Press Clippings

JulieGoell.com
Commedia della Basque was directed by Julie Goell and developed in collaboration with award-winning Basque juggler, Iman Lizarazu. It is a poetic tale about a clown at war with sleep. In the effort to fall asleep this Pierrot conceives unlikely strategies to exhaust herself. What ensues is a wild series of bed-time tasks from juggling pillow feathers to a Flamenco ballet with seven rings, a pirate tale atop a rola bola and a tango with Max, the clothes valet. “Commedia della Basque” has brought audiences to their feet from California to Maine to Marakesh.

European Weekly
My favorite act of the evening was the incredibly talented Iman Lizarazu, a French Basque artist whose hair is more charismatic than most people’s whole personalities. Lizarazu combines pantomime, juggling, dance (and a gorgeously radiant smile) into a silent yet utterly captivating performance that sparkles with a graceful intelligence.

Txikilike
Santa Cruz resident Iman Lizarazu, whose life reads like a character from a fanciful French fable. She is a photographer, a painter, a conceptual artist and a vaudeville performer. She’s even a singer, though she admits she can’t sing very well, but does it anyway.

But that’s not even the interesting part.

She was born and reared in the Basque region between France and Spain in a family of winemakers, but also lived in Moscow as a teen, as her father was artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet. She attended art school in Dresden and Berlin, studied mime with Marcel Marceau in Paris and — you gotta be kidding me — even earned a doctorate in astrophysics from the Max Planck Institute in Munich.

She speaks English, French, Russian, German and her native tongue, Euskara. She studies circus arts, flamenco and dance. She’s performed all over the world from festivals to refugee camps. And she’s performing on Saturday in the European-style varieté show called "Three of a Kind" with clown/comedian Hacki and bubbleman Tom Noddy.

Ikasbil (Basque Review)
Iman Lizarazu, artista poliedrikoa Guztiok dugu zerbait berezia, eta neurri batean, guztiok gara bakar, are Iman Lizarazu, zeren arau guztien eta definizio guztien gainetik, esan daiteke bera are bakarrago dela. Euskal Herrian sortu eta hazi zen, ardogile zen sendi batean. Baina, aitak Bolshoi Baleta zuzentzen zuen Moskun, eta han ere hazi zen neska. Berlinen ere bizi izan zen arte-ikasle garaian, eta Parisen mimo ikasten ibili zen Marcel Marceau handi eta mitikoarekin, eta Munichen zer lortuko eta, Municheko Max Planck Institutuan Astrofisika Doktore egitea. Wallace Bain kazetariaren eskutik emakume ikusgarri honen berri izango dugu; Santa Cruz Sentinel egunkaritik hartu eta laburtu dugu ondoren doakizuena

Director's Notes Julie Goell

Celebration Barn Theater Performance

During three subsequent Barn intensives Iman crafted and showcased the solo work you will see tonight. She evolved a clown character both charming and unpredictable: an optimist, a petulant child with A.D.D., an incurable neatnik, an ardent lover, a physicist and a trickster. Her clown inhabits a sparse bed-sit where odd things happen. Returning home with a goody bag of sleep aids, she battles insomnia by creating a series of diversions. Finally, after a busy nights' sleep she awakens the attentions of Max, an imaginary lover, stealing his heart with her extraordinary antics.