BRATTLEBORO-A new circus show is launching - and Brattleboro audiences will get to see it before the tour begins.
"Circus Springboard: Thank you for Waiting" begins on Saturday, April 19, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 20, at 3 p.m. in conjunction with World Circus Day.
World Circus Day, declared by Her Royal Princess Stephanie of Monaco to be celebrated annually on the third Saturday in April, is a worldwide event that recognizes and promotes the art of circus, paying tribute to circus performers and workers while highlighting the cultural and social importance of this artistic tradition.
At the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA), the day also marks the first showing of the Circus Springboard tour. The performers are soon-to-be graduates of the school's three-year, full-time ProTrack program, from which previous graduates went on to contracts with Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Bros, The 7 Fingers, as well as on Broadway and in cabarets around the world. Local audiences get to see these artists first.
"Circus Springboard matches the artists with a leading American circus director," NECCA co-founder Serenity Smith Forchion said in a news release. "Our goal is to create a fully new, theatrically devised production, giving the students authentic professional experience of creating, rehearsing, performing and touring."
ProTrack Program Director Elena Day shares that this year's director is a local circus artist, Brattleboro's Allison McDermott. Day called McDermott "a master of weaving story, movement, and emotion into performances that break boundaries and expand what circus can be."
McDermott was hired after a nationwide search and countless interviews with directing applicants. She is a 2013 graduate of NECCA's ProTrack program and has been writing, choreographing, and directing work for Oddfellows Playhouse, Artfarm, The Children's Circus of Middletown, Thrive Movement Studio, and Air Temple Arts.
Thank You For Waiting is a modern circus tale of seven strangers stuck together in a perpetual waiting room. Faced with endless monotony, they decide to stop waiting their turn and instead turn their world (and chairs) upside down.
Through aerial feats, acrobatic expression, and comedy, Thank You for Waiting takes the audience on a journey from the mundane waiting room of yesterday to a larger-than-life, circus world of magical realism.
The international cast are Camille Echeverri, Emma Maines, Harper Hayes, Paxton Asher, Eliana Perlmutter, Esther van de Lagemaat, and Avery Ucker as Agathé, the clown guide throughout the glorious mayhem.
Tickets are $15-$35 for this family friendly show at necenterforcircusarts.org/performances.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.