Our founder, Simon Neale, died at home on Thursday, May 9th, 2019.

He was 58 years old. Father, brother, uncle, son, lover, friend, teacher, artist, carpenter, story-teller, merry-maker, and clown.

Oh, what a clown: he brought light, and song, and laughter into our lives. He brought British Panto to the Pacific Northwest. He was the Widow Twankey and the Sherriff of Nottingham, the Big Bad Wolf, and a rather shapely Fairy Godmother in a pink tu-tu. He was Matches the Clown, and a Wrong-Way clown: he distributed cool water to the over-heated on a hot parade day.

He was a genius Carpenter, a solver of problems, a Hanger of Doors.

Simon had a way with welcoming: he was the Host-with-the-Most, a natural Emcee, he could welcome anyone into our group and our audiences felt it too. He had an easy smile, a kind word, and a big hearty laugh, and we will miss our Simon all of our days.