When Ross Travis breaks character during rehearsal for “Tempting Fate,” the first natural expression he often assumes is a toothy, cheek-stretching grin, accompanied by skyrocketing eyebrows and a part-fiendish, part-sheepish giggle. It’s as if he’s a little kid, elbowing you to whisper, “Can you believe that just happened?” Even as you return the laugh, you want to whisper back, “But didn’t you come up with that twisted idea?”

特拉维斯的现实生活方式有助于解释他似乎毫不费力地注入的漫画能源，他是他的一部分。当他播放吉恩尼斯人 - 经常是忘记的角色We Players’《哈姆雷特》在恶魔岛在2010年,他的存在stantly made the proceedings alive to new comic possibility. He exudes confidence born of both analytical rigor and comfort with discomfort, coupled with an embrace of and responsiveness to the wilds of the present moment.

He wears masks with giant beaks or great fangs or wrinkled brows, designed by Foreman, and costumes with preposterous bulges, designed by Lydia Foreman. Look and content are inspired by bouffon, a grotesque, yet often lyrical, form of clowning championed by Jacques Lecoq, but here filtered through Travis’ contemporary interpretation of it.

37岁的特拉维斯作为一个孩子进入艺术，因为他觉得局外人觉得。在汽船春天，Colo，“我会戴上这些奇怪的帽子，”他说，“就像小的药箱帽子和牛仔帽和小针织rastafarian看帽子和各种各样的帽子。我会变得有钱，我致力于它。......一定是我如何表达自己。“

Later, theater, clowning, bouffon and acrobatics became other versions of expression through disguise. “I’ve always been really interested in physical transformation, being someone other than me,” he says.

在萨凡纳艺术和设计学院培训后，芝加哥500个小丑Dell’Arte Internationalin Blue Lake (Humboldt County), Travis decided he wanted to be an acrobat while his body was still limber enough, so at 25, he moved to San Francisco to study under master Lu Yi at Circus Center. There, he was drawn to the Chinese pole partly for the same reason he had previously been drawn to bouffon. As far as he was concerned, they were both the most difficult subgenres within their disciplines.

Travis could be a delinquent, “punk rock kid” in youth, sneaking out, hiding his empty 40-ounce beer bottles in his sister’s stuffed animal collection, wedging his cigarette butts, after smoking on his roof, under the shutters next to the window. In writing assignments for school, he’d envision outrageous gangster scenes set in bathrooms, bad guys getting blinded by poop thrown in their faces. Now, he acknowledges that that same “f— you” attitude might be part of what spurs him to attempt the artistic endeavors he fears most.

In any form of clowning, Travis says, you have to constantly confront, ride with and get past a fear of failure. “Everything is front and center. You’re testing things; you’re trying to get (the audience) with you, and if you’re failing, you’re really failing. You have to be honest and true to that and very much let the emotions of that flow through you. Otherwise, you’re denying what is actually happening. And that’s the beauty of clown work: You can’t hide. You have to be honest about what’s actually happening. You see a lot of clown work, where the people aren’t (being honest), and you’re like, ‘No! It’s not working!’ ”

最重要的是，所有这些漏洞都是那些不断考虑的观众，以查看注册的内容以及什么不是，Bouffon需要更多的表演者。“它可以从渣土跳跃和高诗歌，”特拉维斯说。“所以你必须拥有所有物理范围的全部教师，你的全部声乐系列，你的全部富有想象力的空间 - 以及正品并与观众相连。”

在Zaccho Dance Theatre的“诱惑命运”的排练中，渣土和诗歌都在充满活力的情况下。特拉维斯调查整个屁的分类（由阴谋理论主义者的礼貌）以及每种类型如何有助于气候变化。他还在节目结束时，提供了一个令人痛苦的，清脆的叙述只是人类失败了它的星球 - 一个账户，当你倾听它时，不能但感到指示你和你所有的宇宙和日常选择。他确信结束，最后一件事是人类看到了最后：“他们看到他们的后代的眼睛，他们没有牺牲。”

在特拉维斯在Dell'Arte找到Bouffon之前，他觉得他的工作经常是政治，可能是片面或教学的。表格对悲剧和喜剧的融合使他思考，“我可以用我的社会良心结合我的小丑，我想说的事情。”他说，布谷顿“不仅仅是agitprop;这不仅仅是一个视角。你试图挖掘这个问题的各个方面。这使得它不会教学，而不是宣传 - 以及情况更有趣，更真实。“

“诱惑命运”：由Ross Travis创建和执行。由Ronlin Foreman指导。5月24日至6月2. 25-50美元。小盒子剧院，1661个田纳西州圣，斯托。＃2s，s.f.https://temptingfate.brownpapertickets.com.