Ron Kelley is a saxophonist. As a young adult he toured with the Bread and Puppet Theater and led a New Orleans style jazz band in New York City. He was the band leader at the Bread and Puppet Domestic Resurrection Circus for 20 years. He recently retired from his job as a music educator where he taught middle school band, vocal music, samba band, and jazz band and is now enjoying playing in a variety of bands throughout Vermont and beyond.
Winter Tour Success!
The Vermont Vaudeville 2014 Winter Tour is over. Catch us next on May 9th & 10th at the Hardwick Town House in Hardwick, Vermont.
Featured in the Brattleboro Reformer
“BRATTLEBORO — Winter storm warning: After four years of stirring up crowds in and around the Hardwick area, Vermont Vaudeville has busted loose and is headed our way.
As part of its first statewide tour, this troupe, which combines the old-school, traveling Vaudeville circuit entertainment with new and cutting-edge talents, tricks and techniques, is coming to two local venues this week…”
View article
Rave Reviews from the Road
Vermont Vaudeville had a fantastic weekend of shows in Middlebury and Bennington!
“A thoroughly winning show chock full of talent and skill. Charming and hilarious, Vermont Vaudeville will warm the cockles of even the coldest heart. “
–Town Hall Theater, Middlebury
“Vermont Vaudeville is an inventive, hilarious evening of fun for the whole family. These talented performers put a delightful new spin on a nearly extinct theatrical form.”
– Oldcastle Theatre Company, Bennington
Winter Tour Featured in Seven Days
By Pamela Polston
Based in Hardwick, Vermont Vaudeville makes the most of its rural residence. On its website, a stylized logo is adorned with a cow, a classic cupola’d town hall, an NEK sign, a snowflake, a thermometer indicating a very low temp, and a jagged mountain skyline. But the troupe’s devotion to place doesn’t end with art. Justin Lander and Rose Friedman — partners in life as well as onstage, and alums of the Bread and Puppet Theater — sit on the board of the Hardwick Town House, where they have performed for the past five years and have contributed to venue upgrades. “We now have lights and a soundboard,” Lander notes with satisfaction.
Full article: http://www.7dvt.com/2014vermont-vaudeville-launches-statewide-tour
We’re going on TOUR!
This winter, Vermont Vaudeville is touring our unique brand of cutting-edge variety entertainment all over the Green Mountain State. This production will deliver a feeling that other entertainment just can’t match, combining the spectacle of acrobatics and juggling, the energy of live music, and the spontaneity of crowd interaction. This tour is supported in part by an award from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Winter Tour Sponsored by VPR
We are pleased to announce that Vermont Public Radio is a media sponsor for our 2014 Winter Tour! Listen for Vermont Vaudeville announcements on air in early February.
Brin Schoellkopf
Brin lives in Warren Vermont and is 16 years old. He is a junior at Harwood Union High School. This coming summer will be his 4th season touring with Circus Smirkus. Brin has been doing circus for many years. He starting as an acrobat taking gymnastics classes since he was very young. He then attended the Circus Smirkus summer camp for 4 years before being accepted into the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour in 2011. For the past 4 years, he has been performing in trampoline, acrobatics, juggling, hoop diving and slack line, but tight wire is his area of expertise. Brin’s plans are to audition for the National Circus School in Montreal as well as the Quebec Circus School where he will hopefully be able to pursue his dreams of becoming a circus performer.
Michael Trautman
Variously identified as a visual comic, performance artist, new vaudevillian, mime (gasp), physical comedian, storyteller, magician, and fool, Michael claims only to be a clown…and not a very traditional clown at that. He has appeared in such prestigious venues as the New York International Festival of Clown Theater, 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, an ABC Television Special, and The Statler Brothers Show on TNN. The list just keeps going! www.michaeltrautman.com