Volume 2, No. 22. November 26, 2002
IAAPA Report
Mime your
business
The characters may
change—and, boy! do we mean characters—but a tradition is developing
on the eve of IAAPA, thanks to Michael Getlan’s penchant for clowning and
caring in equal doses. For the second straight year, Getlan of Amusement Consultants
assembled a team of talent to perform at Give Kids The World Village in Kissimmee,
Florida, on the Sunday before the IAAPA Trade Show.
“I will probably do it every year we’re ever in Orlando,” said
Getlan, a man who draws an almost transparent line between his persona as a
clown and his own personality. “I’ve made Give Kids The World my personal
charity and I try to give them whatever I can.”
This year he gave them another troupe of amateur clowns who wowed the children
and their volunteer escorts, all unaware the group—Kelven Tan, deputy director
of events at Sentosa Development Corporation in Singapore; Gena Romano, president
of Nellie Bly Amusement Park in Brooklyn, New York; and Denise Weston, director
of imagination for Creative Kingdoms—rehearsed for the first time just
that afternoon.
Whereas last year Getlan was joined by novices Tan and Ben Jones, this year’s
additions were experienced showwomen. Romano has acted in children’s theater,
presents puppet shows at her park and has taken clown classes with Getlan. Weston,
whose father was a clown, was a professional dancer after college and, because
of her pre-amusement industry experience working with deaf children, performed
pantomime. The women brought a variety of talent that supplemented Tan, reprising
his role from last year as a “shy friend” transforming into Ouch the
Clown, and Getlan the “jack of all trades,” as he described himself.
“I do everything very, very badly.”
For Romano, the afternoon rehearsal was one of the event’s highlights.
“The best part was spending the day with those three. I was in my element,
being with goofy people just like me.” Weston asserts the four are quadruplets
separated at birth. “I always look forward to the IAAPA Show, but never
as much as this year because I knew I would be doing this,” she said.
She spoke while still wearing her white face, the now-emptied theater still
echoing the show’s big finale—a belly-laughing competition among members
of the audience. “This is what we do,” Weston said, referring to her
day job creating amusement venues. “I could sign some really great deals
this week and it won’t compare with the deal of making these kids do belly
laughs.”
©2002, Minton Enterprises
LLC
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