State of the Circus - April 2017

State Of The Circus

by the Geek Behind The Curtain

We are a third of the way through the year.  The weather is getting warmer, the trees are budding, and flowers are blooming (unless you are reading this from the southern hemisphere, in which case prepare yourselves because winter is coming).  This is a perfect time to give a quick update on what's been happening this year and what is looming on the horizon.

C2E2... The Return!

One of the largest comic and entertainment conventions in the country returned to Chicago from April 21st through the 23rd.  Two years ago this was the big kickoff for AI Circus as a company and it was great to make our grand return to the convention this year.  The plyra once again towered above the booths giving everyone a chance to see our performers in the air as well as on the ground.  Even better, we were able to treat all con goers to a free show every day on the main floor in Family HQ (no fire codes were broken this time, we swear).  If you managed to snap a photo of us at the show, please feel free to share!

 

Indiana Comic Con

April was quite a busy month for us as we returned to ICC for a full show on April 15th.  The crowd last year was absolutely amazing and this year was no different.  A loud and energetic group of people enjoying themselves is just what our performers need to do their best work.  Our thanks to everyone who came out and stayed long after the show was over to snap photos with the group and get autographs.  

On a related note, we give ourselves a pat on the back for drawing a bigger crowd than the Charlie Cox panel just before our show.  Bigger than Daredevil!  

Oh, and on a related-related note, some of us (nearly literally) ran into Charlie Cox behind scenes as we were loading in. A fine and friendly gentleman who was very understanding of the giant cart-o-circus we were pulling along.

For those playing the "Stars AI Circus Has Met" game at home, Charlie Cox joins last year's favorite Elijah Wood.

T-Shirts!  Get your special T-shirts!

Expanding the types of shirts we offer has been an ongoing goal for the last year but we wanted to do it properly.  Properly, in this case, means hiring a designer to create something that features a few of our acts with appropriately amusing text.  All of this work paid off and you (yes, YOU) can get one or all of them right now.  Wear them with pride.  When you see someone else wearing one, you can share a knowing glance and/or the secret club handshake.

Adorn your upper body with the Supreme Being, our Pole Princess, or the Merc With a Mouth while you still can!

What's Up at the Uptown Underground

Our regular monthly home here in Chicago continues in 2017 featuring new performers, new acts, and the debut of Mr. Digit.  Our next show will be May 19th and I think it may be our best title yet: "Not All Heroes Wear Pants".  This is our tribute to our favorite female characters and will be the last show before we take our summer break.  Let us abandon the pants as we welcome the wonderful warmth of the next few months!

Grab your tickets now  so you can get the best seats in the house. 

Coming Soon....

Gencon

 August 17-20.  We're all headed back to Indianapolis to be with our people and bringing the greatest show on infinite earths with us!  The event guides will be launching soon so roll a 20 on your initiative and get your tickets early!

Bat-Time. Bat-Channel.

For those who may have missed the previous post (or may be too lazy to click over and have a read), let me summarize:  

First performance!  Auditorium Theatre!  The Dark Knight!  Batman and Robin!  Popcorn spilled!  Harley and Joker!  Jaws dropping!  Roaming acrobatics!  Applause!  Bows taken!

All good?  Yes?  Good.

So we left off with the end of our first (EVER) performance prior to The Dark Knight showing but that was not our only performance that night.  Normally we would take our time and enjoy the moment but we had places to be.  That place just happened to be Links Hall annual THAW event at Block 37 in downtown Chicago.  THAW, for anyone who has never attended, is a five hour event featuring acts on multiple stages featuring performances of all different types.

This was my first time attending so I didn't know what to expect when we arrived.  Bryan and Tosha had been there earlier in the day for a tech run and setup.  What is a tech run?  It's making sure props and equipment will fit on the stage, marking the positions with tape, and giving the sound engineers a chance to find the music queues.  Considering what the act involved, it was super-ultra-mega important those tape lines be there.  

(Yes, that is foreshadowing.  Keep reading.)

After making a mad dash through traffic to make sure we arrived in time for our performers to touch up make-up (how on earth does the Joker keep his makeup from smearing all over, well, EVERYTHING when he's moving about?) and stretch, I had a bit of time to watch all the other acts.  

They were different, varied, and oh so very random.  A man wearing a diaper sitting on a toilet in the Thinking Man pose for 10 minutes?  Yep.  I found out later that was the Performance Art stage.  Elsewhere I heard screaming.  Lots of screaming.  In a separate room they had Scream Therapy happening.  That's what the sign said and I was perfectly content to trust the sign and not make sure for myself.  On the main stage there was a large dance troupe performing a choreographed set with more on the way.  

I am happy to say that THAW is a fantastic event that showcases all different types of performers here in the Chicago area.  And our act?  Was probably the most unique in terms of people having no idea what to expect.  

Our time slot was 9:01pm.  Having spent a long time with performers of all types I always assume that assigned times are more like guidelines and never actually line up.  At exactly 9pm the act before us finished and we were up.  I was stunned in place for a few seconds before being jerked back to reality.  We had just 60 seconds to get everything set up on stage.  In reality, it was only two items.  One was a chair.  The other was a giant knife board painted to look like a playing card.  

Remember the foreshadowing earlier?  Well when we were setting up the knife board to align with the marked pieces of tape Bryan whispers, "The other throwing lines are gone!"  I'm already pale to begin with so when I say I turned seven shades of pale you can picture someone going transparent.  This is where I am happy to say we have some amazing professionals who can adapt and overcome any issue.  There was no chance to fix this and they would just have to improvise.

Slinking back to join the rest of the audience I had a chance to understand what must have been going through their minds.  So I am going to describe the act in a way that probably matches what people were thinking:

"Oh, it's the Joker.  Is this going to be another dance number?  He has a bag with a big dollar sign on it and the music only plays when he opens it up... oh, he's juggling!  Those are some really amazing moves so I'm going to clap now.  This is different and, wait, is that Harley skipping on stage with a giant hammer?  It is!  HOLY CRAP she just jumped into his arms, did the splits, and he's spinning her around like it's nothing.  How on earth is he holding her above his head like that?  I'm just going to start clapping more now that I realized I need to close my jaw.  Joker seems to be using the chair to relax and watch as Harley does HOW IS SHE ABLE TO BEND HER BODY LIKE THAT?!  Is it possible for a spinal cord to bend that far backwards?  And how exactly is she lifting her body up with just one hand and turn around?  Going to just keep clapping at this point.  Joker keeps shaking his head in disapproval and is pulling her over to sit in the chair.  Right in front of the big wooden playing card.  Are those knives in his hand?  *THUNK*THUNK*THUNK* HE'S THROWING KNIVES!  ALL AROUND HER!  And now Harley has knives and she's throwing them at him while he flips and does handstands!  Back to Joker doing the same while she does the splits?!?  I think my hands are bruised from the clapping but I'm just going to keep doing that because holy hells that was amazing!"

Those throwing lines they removed?  They marked the places where they would be throwing knives at the other person so they would THUNK into the board with perfect accuracy.  Without those lines they were forced to wing it and make best guesses.  There was never any danger of them hitting one another but they wanted to make sure every throw went into the board.  As a testament to their abilities, 90% of the throws hit their mark.  

Meanwhile (AT THE LEGION OF DOOM... er, in the audience!) I had a chance to watch how the crowd was reacting.  Initially the crowd was spread all about the area watching all the stages.  After that first round of applause, people started to come over.  Once they saw Harley being held aloft in the air by Joker?  People came /running/ from around the room to get a better look.  When it was all said and done, the applause were loud and sustained.  The act following was two Drag Queens who started their act by saying, "How the hell are we supposed to follow that?"

Personal aside: I am very happy that the crowd was so entertained by our performance.  Their applause during the act and the people who came up afterwards to heap praise made it all worth while for Bryan and Tosha.  

For me, it was confirmation that the ideas we all came up with as a group were on the mark. Something unique, different, and entertaining all at once.  This was our first night of performances and it made me certain of one thing:  We have just begun and I am now certain fans everywhere are going to love the show.

Stay tuned and if you have a chance?  Come enjoy the show!

And here we... go

This all started with an idea nine months ago.  It is a complete accidental bit of symbolism really... Acrobatica Infiniti went from an idea to a full fledged performance in the same amount of time it takes a human child to be born.  (I make that distinction in case any Gnortian infiltrator units happen to be reading because everyone knows it takes a full sixteen months for a Gnort to grow in the vat pools.)  This past Thursday marked our first official performances as a company and the official "hold your breath and hope like hell people think this is as great as you are trying to make it" moment.

Our adventure starts at the Auditorium Theatre here in Chicago where they were continuing their "Made In Chicago" film series with a screening of The Dark Knight.  The theatre wanted to add something extra in the way of pre-show entertainment and asked if we might be able to help.  After a healthy does of JOYGASM (a mix of happy laughter and excited cackling while running in circles making Kermit arms) plans were made and we were set to deliver roaming entertainment they would never forget.

Right, enough backstory.  On to the events of the evening.  

One thing we could not know is exactly how people would react to what we were going to do.  Oh, we had ideas and guess.  And hope.  Lots and lots of hope!  There were all the people sitting around the lobby, chatting and munching their popcorn as two men dressed as Batman and Robin (our very own Tulga and Spring) appear.  You could see their smiles and almost hear their thoughts, "Oh look, they have people dressed as the characters for pictures."  

Suddenly Robin had jumped up and was standing on Batman's shoulders so he could wave and strike appropriately heroic poses while Batman kept walking about the people.  Popcorn munching stopped.  Hands bringing drinks to lips froze in mid motion.  Eyes widened a bit.  Some jaws dropped.  Standing in the back, I could only smile and finally breathe.  

That's when the phones came out and the cumulative flashes left me blind.  

Thirty seconds and a few wall bumps later, I could see Spring and Tulga grinning from ear to ear as they went fully into classic Adam West/Burt Ward-era character.  How often do you get to see Robin balancing on Batman's head using just one hand while waving to the crowd and shouting "Holy handstands, Batman!"?    Probably about as often as you have seen Harley swinging a giant mallet about while standing on the Joker's shoulders.  

Enter Bryan and Tosha as the aforementioned Harlequin and her purple-suited Puddin in just that very way.  Except every was so focused on the dynamic duo they didn't notice their approach from behind until they came running past.  Yes, running.  In full character.  Some popcorn was tossed in shock.

I'm told that people started forming a circle around our performers to get a better look but I have to truth their word on that part since my retinas were burned out by the second flurry of flashes going off.  Note to self: sunglasses!

This is what I loved most about the event.  No one had ever seen something like it.  Here was an up-front and personal circus performance where they had a chance to interact and have fun right alongside their favorite characters.  I may be biased... okay, I'm biased, but I have been a geek my entire life and a Batman fanboy just about as long.  My inner fan is why I laughed so hard when Bryan's Joker scowled at Tulga's Batman in every single group photo with fans.  Or when he and Tosha went out into the sitting crowd and managed to find the one person in the entire audience who was terrified of clowns.  

After an hour it was just about time for the movie to start but not before one last surprise.  

Out came the theatre director to welcome everyone to the show and invited our performers to come out and take a bow.  A circus bow, to be more precise.  Wait, before you open up another window to search what that means, I'll tell you because it's a bit different for every performer.  

Tosha and Bryan?  She ran into his arms, dropped in the splits, and he twirled her about like a staff before they struck a proper villainous pose and bowing.

Spring and Tulga followed by the later pressing the former above his head and folding him backwards into a perfect human hula hoop.  That he then hula hooped down to the ground.  

You may find these hard to picture in your mind.  Do not fear, we'll be sharing the video shortly.  No words of mine will do them justice.  

And that was the punctuation to the first event of our debut night.  Yes, the first.  You may have noticed at the start of this post I said "performances".  Entertaining our fellow Batman fans was just the start to our night.  A few hours later we were back on stage...

How does the story end?  What will our heroes (or villains) do next?  Find out next time.  Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.