Biography
Claire Patton is a director, teacher, and performer of Lecoq-based physical theatre. She specializes in devising and directing original productions.
Claire developed an early love of the humanities, receiving a classical liberal arts education from the University of Dallas in her hometown of Irving, Texas, where she took a particular interest in the philosophy, history, and theater of the ancient world. In 2000, she received her BA in English Literature.
In 2004, she graduated from Kiklos International School of Theatre Creation (now named Helikos and located in Florence, Italy) in Padua, Italy. At Kiklos, Claire studied under master teachers Giovanni Fusetti and Paola Coletto, as well as Norman Taylor (L’ecole Lassaad in Brussels) and Amy Russell (LISPA in London). In 2009 Claire completed Giovanni Fusetti’s course in the pedagogy of movement theatre.
Patton is the founder and Artistic Director of Quake Theater, a physical theatre company based in Boulder, Colorado. She has co-written and directed many original productions, including the mask comedy Woe to the Conquered, which premiered at the Boulder Fringe in 2010 and won the festival’s Encore! Award.
Patton has served as a guest artist at the University of Colorado Department of Theatre and Dance, specializing in Commedia dell’Arte, and has collaborated as a movement coach on three of their productions: Pillowman, You Can’t Take it With You, and A Play on Two Chairs.
In 2011, Patton performed a multi-character and pantomime solo, Smite Smote Smitten, under the direction of Elizabeth Baron. In 2012, she co-founded Sweden’s Everything Theatre Company, teaching red nose clown and performing an original piece, Journey of the Terranauts, which premiered last summer in Caux, Switzerland. She directed Oculus Theater’s Dancing with Demons: A Comedy of Sorts, which has been performed in festivals throughout the US and Canada.
For the past two years, Patton has been touring original productions internationally. The Awkward Art of Flying is a physical comedy duet co-created and performed with Lucia Rich, and A Girl’s Guide to War is a satirical and touching comedy directed by Colleen Mylott.
Claire is fascinated with the vibrancy of myth and its role in culture. She has been significantly influenced by the work of Joseph Campbell and Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés on the topic. She continues to explore the boundaries between archetype and individual, personal experience and universal form in her work.
Claire lives in Boulder, Colorado.
Download Claire Patton’s CV here.
