Mr. Murphy began his adventures as a professional acrobatic skier and made a chance detour into the performing arts when a local ballet company was in need of a male performer. Since then he has amused and amazed thousands of theatergoers across North America and Europe with his solo work and has been featured on SHOWTIME, appearead at THE JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL in Montreal and has had sold-out appearances at Broadway’s NEW VICTORY THEATER. Mr. Murphy lives in northern Vermont. www.murphclown.com
ALAKAZAM: The Human Knot
COMEDY. CONTORTION. DAREDEVIL.
A mix of traditional vaudeville, circus sideshow and twisted comedy, THE HUMAN KNOT is a self contained freak-show suitable for the whole family. ALAKAZAM, or Al Miller, is an international street, circus and corporate entertainer. He has won many Peoples Choice awards at street performing festivals around the world, performed for companies like Google, MTV and Coca Cola, and for celebraties such as Bruce Springsteen and Sting. www.thehumanknot.com
Melissa Knowles
Melissa K. Knowles is versatile to the extreme! She’s a juggler, aerialist, acrobat, hula hooper, stilter, hand-balancer, contortionist, musician, artist, and circus instructor. She is also “professionally tiny” and can often be found hiding in your locker or suitcase or being thrown high into the air by pretty much anyone. She has performed with a variety of circus companies most recently being Nimble Arts, Aerial Angels, Infinity Circus Productions, Boston Circus Guild, and Wunderle’s Big Top Adventures. She currently spends most of her time teaching and training hand to hand at the New England Center for Circus Arts.
Cavan & Jan Meese
Cavan Meese and Jan Monteagudo-Meese, perform concerts around New England. Red Wing Puppet Theater was created by Chuck Meese who performed professionally since the early seventies as an actor, puppeteer and musician.
Peter Gould
Half of Gould & Stearns, Clown Jewels of Vermont, about 4000 live performances (solo & duet) from Maine to California & Scotland to Chile, and a regular at the First Iteration of Vermont Vaudeville festivals, back in the 1980’s. Still here! Founder & director of “Get Thee to the Funnery” Shakespeare camps for the coolest NEK kids. Professor of meditation and other Fun Stuff at Brandeis University! Writer of novels for Young Adults. www.gettheetothefunnery.com
Wacky Chad
Super charged and ready for action, Wacky Chad!, aka Chad Deitz and his extreme pogo skills, charmingly funny jokes and antics got him on television shows like America’s Got Talent, Live! With Regis and Kelly, and Star King (Korea). His clowning around started in Ecuador at age 19 and has since made thousands of people laugh at schools, fairs & festivals, colleges and universities. He’s been voted as a fan favorite for his mix of hilarious stand up comedy and unusual tricks and stunts. He grew up in Syracuse, New York, in a family where jokes at the dinner table were a must. After graduating from college with a degree in television and radio, he spent six months working at Disney World in the prestigious Disney College Program. Chad plans on performing at more stand up comedy clubs and is currently creating his own documentary about the “Business of Happy”. BAM! wackychad.com
Sophia Cannizzaro
Sophia Cannizzaro, winner of the coveted Golden Barbie at the 2013 Glover Day, has been studying violin and piano since she was five. She’s a violinist with the Vermont Youth Orchestra, pianist with the Lake Region High School Jazz Band, fiddler at regional fiddle
contests and Irish sessions, and does a little of this and a little of that with Bread and Puppet Theater.
Amanda Huotari
Amanda Huotari is Executive Director of Celebration Barn Theater in South Paris, Maine. With a BFA in acting from Emerson College, she’s also studied physical theater at the Lecoq School in Paris, France and trained in Commedia dell’Arte with Antonia Fava in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Mandy spent 9 years touring Add Verb Production’s one woman show, The Thin Line. Her own solo show, The Soiree, is directed by Broadway’s Avner “The Eccentric” Eisenberg and has been featured at festivals across the US and beyond including Orlando Fringe Festival, The New York Clown-Theatre Festival and Teatro R101 in Bogota, Colombia. A 2012 tour of the her Colombian-American collaboration with Daniel Orrantia and Aaron Tucker, The Fabulous Problemas, received rave reviews in performances from Indiana to Florida and is continuing to tour. She currently teaches acting at Southern Maine Community College. www.amandahuotari.com
Fritz Grobe
Fritz Grobe is half of EepyBird, best known for their viral videos featuring the explosive combination of Coke and Mentos that have been seen over 100 million times. He has appeared on Letterman, the Today Show, Ellen, and Mythbusters, and performed live in London, Paris, Istanbul, Las Vegas, and more. Since 1991, Fritz has also toured internationally as a juggler and eccentric performer. He has won 5 gold medals at the International Jugglers Championships and held a world record for juggling way too many objects. Fritz was a lead actor and featured solo clown in the original cast of Birdhouse Factory, a touring Cirque du Soleil spinoff. He likes pancakes. www.eepybird.com
Noah Nielsen
Noah lives in Montpelier, Vermont and will tour with the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour this summer for his 4th year. He attended Smirkus Summer Camp for 3 years prior to being selected as a Big Top trouper. Specializing in diabolo and object manipulation, Noah has also performed Chinese pole, wall tramp, acrobatics, hoop diving, and unicycling under the big top lights. Noah will receive his Certificate in Sustainable Building & Design from Yestermorrow Design/Build School in May and will graduate from Montpelier High School in June. He has been admitted to École Nationale de Cirque in Montreal where he will train for a professional circus career and pursue a degree in Circus Studies beginning in August.