Author Archives: Circus Smirkus
Welcome to Smirkus!- Saturday, June 8th
Greetings from Greensboro! My name is Molly Hudelson and I’m the PR Intern for Circus Smirkus’s 2013 Big Top Tour. I never thought I’d be running off to join the circus, but less than a week before my college graduation it was official: I would be joining Circus Smirkus on tour this summer. On Sunday May 19th, dressed in our caps and gowns, standing together as one for the last time, I felt like I was bragging about my post-graduation plans to my classmates, most of whom were bound for graduate or medical school or entering traditional 9-to-5 jobs. Nothing…
The Morning After…
In a previous post, I mentioned the dogs that have accompanied me on this summer adventure with Smirkus. It’s been an honor and a privilege to live, travel and work with this community and the four dogs are an equal part of it. I have always talked to dogs and I’ve always thought that somewhere in their dog-minds, they can understand me, if not my words than my moods. I’ve maintained that it’s part of what makes them better than cats, but that’s a discussion for another time. My “conversations” have always been lacking in any kind of depth or…
Paper Lanterns
Last night, the 2012 Big Top Tour had its final show. My evening began when I walked backstage to watch the final “Smirko” cheer. Artistic Director Troy Wunderle stood in the middle of the crowd with a camcorder, immortalizing the moment as he set the performance in motion with his remarks. “Take that energy,” he said. “Take it and use it.” The troupers worked through their normal pre-show rituals but this time, the edge of emotion was digging in again, bringing the tears back as they wished each other one last great show. They fought and literally screamed their way…
Last Days for the First of May
I have always enjoyed driving in Vermont simply because of the lack of heavy traffic and the ability to have the entire road to myself. I do my best thinking when I’m driving alone. But on the drive back to Greensboro, I was not behind the wheel, nor was I traveling alone. Instead, I was cramped in the back corner seat with a paperback novel and seven troupers and I was splitting time absorbing the words on the pages and then looking up to watch the pastures, farms, and woods fly by in a green blur. Counselor Danielle Kehlmann is…
One more jump
Every evening before we tear down the site, the staff gathers on the bleachers inside the Big Top to eat dinner and discuss the next day’s “jump.” These meetings are aptly called “jump meetings” and throughout this tour, I’ve become familiar with the feeling of déjà vu while I eat my dinner and our operations director, Judy Gaeth, moderates the order of business. I will admit that at first glance, the details regarding parking, grey water disposal, or laundry availability seemed excessive. It would be a mistake to think so, as I’ve learned over the past few months. These meetings…
Ten reasons why circuses are better dates than movies
I arrived in Montpelier Tuesday morning. After weeks on the road, it is great to be back in Vermont. From the lot, I can see the golden dome of the State House. In the evening I found myself with some free time and downtown Montpelier, easily in walking distance, had everything I wanted: a bank, Rite Aid, Laundromat, and a movie theater. Eager for a taste of what the world is like outside of a traveling circus, some co-workers and I walked into town and saw that Batman movie that everyone’s been talking about lately. While I’m not going to…
In which Circus Smirkus attempts organized sports
The match began unassumingly with both sides lacking in numbers and the stakes were hardly high. The options when playing at Revere have been traditionally either kickball or wiffleball and until this point, the staff had never won at the former and the troupers had never won the latter. Would today’s kickball match prove an upset? I took the camera and went to see for myself. Since this site is an athletic field, the amenities were surprisingly complete with a chain-link backstop, sand baselines, empty Chaquita Banana boxes for the bases, and a standard red rubber ball found on playgrounds…
Landing Gear
We are in Revere, MA. The field behind the school is a grassy athletics field complete with soccer goals, tennis and basketball courts. Somewhere just yards to the south is the tarmac of Logan Airport. The grass grows thick here and when we set up just the other day, the ground was soggy and muddy from the previous night’s torrential rain. We laid down sheets of plywood over the muddy grass as the trailers drove onto the lot. We spent the morning tugging and realigning the plywood as the rigs came sliding through the mud, their tires leaving gashes in…
The Site at Night
At quarter past 11 on a Thursday night, the Rockin’ Horse Farm in Kennebunkport, Maine is entrenched in fog. It is a thick, soupy mist that has enveloped the entire site. The Big Top tent rises out of the fog and the four lights at the top of the masts are the only source of light powerful enough to illuminate the trailers and trucks around it. As people move about to or from trailers or the pie car, the fog swallows them. We walk from the parking and the van back towards the tent’s ghostly light that pierces the muggy…
Smirkus Rufus Nasus
“News 8’s Meghan Torjussen reports…” The video is grainy and filmed on an iPhone connected to the mic held in the reporter’s hand. Wearing a black button-down dress with her hair tied back at an angle, Ms. Torjussen begins: “Kids at the Barbara Bush Memorial Hospital at Maine Medical were treated to a performance from Circus Smirkus…” The camera pans down and to the right and the scene in the room she stands in is made visible to the viewer. The visitor’s atrium at the children’s hospital is awash in natural sunlight. It is a big, bright and comfortable room…