By Davida Singer
What wild new trio of post-modern clowns is wowing them Downtown?
It's The New Bozena, now in their first Off Broadway show, "Winter Is The Coldest Season" (a slacker vaudeville), at Cherry Lane Theater.
Michael Dahlen, David Costabile and Kevin Isola were classmates in NewYork University's graduate acting program. Last year, for a project they decided to put on a clown show.
"To see what else clowning can be, what it remans to our generation," recalls Dahlen, 31. "We started messing around, trying to mke each other laugh, used improv games we'd learned at N.Y.U. We ended up with a show of two hours worth of material in two weeks. Like, how do clowns make breakfast? A day-in-the-life sort of thing of three clowns. It' s hysterical. It cracks me up on stage."
Then there are the two birds in the show. "Insane looking birds," Dahlen calls them.
"We found these bird costumes at N.Y.U. that make us about 8 feet tall. Our human friend comes and asks us for advice. This is a side play woven through the clown play."
And what about this name, Bozena?
"We were just sitting around a table at N.Y.U. We had to put something on our flyer," Dahlen explains. "The word "bozena" just came out of nowhere. Then we said, 'Yes, The New Bozena!' It stuck ever since."
He clarifies that the group is really four people. That without director, Rainn Wilson -- a friend of Costabile, an actor who wanted to try his hand at directing -- this couldn't happen. And what always happens in "Winter is The Coldest Season" is the unexpected. Always, just around the corner. Done in a kind of commedia style.
"We have a spine to the show, but really no script," says Dahlen. "We know where we're going . I think it' s interesting to see people exploring, not regurgitating the same thing every night. The show now runs about an hour anda half, and it's had other incarnations. After the initial run at N.Y.U., they played Currican Theater on 29th St. last May, and did a two week stint at Camilla's in January.
Minimal sets until now, when, according to Dahlen, Chris Muller has constructed the perfect set with his non-sequitorial approach to The New Bozena's work.
"There's always something a bit off in this show, in a good way," Dahlen notes. "It's definitely our home you see on stage. But you also say -- it's a weird home!-The whole premise of the show is, how do clowns deal with the modern world? And I don't know how they got where they are. The set enhances this strange place we've created."
Costumes are by Melissa Toth, who "livened up" what the guys had put together on their own. And what kind of responses are you getting to all this, I ask.
"What a great show, an older woman said to me after one performance," Dahlen offers. 'You know, I'm not living my life fully. Taking too many simple things for granted.' I hope they just come out. I'm not sure there's anything like this in New York. With that sense of fun we have when we're performing. It's contagious."
He says there's a "really good vibe" when you come in the theater. A downtown, "garagey" feel, like a garage band.
"It makes you want to hang out with us, and laugh until your sides hurt. That's why we call it 'slacker vaudeville.' We like the vaudeville style. Slacker is out of the Generation X idea. People trying to find out where they fit in the world. It evokes the feeling we thought was right for the show."
"There's something in this for everyone," Dahlen says. Then admits the hardest audience was young children. "A lot they don't get. It's really an adult show."
Dahlen, who came to N.Y.U. from Boulder in 1992, went to a Blue Man Group audition right after graduation ('They liked how I looked as a Blue Man, so they taught me to play drums."), and was in 'Tubes" until a couple of weeks ago. He sees comparisons in the two shows.
"Blue Man is also three guys,"he notes . "It' s almost like our show is the deeply disturbed alter ego of Blue Man."
"I learned so much there," he adds. "It's a very encouraging atmosphere to also do other projects. I trained two new guys before I left. Really enjoyed it. I'll probably continue helping them with that."
Future clown ambitions for The New Bozena are loose and lofty. The run is open ended, and Dahlen says he's never felt so comfortable on stage with other people.
"We're kind of like an organism. And the theater's amazing. Newly renovated, with 180 seats. Hopefully, our run here will goon forever. If it's a real hit, maybe we'll move it to a bigger theater. Every incarnation is hopefully, a step forward. We fantasize a syndicated sit corn on T.V."
The biggest challenge of doing this, he suggests, is to have a show people really talk about. And in order to keep it fresh, each night has to be an exploration. Has to be spontaneous. "To keep open to that as an actor," adds Dahlen. "To allow the clown to screw up and see where that goes. And I just think everyone should know, we're clowns with the look and feel of quality leather."
The New Bozena, in " Winter Is The Coldest Season, " at Cherry Lane Theater, 38 Commerce St.; in previews, opening Oct. 31, Tue.-Thur. 8 p.m., Fri.-Sat. ? & l O p.m., Sun. 7 p.m.; $25-27.50. 239-6200.