Circus Contraption nears its end

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By Sara Kiesler

PostGlobe

Aerialista Lara Paxton twirled and contorted her sinewy body around the vertical hanging rope Sunday night, mesmerizing the audience with a mixture of gymnastics, dance and erotic performance.

Paxton, along with David Crellin, founded Circus Contraption at the Seattle Fringe Festival in 1998 with just two dancers, a juggler, a ringmaster and a boom box. It has evolved into an almost entirely original nonprofit theater performance including a band, two aerielistas, sword swallowing, juggling and a whole lot of surreal mayhem.

After 11 years of performing circus theater with an edge, the cult classic will be entertaining crowds of dedicated followers and curious newcomers for the last time this month. June 14 is the official last performance of “The Show to End All Shows,” but it’s already almost entirely sold out. (Check out brownpapertickets.com for more information. Code word: jetpack)

The end of the show is bittersweet for most. Many performers are looking forward to taking on other projects – school, family, scubadiving and a job that actually pays are among the dreams that follow.

But losing the cameraderie of living, working and traveling with the same 15 people for years on end is just beginning to sink in.

“It’s definitely like family,” said singer, trumpeter and comedic performer Sari Breznau. “That’s the thing – we’re all in denial about not having these 14 other people in our lives day in and day out.”

In an odd mix of timing, three key components have brought an end to one of the nation’s few alternative circus acts

First, a number of people decided they needed to move on, such as drummer/comedic actor Matt Manges, who performs as Bunny LaMonte, a Zoolander meets Chuck Norris meets the Easter Bunny type of character. Manges is heading to school to study physical therapy. 

Second, after two years in Fremont at the warehouse attached to Theo Chocolate, the circus chose not to renew its contract come August. Dana Kemmerling, Marketing Events Manager at Theo Chocolate, said they are sad to see the circus disband, but will not be renting the space out to others because of future plans to expand the chocolate cafe and tour into the warehouse.

Third, though the circus had a budget of $350,000 for the 2008-09 year, according to Managing Director Erin Brindley, there still wasn’t much left after paying for electricians, costumes, cutting the band’s fifth album and the day-to-day operations. Most of the budget comes from ticket sales.

“It’s a lot of work and not wonderful pay,” Brindley said. “It pays better as a single performer because you can move around the system better, you can just plug into a cabaret.”

The Circus Contraption has toured both nationally and internationally, from San Francisco and New York to Portugal. Crellin, the Ringmaster and co-founder with Paxton, said he has been so busy creating the art that now that the end is near he is finally starting to realize what a piece of history the Seattle group has become.

“We’re a pretty rarefied achievement and experience,” Crellin said. “I feel honored to be at the seed of creation as well as part of the ensemble that moved it forward.”

The performance is a highly visceral cross between circus, cabaret, performance theater and surreal art.

“We kind of make our own rules of what we perform,” Paxton said. “If I want a piece that has puppets, musical, tap-dancing and aerial, we just do it.”

Though performers have their specialty, they bring multiple talents to the stage. Drew Keriakedes can swallow a sword and shove a nail up his nostril, but he’s also in the band as a  sousaphonist, ukelelist, accordionist, banjo man and vocalist. Joseph Vito Albanese is a bassist and also a leather craftsman. 

Sunday night, the Circus Contraption hosted a party after the event to thank the dozens of volunteers who have allowed the theater act to consume their lives with equal ferocity. 

Couple Evelyn Bittner and Jason Williams volunteered from the time they saw the first show up until January – often without a dime to show for it. But they never said they were too tired to do it, believing in the vision and creation of the circus from the first day they set foot on stage, said Williams.

“All of our dreams actually did come true – that’s been the coolest thing,” Bittner said. “If we put ourselves out there and thought of something, we all had the talent and made the sacrifices to achieve it.”

“It’s sad for me to see it end,” Williams added, “but we’ll continue to create new acts and perform our work.”