|
 |
ALEX THE JESTER (12/27 Vaudeville; 12/28 Phyzkidz; 12/28 Vaudeville)
This endearing character keeps his audience laughing at a non-stop stream of surprises, all presented in the imaginary language "Grammelot" -- a strange sounding gibberish that slips between silly and soulful.
Alex has performed at theaters from Alaska to Arizona, on Showtime, The Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal, The World Performance Festival in Japan, The Singapore Arts Festival and international events in four continents. His work has been called "Outrageous, off beat and full of surprises” by The New Zealand Herald.
AMANDA CROCKETT (12/30 Vaudeville; New Year's Eve)
Amanda’s work combines the clown’s brilliance with high-level acrobatic, aerial and object manipulation skills.
Amanda Crockett is a performer of the classic and comedic who has charmed and astounded audiences for the past 20 years in Mexico, Australia, across Europe and all over the United States as a trapeze artist, clown, acrobat, juggler, and actress. Amanda has performed in all types of venues from ballrooms to street festivals and large theaters to intimate cabarets.
AVNER THE ECCENTRIC (New Year's Eve)
Avner lives in a world that is a celebration of the amazing cussedness of ordinary things. He battles his environment, solving problems in ways that have to be seen to be believed.
Avner Eisenberg has toured his unique blend of clowning, magic and physical comedy internationally for the past fourteen years, including two sold-out runs on Broadway. Avner is well known to audiences for his endearing portrayal of the Jewel, the scene-stealing holy man in The Jewel of the Nile, co-starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. He was also featured in the film Brenda Starr and has been seen on television on Webster and Mathnet. In 1987, Avner co-starred in Lincoln Center’s production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, and he returned to Broadway in 1989 in a principal role in Ghetto. He has been featured in numerous festivals and television specials throughout the world.
JAN DAMM (12/27 Phyzkidz; 12/28 Vaudeville)
Jan Damm combines feats of dexterous derring-do with winning charm and physical wit. Riotous and rousing!
Raised in Manchester, Maine, Jan began performing professional juggling shows at age 12. He attended Bard College, where he took several days off from running the school's Surrealist Circus to jot down an economics thesis. However, after studying with Avner Eisenberg and Julie Goell, Jan knew his future was on the stage. He once won 5 consecutive college debate rounds in clown makeup. Having completed improbable street performing tours of Canada and Europe, Jan currently works and trains at the San Francisco Circus Center.
LELAND FAULKNER (Cabaret; New Year's Eve)
Leland conjures shadow puppets with his hands, brings origami to life, and amazes audiences all over the world with his original blend of performance styles.
Leland Faulkner is a performer, director and teacher. His professional theatre training began in 1973 with Tony Montanaro the acclaimed master mime and actor. This apprenticeship evolved from student, to a three year partnership, finally manifesting as a lifelong mentorship and continuing spiritual legacy. Leland Faulkner builds on his life experiences, to create an array of characters, sketches, a host of original theatrical productions, and short films.
JULIE GOELL (Cabaret; 12/28 Phyzkidz)
You'll never know what to expect next from this versatile performer, who combines the best in puppetry, commedia dell'arte and "mopera" with unique character comedy.
Residing in Rome for a decade in the 80’s, Julie toured as a clown with “I Gesti” company and taught physical comedy skills with Roy Bosier at Teatro Studio. She toured her live jazz show, “Impromptu,” in Switzerland, worked in the circus for a year in “Schaubude”, and toured Italy singing jazz with the Big Band of Testaccio. In the United States Ms. Goell acted in “Ghetto” on Broadway, directed several productions in New York, and Commedia Dell’Arte for Spoleto Festival and Epcott Center in Orlando. Most recently, Ms. Goell was a Henson Foundation supported Artist-in-Residence at University of Connecticut Puppet Arts Program.
TIM HOLLAND (12/28 Phykidz; 12/28 Vaudeville; 12/29 Phykidz)
Through Cheap Trickery and Genuine Magic, master ventriloquist, Tim Holland convinces the audience of the dangers inherent in the taming of ferocious and uncooperative puppets. Improvising on the spot dialougue, this fast paced, physical comedy brings the age-old circus spectacle of the Lion Tamer to any venue.
Tim Holland has been professionally entertaining for nearly a decade. His performing adventures have taken him internationally to venues in Europe, Asia and Australia. He has performed for the President of Singapore, trained with masters of comedy and has trained a rubber-chicken to dance the can-can.
KAREN MONTANARO (12/29 Vaudeville; 12/30 Phykidz)
Karen is a one-woman tour de force and a triumph of athleticism, artistry and imagination. She blends the art forms of mime and dance to create theater with rare physical and emotional power.
Karen Montanaro received her early dance training at the Cantarella School of Dance with Madeline Cantarella Culpo and with Andrea Stark, a former director of the Ram Island Dance Company. She also studied on scholarship with the Joffrey School of Ballet and has danced professionally with the Ohio Ballet and the Darmstadt Opera Ballet in Germany. For the past 15 years, she collaborated and performed extensively with her late husband, world renowned mime and performing artist, Tony Montanaro. She was the "word-smith" for Mr. Montanaro’s book Mime Spoken Here published in 1995.
SARAH-JANE MOODY (12/30 Vaudeville; New Year's Eve)
Sarah-Jane, a.k.a. Cha Chi the Muck, is a clown who brings sweetness and laughter to every audience, leaving them with a tune in their head and a sense of magic all around.
Sarah-Jane is a skillful teacher of clown, juggling, theatrical improvisation, puppet making, mask making, object manipulation, magic, music, and choreography. She has performed in this country, Latin America, Australia and China. Sarah-Jane is a graduate of the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre. Training in clown includes master teachers Avner Eisenberg, Ronlin Foreman, Jeff Raz, Moshe Cohen, Gregor Paslawsky, and Julie Goell among others.
NORMAN NG (Cabaret; 12/29 Phyzkidz; New Year's Eve)
Norman is known for bringing a fresh and dynamic energy to his shows, involving the audience in a conversation and getting them to react in ways they never thought they could. He swings stuff, smashes stuff, and makes hundreds of people suspend their disbelief with every show.
Norman Ng (Pronounced "ing") has been performing his exciting and unique brand of magic throughout the US for over 17 years. He has performed for thousands of audiences of all ages from the New York Hilton Hotel, to the World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood, California, as well as on hundreds of college campuses, fairs, festivals, and corporate events nationwide.
DONNA PENOYER as CARMEN BANANA
(12/27 Vaudeville; 12/28 Phyzkidz; 12/28 Vaudeville; 12/29 Vaudeville)
Carmen Banana is one of the bigger-than-life alter egos of stiltwalker Donna Penoyer. Loaded with personality, humor, a fabulously beautiful costume, and all the right moves, the nine-foot-tall Carmen is the “hostess with the mostest” who will welcome the crowd and get the fun rolling before the show has even begun.
Donna has just celebrated her ten-year anniversary as a professional stiltwalker. Based in Pittsburgh but traveling widely, she performs at corporate events, festivals, and theatrical happenings of all kinds. Approaching stiltwalking from an acting background, she has developed a variety of endearing personas over the years and has studied dance, voice, clowning, and Commedia dell’Arte with a number of venerable teachers, including Avner Eisenberg and Julie Goell.
REIFER AND SACCONE (Cabaret - Jackie only; 12/29 Vaudeville)
Jackie Reifer and John Saccone perform quirky and irresistible characters that will charm your heart, including excerpts from “Reifer Madness,” off-beat ruminations on life’s more unusual moments.
This duo met at the Celebration Barn in 1980 and toured for five years with Tony Montanaro’s Celebration Theatre Ensemble. They were founding members of the Theater of Fantasy in Portland, guest artists with Portland Ballet Company, and are on the Maine Touring Artists Roster.
DREW RICHARDSON (12/27 Vaudeville; 12/28 Phyzkidz; 12/29 Vaudeville)
Drew the Dramatic Fool combines visual comedy, circus skills, and magic with a foolish persona caught up in dramatic situations.
Drew‘s life-long personal tension between drama and foolishness gelled while studying Theatrical Clowning under the tutelage of John Towsen at Ohio University. Left speechless after his academic achievement, Drew continued his studies with Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Drew taught Dramatic Foolery workshops at such formerly venerable institutions as the University of Michigan, Roosevelt University, Columbia College, and The Art Institute of Chicago. For two years, Drew served as Artist in Residence for the Chicago Park District and Free Street Theatre, where he combined circus skills with literacy exercises
JACOB SHARPE (12/27 Vaudeville; 12/29 Phykidz; 12/30 Vaudeville)
Jacob developed his incredible diablo skills while on tour with Circus Smirkus. His routines leave audience breathless!
A native of Massachusetts, Jacob developed his circus skills, specializing in diablo, from attending Circus Smirkus camp and being on tour with them since 2004. Jacob has performed his juggling, diablos, and circus skills in the US, England, Canada and France.
MICHAEL LANE TRAUTMAN
(12/29 Phyzkidz; 12/30 Vaudeville)
Michael Lane Trautman has been described as looking like a "cross between Mr. Rogers and Mick Jagger" by the Calgary Herald and peforming as a "hilarious stand-up mime" by the Calgary Sun.
Michael Lane Trautman has been performing around the world since 1976. He has performed in such prestigious venues as the New York International Festival of Clown Theatre, Festival D’Ete in Quebec, the General Jackson Showboat at Opryland USA, the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He was featured on “WOW! The Most Awesome Acts on Earth,” and ABC-TV special, and “The Statler Brothers Show” on TNN. Michael has also been the featured clown in the touring production of The Big Apple Circus Stage Show.
TWO (12/28 Vaudeville; 12/29 Vaudeville; 12/30 Phyzkidz)
Jason and Matthew Tardy have created a high energy performance that features everything from high-tech juggling and fire eating to physical comedy and full body contortions, all to upbeat original music.
Two have amazed audiences across the country and abroad, including performances in the Bahamas, at the International Juggling Festival, and the White House. They have also been featured on the television programs “CBS Sunday Morning” and “Inside Edition.
YO-YO PEOPLE (12/27 Phyzkidz; 12/27 Vaudeville; 12/29 Vaudeville)
Consummate skill and deft timing to swingin' music coupled with high energy and humor make the Yo-Yo People a favorite for every age.
Yo-Yo People are a husband and wife team, John and Rebecaa Higby. John first started performing as a teenager, while living and attending school in Colorado. His first big break was at the Denver Busker Festival. Soon John was performing for U.S. troops abroad, stationed in Turkey, Italy and Spain, while busker festivals took him all over Canada, Singapore & Japan. Rebecca got a degree in Elementary Education & Human Development from Connecticut College. She met John in 2001 and was easily incorporated into his show.
|
|
