New Bedford Clown School to Bring Smiles to SouthCoast Hospitals

Elaine Vercellone has been a professional clown since 1987. She loves teaching the art of clowning to both kids and adults, and operates a school for would-be clowns in New Bedford called The Smile Factory, located at 88 Hatch Street.

While volunteering at St. Luke's Hospital, Vercellone was approached by the volunteer coordinator, who told her there were no clowns at the Southcoast Health hospitals and they really needed a volunteer clown troupe.

Vercellone already teaches the art of clowning to medical students in Boston, and welcomed the idea of getting a clown troupe started here. She stopped by Townsquare Sunday to give us an update.

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She is currently teaching an eight-week course on "hospital clowning" to six students.

"This is the first time I've taught an adult class here in New Bedford, and the results have been phenomenal," Vercellone said. "This class is setting the bar so high; they want to volunteer, they want to clown around and they want to make people smile."

It was surprising to learn that "hospital clowning" is different from regular clowning.

"Hospital clowning is a lot softer presentation," Vercellone said. "First, we knock on the door and ask if they would like a visit. The visit will last for just five to eight minutes, talking with the patient and telling them jokes they can share with others, leave them a souvenir and then move on to the next room."

Vercellone said the course she's teaching has gone so well, she's hoping to repeat it every 10 weeks or so to add to the hospital clown troupe to be tentatively know as "The Southcoast Funny Bones."

"My hope is that this will be my legacy," Vercellone said. "If I can give the hospitals here a clown troupe that will live on with fun people who can learn how to be funny to others, I think that's a wonderful legacy to leave."

The complete interview with Elaine Vercellone can be heard here:

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