Duo Doppio consists of the the two physical comedians, Ari Rapkin and Summer Olsson. They have various experience in theater, circus skills, puppetry, improv, and clowning, and they bring all of this to the table during their collaborations. Both Rapkin and Olsson are graduates of the Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre. See their individual works:
Summer Olsson is a performer, writer, and designer. Summer loves a great story, a complicated character, or a funny wig. She is one half of the clown group Duo Doppio, and co-producer of the bi-annual Portland Puppet Slam.
Summer believes that quality of life is created by the arts, and is committed to cultural exchange and social change through theatre. She is currently on the teaching staff at Echo Theater Company. Summer holds a BFA in theater from the University of New Mexico and is a graduate of Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre.
Ari is especially inspired by collaborative creative movement – moving together with another person or people can have an amazing transformative power to break through barriers of perceived limitations. Gravity, balance, strength and imagination all compliment each other to achieve new shapes and meanings that didn’t seem possible before achieving them. This collaboration rings true socially and physically, having also worked for many years with non-profit social change organizations, where in a very different way I am also awed by the amazing transformative power of a group of people dedicated to collaboration for the purpose of making something beautiful.