BEIRUT — The Middle East's first school for street theater, the International Institute for Very Very Serious Studies (IIVVSS), opened its doors Sept. 1 in Beirut, specializing in clowning. Most people have been exposed to the discipline, but they remain unaware of the scholarship, history, social commentary and satire surrounding it.
“[Saying] ‘I want to be a clown’ means you want to be a figure who brings humor to society,” Giovanni Fusetti, a self-described interdisciplinary fool, told Al-Monitor. “It is very profound, but it is very hard, and of course you need to learn how to do it.”