.  Makeup wizard Crist Ballas created my prosthetic egg shaped head and was present at this photo shoot with Marc.  It was interesting being in the same room with two geniuses doing what they do best.

The Egghead is a character I created and perform on the US Fringe Festival circuit from 1994 to 1996.  I was the first artist to sign up for the first Minnesota Fringe Festival.  The founder, Bob McFadden telephoned me and said, “Congratulations you’ve made history, you’re this first artist to apply.”

I asked, “Has anybody else contacted you?”

Bob replied, “No, not yet.”

I felt like the first person to arrive at a party, wondering if anybody else was going to show up.  Now of course our Minnesota Fringe is the largest Festival of its kind in the United States.

*<[:o)

 

Photo by Marc Norberg:

This is the last in a series of pictures I’ve recently posted by photographer Marc Norberg.  At the very end of the session Marc grabbed an instamatic camera and took a flurry of shots of me from random angles.  He then created this picture by taking an exacto knife to the finished prints to piece together this montage of me with three legs and no arms.

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Photo by Marc Norberg:

This is a picture from a photo shoot I had with Marc Norberg a few years back.  I remember when he turned my hat sideways and said, “Trust me.”  When I saw the test Polaroid I was blown away by his genius for capturing the eccentric soul of another one of my characters.

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Photo by Marc Norberg:

Photo by Marc Norberg:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Warren Brant:

I’m juggling fire on the Witchwood Stage in the early 1980s.  This year is my 40th season at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

*<[:o)

Photo by Rosie Cole:

This is on my birthday 30-years ago today. I’m celebrating with Rosie, holding a chocolate éclair with lit candles in the back of our van, while on-the-road in Colorado.

Photo by Lloyd Brant:

I took this picture of Rosie in our campsite at the Colorado Renaissance Festival.  In those days you could camp deep in the woods with no neighbors within eyesight. It was like living on Gilligan’s Island.

Photo by unknown:

Here are Rosie and I performing in the Celestial Seasoning’s Pavilion at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. It was an ideal stage that provided cool shade from the hot sun, and dry shelter from the rain.

Rosie and I were young performers in paradise.

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Photo by Marc Norberg:

This is a favorite picture from a photo shoot with Marc Norberg at the Southern Theater in 2010.

Marc was in great form that day.

*<[:o)