July 14–15
The old circus with its unhappy elephants and shady sideshows is giving way to creative
crowd-pleasing reimagined, showcased this month in the Valley's first circus arts festival, CIRQUE IT! This three-day extravaganza, drawing on both internationally touring artists and local acts, is a collaborative effort by Southside Bethlehem arts organizations Zoellner Arts Center, Touchstone Theatre and ArtsQuest, with free and low-cost shows at three locations.
On the South Bethlehem Greenway, you'll find Jakopa's Punch Processional from Touchstone, a musical series of encounters with puppets, an aerialist and more. The international AcroBuffos transform the stage at Zoellner with Air Play, a surreal experience of billowing, fluttering fabric and other airborne items. In the Musikfest Café, Valley-based Atlas Circus Company displays acrobatics, clowning and circus arts to tell a story in the silent film tradition.
As undergrads at Muhlenberg, Noah Dach and Henry Evans created what would become Atlas Circus Company. “Everyone will tell you a different definition of what they think circus is,” Evans says, “but in my opinion that definition is limitless. Circus can tell stories, evoke emotion, entertain, make you laugh, make you cry, fight for a cause, educate and, most importantly, provide an experience.”
The troupe's homage to early slapstick evokes masters of physical comedy like Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Fatty Arbuckle. “Telling a story through only movement is not an easy feat,” Evans admits, “but we have done it before and we will do it again.”
Experience a new generation of circus artists as they redefine this weird and wonderful form.
$10 | Fri.: 8 p.m.; Sat.: 11 a.m. | Musikfest Café at SteelStacks | 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem | 610.332.3378 | steelstacks.org | atlascircus.com
