Avner Eisenberg was one of a handful of performers, including The Flying Karamazov Brothers, Penn and Teller, and Bill Irwin, who arrived on and off Broadway in the early 1980s and gave birth to the New Vaudeville movement. Avner made history as the first clown to have a one-man show on Broadway. Even in those early days, this Georgia-born clown was recognized by other performers as wise beyond his years. He helped many fellow performers give shape to their acts. Avner studied for two years with Jacques Lecoq in Paris and then was one of the first teachers at Carlo Mazzone Clementi’s Dell’Arte School in California. Avner acknowledges a debt to these two masters “Lecoq, who taught me everything I know and Carlo, who taught me the rest.” He has repaid that debt by teaching performance workshops for students in over 40 countries. Top Broadway credits include a year long run of his one-man show, Exceptions to Gravity, which was a hit of the 1984-85 Broadway season, The Comedy of Errors, also featuring The Flying Karamazov Brothers, and the Joshua Sobol drama, Ghetto, in which he played a ventriloquist. His dummy was nominated for a Tony award. Avner has consistently garnered rave reviews as he toured theaters and festivals in America, Europe, Asia, and South America. Leaving the stage for the silver screen, Avner was the Jewel in the Michael Douglas film, The Jewel of the Nile. He has been a frequent guest on TV variety programs world wide.
Avner is often a featured performer at comedy, magic, and theatre festivals, and has won awards at many, including (take a deep breath): The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Israel Festival, the Montreal International Comedy Festival, the London International Mime Festival, the Festival of American Mime, the New York Clown Theatre Festival, the Fool’s Festival, the New York Magic Symposium, the Hudson Clearwater Revival, the International Movement Theatre Festival, The International Festival du Cirque in Monte Carlo, Arosa International Humor Festival, Barcelona International Clown Festival, Leipzig Lach Messe, St Gervais International Theater Festival, the Blackpool Magic Festival and, of course, the finest of these: Seattle’s Moisture Festival. Avner was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame in 2002, and is a certified Ericksonian hypnotist.
Show Dates
March 21, 2024 @ 7:30pm - Broadway Performance Hall (Ticket info)March 22, 2024 @ 7:30pm - Broadway Performance Hall (Ticket info)
March 23, 2024 @ 3:00pm - Broadway Performance Hall (Ticket info)
March 23, 2024 @ 7:30pm - Broadway Performance Hall (Ticket info)
March 24, 2024 @ 7:30pm - Broadway Performance Hall (Ticket info)
