Wednesday, October 14, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
7
Circus returns to Central Oregon
By Jodi Schneider
Correspondent
Get ready for the <Greatest
Show on Earth= 4 Halloween
weekend with the Venardos
Circus when it returns to
Redmond at the Deschutes
Fairgrounds under the big top.
The stage will have live
socially distanced audiences
from October 29 through
November 1, for the first
shows in front of a live audi-
ence since COVID-19.
The circus has always been
one of the most popular forms
of public entertainment in the
world. It9s hard to conceive of
just how popular it was in its
American heyday. America
grew up with the circus.
Whole towns shut down on
that day 4 schools, shops, and
offices 4 an occasion when
everyone enjoyed the old-
fashioned magic of the circus
The Venardos Circus, a
unique theatrical stage, ani-
mal-free performance, has
been touring the nation since
its debut at the L.A. County
Fair in 2014. The production
has revamped the American
Circus tradition for a new
generation with Broadway-
style flair. Theater lovers
and nostalgic circus fans will
appreciate the intimate experi-
ence and sentimental way the
show pays homage to circus
traditions through the lens of
high-quality entertainment for
a modern family audience.
In 2000 the creator of
Venardos Circus, Kevin
Venardos, landed a job as
ringmaster of Ringling Bros.
and Barnum & Bailey Circus
from an open call audition in
New York as a young actor.
Venardos said, <It was just
a random audition when I was
22 and living in New York
City trying to be a singing and
dancing man.=
Venardos lived on the
Ringling Bros. train, then the
largest privately-owned train
in the world, hauling ele-
phants, clowns, tigers, props,
tent-poles and trapeze artists
from coast to coast.
He had found his calling.
<I worked there for five
years and performed live
before more than 35 mil-
lion people in that time,=
Venardos explained. <Later,
from 2009-2010, I wore the
top hat at Big Apple Circus in
New York City, but by then I
didn9t know how much longer
I could keep finding shows to
hire me as the ringmaster.=
In 2014, Venardos took
his talent for entertaining and
set out to start his own circus
show. He created the Venardos
Circus, which he calls <the
American circus with the
heart of a Broadway show.=
<My first gig as a pro-
ducer was at the L.A. County
Fair with a 30-minute out-
door show,= Venardos said.
<The next year added a date,
the next a few more, and
eventually we learned to sell
tickets to our own events.
As of March 2020, we had
transformed that tiny out-
door show into a 45-week,
30-city national tour across
the United States.=
Heather Atherton, pub-
lic relations person for the
production, said, <Kevin9s
message of following your
dreams, loving one another,
and general positivity is
something we all could use
more of right now. It9s always
been a big part of the circus9
appeal (celebrating all types/
talents) but he brings it into
today9s context and it really
resonates.=
She added, <Last summer
when we were in Redmond at
the Deschutes Fairgrounds in
June for our first visit, Kevin
fell in love with the area. He
and his family returned there
to quarantine in June, where
they have continued to do
livestream shows monthly.
We are so excited to be able
to start doing some in-per-
son shows there. We really
enjoyed the community last
year and quietly being a part
of it the past few months.=
When COVID-19 struck
last March, Venardos Circus,
like other performing arts and
cultural organizations, closed
their doors due to the virus.
Venardos said, <Everything
stopped in March with the
lockdown. It was also the
moment my daughter, Andi
PHOTO PROVIDED
Juggling knives on the edge of a sword — Venardos Circus offers many
such thrills in their first Covid-era live performance.
Lane, was born (Friday the
13th of March!) So, I9ve
seen this pandemic through
her eyes, and it has given me
another measure of resolve to
get out there and find a way
forward.
<In May we launched our
first livestream and had no
idea what was technically
involved in quality online
broadcasting, a lot of trial and
error followed. Even though
we were only doing one show
a month, we learned a lot, and
because expenses were much
lower with the tour not work-
ing, we turned our focus to the
digital, and were soon draw-
ing 1,000+ ticketed attendees
to the online event.=
He added, <Now, after
seven months, we9ll begin
layering in social distanc-
ing, and a reduced-capacity
live event. We are working
together with the digital rev-
enue streams, and it will be a
path forward for this 8Little
Circus That Could.9 We9re
eager to help build some new
fun memories with families
who are seeking some nor-
malcy in family traditions
again.
<We9ll be at a much
smaller seating capacity than
before, no tent walls for now,
masked, and in socially dis-
tanced pods. But we9ll be
making 8live9 magic again.=
What can Sisters attend-
ees expect to see during the
Venardos Circus? A beautiful
See CIRCUS on page 17