Seth Bloom, 49, Who Brought Laughter to the Rubble of War, Dies

Seth Bloom, the blue-haired clown and physical comedy virtuoso who helped outreach organizations in Afghanistan and other remote places stage circuses that roused smiles from children while also teaching them important life skills, including how to avoid land mines, died on Aug. 2 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He was 49.

Mr. Bloom died by suicide, said his wife, Christina Gelsone, with whom he performed in two-person clown shows around the world, including at the Big Apple Circus in New York City.

Based in Harlem, the duo, who performed as the Acrobuffos, were renowned for “Air Play,” a wordless one-hour show for children and families featuring balloons, giant swatches of silk and Styrofoam packing peanuts that floated around the theater.

Like his purple-haired wife, Mr. Bloom renounced garden-variety clown props — floppy shoes, honking horns, rubber chickens — for artistic comedy that blended physical tomfoolery with music and expressions of curiosity, wonder and love.

“Seth was like a jazz musician of physical comedy and clowning,” said David Kilpatrick, the director of education at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, which staged “Air Play” two years ago in one of its largest theaters. “He was clearly an extraordinary artist who leaned into a kind of connective, communal laughter that was really transformative.”

Mr. Bloom’s career, and his relationship with Ms. Gelsone, began in one of the world’s most humorless and unromantic places: Afghanistan in 2003, during the aftermath of the United States’ overthrow of the Taliban.