Senior Zach Pletcher is not your average teenager in the work force.  He does not make a living at a fast food joint or a clothing store, mindlessly standing in front of a cash register.   He does not show up to work wearing a muted company uniform. Instead, he wears extra-large size 12 red and yellow tennis shoes and a bright red clown nose.

It was the summer before Pletcher’s junior year when the owner of a party planning company, Cindie Perry, came to local Highland Village theater Studio B looking for party entertainers.  A group of interested kids, including Pletcher, went off with Perry for training and classes on how to morph themselves into various characters, magicians, balloon artists and face painters. 

“It started off with a lot of us,” Pletcher said. “But it eventually weeded out to me and a few others.”

Senior Miranda Hamilton, a friend of Pletcher, also got a job as a party entertainer.

“I love performing and I love children, and it’s just a way to put it all together that is creative and fun,” Hamilton said.

After spending a little over a month mastering the art of card tricks and memorizing the many intricate knots for a variety of balloon animals, Pletcher was ready to begin.

When first starting out as a junior party entertainer, Pletcher performed at as many as four parties a week.  These are usually children’s house parties in the DFW area, but there have been a few exceptions, including performing as a clown for outside linebacker Demarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys.

It was October 2011 at Ware’s 2-year-old son’s birthday party at the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. Pletcher was dressed in his signature clown outfit: red Converse with bright orange knee socks, a tie dye shirt, and rainbow suspenders. He tied the whole look together with long baggy red shorts, which start at the hip and go all the way down to the middle of his calf. According to Pletcher, they are “the most gangster shorts you will ever find.”  

There were monkey shows, professional jugglers, magic shows, face painters and clowns that filled the area of the Pumpkin Patch. Pletcher made balloon animals for the little kids while handing out apple juice and cotton candy with the birthday boy’s face plastered on the wrapper.

Though he is usually dressed as “Spike the Clown” when entertaining at parties, Pletcher has transformed himself into various other characters like superheroes, pirates and even Harry Potter.

“At parties, I usually do a 30 minute magic show, and then some singing and dancing, like the Hokey-Pokey or the Cha Cha Slide,” Pletcher said.  “Then I will make balloon animals for the rest of the time.”

Hamilton has taken notice of Pletcher’s enthusiasm for children and entertaining.

“Zach is hilarious,” Hamilton said. “He is great with kids. If you give him a character, he goes full out on it. He really makes the kids believe that when he is playing a character, he is that character.”

Pletcher was recently promoted from a junior entertainer to a professional party entertainer, which will require more responsibility and more hours.

Through all of the chaos, Pletcher still finds time to participate in theater in school and in the community. As of now, he is preparing for the school’s UIL One-Act Play for advanced theater.

“I’m a theater kid,” Zach said. “Performance is a lifestyle.”

When he is not working at parties or preparing for shows, Pletcher works on Friday nights as a clown making balloon animals at CiCi’s Pizza from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“It’s fun and I enjoy what I do,” Pletcher said. “I think I’ve become a better entertainer.  You have to deal with twenty screaming kids sometimes and keep their attention.  You do what you’ve got to do.”

Pletcher says his passion for performing in front of large audiences, including children, has taken him very far.

“You’ve got to be outside your bubble,” Pletcher said.  “You have to be able to be different characters, and you can’t be afraid to wear tights.”