United for Peace and Justice, Today's Protestors are Mature, Artful, and Productive

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But acts of creative street theater stole the show, with creative expressions suggesting that America's activist movement may have come of age.

Running helter-skelter down side streets perpendicular to the protest thoroughfare, the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army played a virtual game of freeze tag with journalists and photographers before suddenly retreating in chaotic fashion. They wore dirty green army fatigues, fake passes identifying them as Republican delegates to the convention, and ridiculous clown paint on their faces.

'Our hero, Dubya, is in town for the Republican National Clown Convention, so we've got our credentials,' said Larry, a leader of the Clown Army. 'We're the Big Top delegation, from right between Kansas and Missouri. We're ready. We're just as big clowns as they are.'

Suddenly Larry moved out of character. 'We're trying to find different ways to express dissent in the public space, with satire and with irony. We're trying to move in ways that are different and create a subculture, because I think it's important to create a culture instead of just consuming it.'

On 34th Street after the march had passed Madison Square Garden, members of the Bond Street Theatre troupe appeared walking high on stilts, adorned in classy business suits and smoking huge cigars. Only the plastic snouts on their faces gave away their identities as greedy politicians.

Anti-Bush protestors and religious-right counter activists, alike, couldn't help but laugh at their hilarious antics as Michael McGuigan revealed his cigar to be plastic and made in China. 'What we're aiming for is a strong visual impact, which is something that everyone can relate to right away,' said Joanna Sherman, artistic director of Bond Street Theatre. 'If people are given a visual spectacle, they will latch onto it, unlike just words on paper,' echoed Megan Grey.

'The element of humor is a distinctly human thing and it helps you see things from another angle,' McGuigan summed it all up. 'That sense of humor and ability to be creative is a way to solve the biggest problems in the world. We got a lot of problems, and no one is solving them very creatively.'

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