Business & Tech

Montgomery Woman Likes to Clown Around

Penny Halder runs Granny Grace Productions, where she portrays a clown called Granny Grace and her newest character, Silly Sophie Science.

Montgomery resident Penny Halder has been a performer her entire life.

As a child, she would round up the kids in her neighborhood to put on shows for their moms and dads.

“I used the Beacon-News to shred it and make into Hawaiian skirts,” Halder, 61, said. “The parents would come over and pay 10 or 20 cents to see our little show.”

These days, through her business, Granny Grace Productions, Halder portrays both a clown called Granny Grace and her newest character, Silly Sophie Science. She performs in the Chicago western suburbs at parties, preschools, libraries and churches.

The mother of three grown sons has long had a passion for children.

Halder has served as a Sunday School teacher, Awana leader, school volunteer, and worked in child evangelism as a Good News Club leader.

She previously worked as a children’s bereavement director at Conley Funeral Home, and was a volunteer and speaker for Fox Valley Hospice.

At the funeral home, her favorite prop was a magic coloring book.

“I used it help the kids talk about their feelings,” Halder said.

Clowning piqued her interest, and soon she was enrolled at the Merry Hearts Clown School in Yorkville. She graduated in 2005, and began Granny Grace Productions in 2007, writing, producing and performing her own original custom shows for kids.

“When kids see Granny Grace coming, it’s like (there is) a rockstar: ‘Granny Grace is here, Granny Grace is here.’ I can give a 45 minute program, sometimes an hour program, and keep the children interested the whole time,” Halder said.

She said her Granny Grace character is named for her “strong faith.”

“I felt the Lord was leading me to do this and gave me grace to do this and I wanted to have a name that would honor that,” she said.

She enjoys playing an older clown.

“I loved the idea of being a granny,” she said. “I never had a grandma in my life like this. I never baked cookies with my grandma. So I decided to be a granny clown and to be that kind of person to as many kids as I possibly could.”

While most children enjoy Granny Grace, Halder does not dispel the notion that some kids have a fear of clowns.

“Only a handful have been so scared that they’ve run away and cried,” she said. “But I’ve learned how to work with children. And I use very granny-like makeup and I don’t use a wig anymore, so I’m not that scary to the kids.”

Through her character Silly Sophie Science, Halder entertains students with science demonstrations.

Halder has recently put her show on a DVD, at the suggestion of a friend. In the production “What Clowns Like,” she performs with five of her grandchildren in front of a live audience.

Clowning keeps Halder busy and she loves it.

“The responses of the children are just amazing,” she said. “I love to hear them laugh.”

For more information about Halder and Granny Grace Productions, click here.

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