Welcome Our New Summer Camp Director
Smirkus Camp is pleased to welcome William Forchion as our new Summer Camp Director. William is a seasoned circus professional, actor, writer and theologist. He is also a father to 3 children.
William has been involved with Smirkus for many years. He was a coach at Smirkus camp in 1996, a Big Top Tour coach in 2007 and 2008, and has since coached many young circus artists training for Smirkus, primarily on clowning, aerial straps & partner acrobatics.
William says, “I’ve been passionate about circus for over 30 years. Now is the time in my life to take the knowledge I have in circus and use it to lead and guide and share it more often.
I would like to see changes in what is “normal”. In the past there were always male roles and female roles in circus. The line needs to be blurred. We can show off the same diversity and uniqueness that we each bring to circus and I want to help find new spaces for each person to fit. I do believe the big change will come from the younger ones, and we can will instill this sense of belonging in them, and they will carry it through their lives.”
Learn more about William in his bio:
William was born and raised in Hammonton, New Jersey and is a graduate of Hammonton High School. He went on to graduate from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College and received a B.S. in Metaphysics from The American Institute of Holistic Theology.
William discovered the joy of performing while in high school where he participating in school musicals and the marching band. Mr. Forchion’s performing career has taken him around the world performing with many acclaimed companies such as Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, The Pickle Family Circus and Cirque du Soleil.
William’s acting and circus training made for a smooth transition to stunt work for film and television. As an actor and stuntman William has been highlighted in numerous television and film productions with appearances in US. Marshals, Cradle to the Grave, the Polar Express, and includes a featured role as Elston Howard in the ESPN mini-series “The Bronx is burning” and as a Prison Guard in the Netflix movie “Father of the year”.
As a collaborative filmmaker William has combined forces with musician Bethany Yeakle for his first short film “Angst”. He has also teamed with acclaimed blues guitarist Scott Ainslie and fellow filmmakers Morgan Faust and Christopher Llewellyn Reed for his award winning short film “Trial by fire”. His award winning short “Darwin’s Dream” is a result of his collaboration with international performing artist Mario Diamond.
William’s other film projects include “The Ride to Remember” a documentary about an annual charity motorcycle rally, through South Jersey, honoring public servants who have died in the line of duty and “Being Nimble” a documentary that follows 18 students at the New England Center for Circus Arts as they pursue their dream of being circus performers.
With the help of writing coach Suzanne Kingsbury and her Gateless writing program William transferred his performing skills into written words. William’s first book “Billosophy: meditations on GOD, movement and miracles”, which took a lifetime to write, was published in 2016. William then turned his writings into a one man show “Billosophy: life ~ circus ~ death” which premiered at the 2016 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. William’s works of poetry have been featured at the “Poem City” festival in Montpelier, VT. William published “Sacred & Sacrosanct: a collection of poems” in 2017. William is working on his most extensive writing project to date “#ApoemAday” writing a poem a day for one year.
In 2017 William made two trips to Turkmenistan as a U.S. State Department Cultural Exchange Ambassador representing Circus Arts.
When he is not writing or editing or otherwise producing film and television works in his Brattleboro, Vermont studio William does what he loves best and is dad to 3 beautiful children. William seeks every opportunity possible to pursue his mission to entertain, inspire, educate and innovate.