Who is Craig Sjogerman

Who is Craig Sjogerman?

I'm glad you asked. Craig Sjogerman is Dr. Gesundheit. BA, MA, MS, PhD and EIEIO. Craig is a clown/actor/writer/storyteller/ father/husband/teacher/eccentric dancer/comedian/harmonica & ukulele player/vaudevillian. He has been performing professionally since 1979.

Ancient History:
BP (before performing) Craig grew up in Chicago and attended Universisty of Michigan and Thomas Jefferson College. He has a Bachelor of Philosophy Degree in Group Science and an Elementary Teaching Certificate. He was a gymnast, certified elementary school teacher, construction worker, house painter, camp counselor, government bureaucrat, and backpacker.

San Francisco:
He moved to San Francsico and studied clowning (with Bill Irwin), mime, acting, and playwriting (with Oskar Eustis, Romulus Linney, Tony Taccone, & Maria Irene Fornes.) Craig began performing professionally in 1979 with the clown duo, Picadilly. They performed throughout California and toured the country. Craig then joined Make-A-Circus as a juggler, clown, acrobat and writer. He also helped found the Make-A-Circus Teen Program and Circus School. Craig worked extensively with the Young Audiences Program of the Bay Area. Additionally, he toured Yupik, Inuit, and Athabascan villages in Alaska and ate a lot of strange food. Craig studied improvisational comedy and performed with Spaghetti Jam and Faultline. Craig created his first of many solo shows, Suburban Viking (which was performed at the Intersection Theater and the New Vaudeville Festival) and spent two summers as a featured playwright at the Bay Area Playwright's Festival. Craig's play, Opie Tayler Must Die, won the New American Plays Award at California State University at Humboldt, where then became a Playwright-in-Residence. Curtains was performed at The Intersection Theater, the New Vaudeville Festival, and the Sheppard Theater Complex in Los Angeles. Craig also taught at the American Conservatory Theater and for the Dell'Arte School of Comedy in Blue Lake.

Recent History: Craig moved to Chicago in 1987 and founded the Gaia Theater with his lovely wife, Paula. Under Craig's artistic direction, Gaia Theater performed his original plays about environmental issues for 10 years and toured throughout Northern Illinois. Craig created The Dr. Gesundheit Clown Therapy Show, and has performed this show at thousands of schools, libraries, theaters, and parks. He created five other solo touring shows. Craig has also performed with Imagination Theater, Chicago Actor's Ensemble, Lyric Opera, Whirlwind, and Annoyance Theater. He has conducted many Arts-In-Education Residencies in schools, libraries, and other organizations throughout Chicagoland for the Illinois Arts Council. Craig has also directed a musical theater workshop for 8 years for the Addison Park District. He was a circus and clown teacher for CircEsteem at Senn High School, St. Josephat & Paul Revere School. He has been a drama consultant and teacher for the Erikson Institute (teaching teachers how to integrate the arts into their curricula) and the Shanti Foundation for Peace (using the arts to help students learn peaceful conflict resolution.)

Most Recently: Craig has been a clown doctor at University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital for the famed Big Apple Circus Clowns Care program since 1999. He is now the Supervising Clown at LaRabida Children's Hospital and at senior citizen centers with the Vaudeville Caravan program. He is a featured "Piersmophere" variety artist at Navy Pier and he continues to create new shows and teach theater, playwriting, vaudeville, and improvisation. Other interests and skills include (in no particular order): ukulele, trumpet, computers and digital photography, creative nonfiction, his family, history, U of M Football, and smelling things.

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