MooseCamp Classes

Brittany “Zoe” Allen began her journey in clowning in 2007 as a camper at Moose Camp, as part of her goal to become a clown working with sick children. She returned to camp year after year, adding skills like magic, balloons, puppets, and caring clowning, and eventually started the early morning Wake Up and Wiggles lab. “Zoe” has used the healing power of laughter on several mission trips to India, as a hospital clown at Medical City Children’s Hospital in Dallas for 12 years, and on staff at Camp iHope’s Summer Camp for kids with cancer. When she moved to Florida, she launched a hospital clowning program at Golisano Children’s Hospital, where they were thrilled to see this program helping their patients. With her recent move “back home to Texas,” she is excited to see where her clowning adventures will take her! Brittany has become an integral part of planning and implementing Moose Camp and specializes in “bringing the fun” to camp! Brittany has jumped from being a 101 Instructor to teaching the Caring Clown Course. Her infectious energy and positive attitude are sure to inspire and motivate our campers!

Karen Bell performed as a clown with Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus from 1986 to 1994 and is the only female clown to have had a solo ring gag on RBBB Circus. Karen toured Europe twice with the Department of Defense’s “Festival Follies.” She has appeared on network TV and Disney’s “Let’s Go to the Circus” Sing-a-Long video, is featured in the indie film “Children of All Ages,” and in PBS’s “Jack Perkins’ Gulf Coast Journal.” Karen has taught at COAI conventions and wrote several articles for their Calliope Magazine. In 2008 she was the headliner for the WCA National Conference. Karen moved to Sarasota, FL to work with The Circus Arts Conservatory in 2005, helping to develop and implement the Humor Therapy program known as Laughter Unlimited. She is currently the Outreach Education Manager, teaching core curriculum using the circus as the theme. Karen is also the clown coach for Sailor Circus Academy in Sarasota. We are very excited to welcome her back to the staff of Moose Camp!

Fred Baisch is an award winning clown as well as an accomplished magician. We are thrilled that Fred takes time from his busy schedule to be with us at Moose Camp. Fred is a big part of our Dealer Room. He brings a huge magic shop to Moose Camp along with everything you need in magic, balloons, puppets, and more. Then he breaks out all of his personal favorites and trade secrets and hauls them up to the classroom to share in his course. Fred has been a perfect addition to Moose Camp. He fits in perfectly with his giving teaching style, his real love of being a clown himself, and his chance to mess around and laugh with all of us instead of being trapped in his huge magic shop!

Sean Carlock has been entertaining since age six. Theater, magic, and clowning have always been his passion. The only thing he loves more than clowning is sharing it with others. Sean grew so much in his clown career since first attending Moose Camp that we were proud to add him to our camp staff. He draws from his magic and theater background, as well as his time as a Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus clown, to bring you his spin on the world of clowning.

Annette Darragh has been a professional clown and clowning instructor for over 30 years. She has won numerous awards for clowning in Make-up, Character, Skit, Face Painting, and Balloon competitions at the Regional, National, and World levels. She specializes in hospital clowning and its therapeutic benefits and has been recognized in many cancer publications for her work in the healing power of humor. Annette owns and operates “Funny Bone Props,” a business that sells hospital props for Caring Clowns. She was selected for the People to People ambassador program, and in 1999 was one of seven clowns from the U.S. sent on the first clowning delegation to China. In 2000, Annette was inducted into the Midwest Clown Hall of Fame. In 2013 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Midwest Clown Round-Up. Annette lectures throughout the year at conventions and seminars around the country.

Mike Fixer dabbled in clowning for fun in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this time, he first learned of Ringling Brothers Clown College and had hopes of attending the school after high school. As the realities of high school and then college set in, Mike set his dreams of Clown College aside, but resumed clowning as a hobby in 1980 while at Western New England University, where he earned a BSBA in Business Management. Throughout the 80s, Mike continued to hone his clowning skills by meeting and learning from other local clowns, joining a COAI alley, attending various clown conventions, and performing at parties, corporate events, parades, and various clown shows. Several times in the late 80s, he was a guest clown on Roberts Brothers Circus before pursuing his dream of attending RBBB Clown College. In 1990, Mike was accepted into and graduated from Clown College and went on to become part of the Clyde Beatty Cole Brothers Circus Clown Alley in 1993. He served on the Board of Directors for Clowns of America International, Inc. and was a regular clowning and props columnist for LaughMakers, a family entertainers and variety arts magazine. Mike enjoys sharing what he has learned about clowning, particularly in the area of props.

Rick Hoops is a multi-disciplinary artist living in Saint Paul, MN. Rick holds Bachelor’s degrees in opera and theater, as well as a Master’s degree in Arts and Cultural Leadership. They work at the University of Minnesota in operations and events and are an educator and performer at Minnesota Opera, where they’ve even been hosting monthly library shows in clown! In addition to more formal work, Rick has had their own voice lesson studio for over 8 years and recently started a consulting business for creative enterprises.

Karen “Dot” Hoyer’s mission in life is to bring laughter and a sense of humor to every situation she encounters. For the past 20 years, she’s visited nursing homes and senior centers with Vaudeville Chicago, appearing as a variety of eccentric and clownesque characters. She cultivates her skills in mime, mask, music, dance, and puppetry, performing all over Chicago and the Midwest. Karen has taught hundreds of workshops at the elementary, high school, and college level, including at Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College! Every week she appears as Dr. Dot, the Chief Bonehead of La Rabida Hospital under the auspices of Healthy Humor, after over 17 years with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit. Karen first came to Moose Camp as a “Special Guest Star” in 2011 and feels truly blessed to be a part of the returning faculty.

Christopher Hudert has been in entertainment for over 50 years, most of that as a profession. He is equally at home on stage as a performer; backstage as a builder, writer, or tech; in front of the stage as a director; or off stage as an instructor, talent coach, trainer, or goofball. Christopher attended Ringling’s famed Clown College (Class of ’82, with Tricia) and traveled with the Circus for 9 years. He is the only person to serve as Boss Clown on all 3 units: first subbing on the Blue Unit, then as Boss Clown in Japan on the Gold Unit, and finally as Boss Clown on the Red Unit. After traveling with the Circus, Christopher cofounded Applause Unlimited, an entertainment company specializing in professional puppet shows, stilt walking, and clowning. He was the Stilt Trainer, Halloween Haunt Talent Coordinator, and Production Manager for Kings Dominion’s (a Cedar Fair Park) Live Entertainment department for over 12 years. Christopher has been a featured instructor at Ringling’s Clown College, Advanced Studies in Clowning, RVA Circus and Puppet Arts Camp, the Mooseburger Joyful Journey, numerous Puppetry Festivals and Clown Conventions across the country, and most importantly, here at Mooseburger Clown Arts Camp, where he teaches workshops on many aspects of both clown and puppet arts. He is also very active behind the scenes, making Moose Camp and e-Alley happen, and is a regular contributing writer for the Jest For Clowns e-magazine.

Linda Hulet began her clowning career in 1987 as “Shylo.” She later created “PJ” and “Gladys Pumpernickle.” She has competed and won in Character and Whiteface Make-up/Costume, Single Skit, Master Clown, and Group Skit (with Victor “Sporty” Hulet). Linda now performs as “Flo the Clown” at fairs and festivals, winning awards such as Best Strolling Entertainer. She was on staff at The Big Fresno Fair as Entertainment Director and Commercial Exhibits Director and created the Kid’s Agventure Land area. Linda has taught various clown subjects at clown conventions and conferences, including on a clown cruise. You may have seen her in Chuck Oberstein’s paintings and figurines and Ron Lee figurines.

Jane Kinney attended Mooseburger Clown Camp for the first time in 2009. She arrived as Mrs. Kinney, first grade teacher, and departed as Ladybug the Clown, first grade teacher! Upon returning home she began weekly visits to senior care facilities to offer a moment of joy, delight, tenderness, and comfort to residents, their families, and staff through humor, loving kindness, and a playful presence. She also began the Silly Nilly Clown Club in her school for 4th and 5th graders to learn the art of clowning. They entertained in senior care facilities and their school. Ladybug attended Moose Camp summer after summer, and upon her retirement from teaching, she added Caring Clown visits at UW Children’s Hospital in Madison and holiday shows at senior and memory care centers. Still having the teaching bug in her, Ladybug began performing shows on Fire Safety, Kindness, and Read Across America in schools to bring smiles and laughter to children of all ages. Her entertaining programs encourage and educate using humor, music, puppets, whimsical magic, and storytelling. When Pricilla introduced Red Nose Readers in 2019, Jane joyously jumped on board and continues to share the wonderful world of clowning, literacy, and kindness with kids everywhere. Jane is the Director of Red Nose Readers.

Tricia Manuel is the unmistakable Pricilla Mooseburger and the lovable, zany Miss Moose. She got her start in clowning in the 1980s with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and Disneyland. She went on to create the costume company Pricilla Mooseburger Originals. After coming back from the circus, she found that the world needed a fresh take on how to train clowns: a clown school where they could go for a week and move toward new levels of humor and joy. She wanted to create a place where a beginner would get a holistic start on clowning with all its parts, not just a nice makeup. With the world-class Ringling Clown College program defunct, she began a plan for Mooseburger Clown Arts Education in 1994. It was the first clown training program to teach every style of clowning based on choosing one specific area on which to focus. Mooseburger Clown Camp as we currently hold it began in 1996 and keeps getting better every year! Tricia loves teaching Clown Arts and considers it a vocation, not simply a profession. There is nothing more exciting than watching students and customers discover new things in themselves! While she loves going out to clown, she knows that she touches more people through the clowns she teaches than she could by clowning on her own. Tricia gives 100% of herself to her students, and they in turn share the love of laughter with the world. She is the heart and soul of Moose Camp.

Rex Nolen was a teenager selling cotton candy at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium when he first saw Otto Griebling perform and got hooked on clowning. Later, under the tutelage of Master Clown Frosty Little, Rex learned the finer points of physical comedy, timing, delivery, classic gags, and pyrotechnics. Rex was the hobo model for Mehron Make-Up and has won numerous awards for make-up, skits, and parade-ability. He’s also a past educational director for COAI. He loves passing along what he’s learned over the course of more than 25 years of roughly 250 gigs a year, including birthday parties, festivals, grand openings, and special events. Rex was a favorite member of the Mooseburger Camp staff for many years, and we are happy to have him back with us!

Greg Seckora is a Camper turned Staff member who first started clowning after attending Moose Camp in 2013. Now leading the Boys of Summer, he can be found working behind the scenes helping with various tasks that make Moose Camp happen, as well as teaching our beginner balloon classes at camp. The rest of the year, Greg is a member of The Clown Arounds based in Maple Lake, MN. Through The Clown Arounds, Greg does balloon twisting and has participated in various events, including parades and shows at local nursing homes.

Ron Severini, Executive Producer of Castle Entertainment, Inc., has over 50 years of experience in the entertainment industry, arranging extraordinary talent for some of the world’s most varied and unique events. He is a former Dean of RBBB Clown College and spent over 20 years with Feld Entertainment (Circus, Clown College, Siegfried & Roy, Disney on Ice), as well as serving as the Talent Casting Director of Walt Disney World. Ron has traveled the US and around the globe scouting out the best talent in the world. Ron is also the author of several books on clowns and circus.

Mark “Smokie” Simmonds discovered clowning after seeing the impact a five-minute clown routine had on a friend’s daughter who was in the hospital. That experience inspired him to begin his own clown journey, which eventually brought him to Mooseburger Clown Arts Camp. Since then, Smokie has become an active performer and educator, working to create opportunities for clowns to learn, connect, perform, and grow together. He believes some of the best things in clowning happen when we share what we know, invite others along, and have fun doing it.

Julia Swanson has been clowning her whole life. Her mother, Pricilla Mooseburger, raised her to appreciate the art of clowning, and she has now completely embraced it! She started with theatre in school, but it just didn’t seem to be enough for Julia. One summer, she had the opportunity to work on Culpepper Merriweather with her brother, DJ Weiss, for a few weeks. The first time she ran into the circus ring, she knew she was hooked. After that she had the pleasure of working in Brooklyn on the Holiday Circus when she was 17, and before she knew it she had graduated high school and was on a plane to Dallas, Texas to audition for the Greatest Show on Earth! She toured with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and loved every minute of it! She is also beyond excited to be reunited with her Moose Camp family, both old and new, and can’t wait to get this week started.