Tell us about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
Hi, I’m Gabe Levey, a sometimes actor, full-time teacher/writer/producer and graduate of PVPA, Boston University, and The Yale School of Drama. For the last ten years, I’ve been living in close quarters with a benign brain tumor and a dash of epilepsy on the side. Having had an extensive and successful brain surgery in 2018, I came back to Northampton to recover. Within a year I decided to leave my home in New York and transition back to a life in the Valley. I continue to teach Clown, Physical Acting, and Shakespeare Performance at NYU, but this past year my primary focus has shifted towards building a training center and performance lab in Northampton called Completely Ridiculous Productions. So far I have devised, performed, and/or produced 3 shows at the Northampton Center for the Arts, taught a couple of Clown workshops and now have multiple classes available on Zoom.
What other art or artists have been inspirational to you in your work?
Way too many to list here, so I’ll stick with the funny ones like John Cleese in Fawlty Towers, Peter Sellers, Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Veep, Christopher Guest, Catherine O’Hara, Fozzie Bear, Lauren Lapkus, Paul F. Tompkins, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Kristen Wiig, Sacha Baron Cohen and most recently Natalie Palamides - all clowns that knew/know that it’s not about playing an idiot, it’s about playing an absolute genius doing an idiotic thing.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
After a year of Chemotherapy I was referred to a healing center outside of Boston. The first thing the doctor said to me was “You have to smile and laugh more. Nothing will come of fighting. You have to fall in love with your tumor, make friends with your seizures, and welcome them in.” That to me is the very essence of Clown, Acting, and perhaps the secret to living a full and healthy life. Fall in love with the problem - whatever it happens to be. Dive in, stretch out, stay open, and see what gifts it has to provide.
What are you currently working on?
At the moment I’m developing and teaching multiple classes on Zoom. In “The Fun of Failure” we’re exploring the necessity, pleasure, and power of vulnerability through improvised group songs, games, and laughter. In “Acting as Play” - a class I was teaching in New York and had just begun to teach at Pine Box Studio in Florence - we’re currently focussed on monologues while beginning to explore what scene work looks like online. And, most recently I’ve begun to develop the Pioneer Valley Laughing Club - a space, primarily for non-performers, to explore and experience a dynamic spectrum of laughter, as a means of fostering greater resilience in times of crisis and day to day life.
Where can we find your work?
Completely Ridiculous classes, upcoming performances, soon to come video content - including clips from past performances - and info about The Pioneer Valley Laughing Club, are all on my website, www.completelyridiculousproductions.com. My ongoing recovery project “Super Serious and Not at All Funny Stories I Wrote After Brain Surgery”, which premiered in December at the NCFA, can be seen on Instagram (@completeridiculousness) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/completeridiculousness).