Festival of Fools
August 8–10, 2008
Festival of Fools is a curated festival of street theater devoted to community engagement through the celebration of circus arts, music and comedy for family audiences. The festival features the best international street performers from around the globe. Audiences of all ages will feast their eyes on some of the zaniest comic performers as downtown Burlington becomes an epicenter for laughter and spirited entertainment! Four main stage locations surrounding the Church Street Marketplace and City Hall Park will feature continuous street theater each day as well as a pet trick show, performance and juggling workshops and Late Night Foolery for adults in Contois Auditoruim. The Festival wraps up on Sunday, August 10th with The Last Laugh in City Hall Park, a mega-show featuring all the performers.
PERFORMERS
SPECIAL EVENTS
WORKSHOPS
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
SPONSORS
MAP
PERFORMERS
The Bellowphone Show
MassachusettsLeonard Solomon has been performing his one-man variety show for over 20 years. He interprets the great musical classics on some of the most bizarre homemade instruments ever seen or heard, and he rounds out the show with a polished ball-juggling routine. No description can adequately convey the goose-honking and train-whistle cacophony of the Majestic Bellowphone or the sweet piping of the miniature organ, the Callioforte. And music lovers will marvel at their favorite symphonic compositions, arranged by the inscrutable Mr. Solomon for Dog Whistles and Bicycle Horn. Solomon’s classical music training is obvious, as is his craftsmanship and eccentric genius.
Foolz
USA & DenmarkTwo performers: one outwardly calm, the other wound tighter than a spring. If there is a dim-witted innocence about them, it’s because their childlike charm permeates their world, placing them in situations where something always go wrong.
Veterans of film, television and stage, The FOOLZ are a character driven amalgam of comedy, music and juggling that visually demonstrates the power of cooperation between two performers with very different dispositions.
Their theatrics blend laugh ‘till it hurts comedy and dazzling physical feats. The FOOLZ were recently featured on Europe’s top rated TV show from Paris, Les Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde, China’s TV hit comedy festival from Beijing and The HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas. The duo has performed their family friendly shows in twenty-six countries on six continents.
Galumpha
New YorkCombining stunning acrobatics, striking visual effects, physical comedy and inventive choreography, Galumpha brings to life a world of imagination, beauty, muscle and merriment. The three performers, Andy Horowitz, Greg O’Brien and Marlon Torres have created a sensory feast of images ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, drawn together into a seamless whole, consistently bringing audiences to their feet. Galumpha is a triumphant mix of art and entertainment, offering world-class, award winning choreography (Edinburgh Festival Critics’ Choice Award) that is equally at home on the concert stage, at a comedy club or at an outdoor festival.
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The Jim Show
MassachusettsArmed with nothing more than a trunk full of props, a quick, dry wit, and a mysterious, "cat-like" agility, Jim bounds to the stage and begins his show. He performs amazing feats of skill, thrives on audience interaction, and enjoys accepting challenges. He runs, he jumps, he dances and sings! (Actually, Jim doesn't do any singing.)
When attempting the impossible, things can go wrong, and in The Jim Show, they often do; yet Jim displays an intriguing self confidence and "stick-to-it" attitude that keeps audiences glued to every performance. People love to watch Jim accomplish his seemingly unachievable tasks. The show is guaranteed to amaze and amuse!
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Nigel Martin (Mr. Spin)
AustraliaNigel Martin is a comic, vaudevillian performer who has been entertaining large and enthusiastic audiences worldwide. With his ferocious energy & endearing, charismatic wit Mr. Spin is a true comic genius and one of Australia’s finest jugglers. With a background in classical dance and inspired by Vaudeville greats Enrico Rastelli, Francis Brunn and Bobby May, Mr. Spin has focused on developing high level skills, fluid movement and his own quirky style of comedy.
Mr. Spin was recently asked to play the lead role in Rolf de Heer’s (Ten Canoes, Bad Boy Bubby, The Quiet Room) latest movie, ‘Dr Plonk’. The film is a slapstick tribute to the black & white silent greats, and will be released February 2007. So watch out for Mr. Spin (or Dr. Plonk) on the big screen! As well as performing, Nigel is the coordinator for the ‘Adelaide International Street Arts Festival’.
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Pandora Pink
EnglandLouise Clarke is the mistress of characterization, developing Cellulite Patricia from the ‘Thighs of Steel’, belly-dancing Olivia from ‘Evel Knievel’s fan club’ & the awarding winning heavy metal music enthusiast & Hungarian dancer who looked for love in ‘P.S I Love You’. Inspired by cigar box masters, Bella & Kris Kremo, and comic genius W.C Fields, she has developed her own unique style of the box manipulation. She does a sassy 11 box stack & balance, a nifty hat routine and swings, jives and rocks you through 45 minutes of entertainment which climaxes with the tittering tower of titillation and the rocking rola-bola!
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Dan Menendez (The Piano Juggler)
North CarolinaDan Menendez combines comedy, juggling and music for his performance as "The Piano Juggler". The act is perfect for the intimacy of a television studio, or to captivate thousands in a large arena. Dan plays popular and classical music on the world's only "Bounce Piano" and "Bounce Cello".
Dan got his "big break" when he was spotted performing at a Los Angeles comedy club. He was immediately slated to perform on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson, and that initial appearance was selected for Carson's primetime "Anniversary Special". Years of national and international TV appearances followed. Dan appears in venues all over the world, performing at professional sporting events, banquets, trade shows and concerts. In 2001 he won the Daidogei World Cup in Japan, an international entertainment competition. Dan has flown over two million miles performing as "The Piano Juggler."
Shoehorn
OregonShoehorn is an original performance artist who creates music with his feet and dances with his horn. Michael “Shoehorn” Conley has combined organic body rhythms and sophisticated jazz forms and concepts into an entertaining spectacle. While specializing in sax and tap dance, he is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer, utilizing a variety of wind and percussion instruments, original poetry and songs and an ear for music from around the world.
Pedro Tochas
Portugal“O Palhaço Escultor”, translated as The Sculptor Clown, this interdisciplinary work is the one-man equivalent of “Wallace and Grommit”. It’s a visual treat for all the family that will never cease to entertain and amaze. Akin to your favorite silent movie, expect with an elaborate language of facial expressions, the telling of (convoluted) tales filled with immortal love, a full entourage of discombobulated feelings and all the mishaps and mayhem that accompanies the beautiful evolution of life.
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The Yo Yo People
MassachusettsJohn and Rebecca Higby are THE YO-YO PEOPLE and they have been performing their finely tuned feats of yo-yos, hula-hoops, and unicycle since 1993. in 18 different countries, from as far away as New Zealand and Japan. Who would have thought you could make an entire show out of yo-yos? This husband and wife duo bring back that nostalgic toy, reminding you of old favorite tricks such as Walk the Dog and Rock the Baby, then amazing you with astounding tricks, like Boingy-Boingy, Iron Whip, and Shoot for the Moon!
Yo-yos attached to bouncy balls, yo-yos with 10-foot strings, and multiple yo-yos looping while hula hooping and unicycling are just some antics. Consummate skill and deft timing to swingin' music coupled with high energy and sarcastic humor make the Yo-Yo People a favorite for every age.
SPECIAL EVENTS
LATE NIGHT FOOLERY
Friday, August 8 and Saturday, August 9, 9pm-11pm
Contois Auditorium
Admission: $8, cash bar
For mature audiences
Tickets available at the door or in advance at BCA’s Firehouse Center on Church StreetFeaturing a selection of each day’s performers, Late Night Foolery combines the fantastic feats of the daily performances, with the bawdy, raucous humor of a late night, cabaret/night club performance. This is your chance to see an exclusive side of these performers, in an entirely different and intimate setting.
WOODHEAD’S PET TRICK SHOW
Sponsored by Pet Food Warehouse
Saturday, August 9, 10am-11am
Firehouse Stage, City Hall Park
Does your pet have a special talent? Show it off during Festival of Fools! Mr. Woodhead, one half of the performance duo Foolz, hosts a special show devoted to the area’s most talented pets. Local pets compete for prizes and the title of “Best Pet in Show!” To enter your pet, head to Pet Food Warehouse in South Burlington or Shelburne and fill out an entry form, or download from vermontfestivaloffools.com by July 18th. The best entries will be selected to compete in the show. Pet lovers and pets alike will be amazed – stop by the stage for a special portrait sitting with your furry friend!
Click to download an entry form.
WORKSHOPS
Come learn the tricks of the trade! In an extension of BCA’s See.Think.Do! educational mission, special 1-hour workshops will be offered on the art of
street performing. Participants will work with professional performers to learn juggling, puppetry, hat tricks, yo-yo tricks and more! Featuring family fun for all ages, these workshops feature international level Festival of Fools performers providing lessons for children ages 6 and up and their parents.
Price: $6 per participant per workshop
Limit: 20 participants per workshop
Location: Contois Auditorium
Space is available on a first come, first serve basis. To ensure your space in a workshop, please call 865-7166 to register.
Saturday, August 9
Juggling with Jim (The Jim Show)
10am-11am
Armed with nothing more than a trunk full of props, a quick, dry wit, and a mysterious, "cat-like" agility, Jim bounds to the stage and begins his show. He performs amazing feats of skill, thrives on audience interaction, and enjoys accepting challenges. He runs, he jumps, he dances!Yo-Yo Tricks with John & Rebecca (The Yo-Yo People)
11am-12pm
Yo-yos attached to bouncy balls, yo-yos with 10-foot strings, and multiple yo-yos looping while hula hooping and unicycling are just some of their < finely tuned feats. Consummate skill and deft timing to swingin' music coupled with high energy and sarcastic humor make the Yo-Yo People a favorite for every age.
Sunday, August 10
Hat Tricks and Cigar Box Juggling with Louise (Pandora Pink)
10am-11am
The mistress of characterization, Louise Clarke has been performing and devising productions for the European festival circuit for the last seven years and embarked on her solo career last year with her latest delectably, delightful character – The Rock n’ Roll Princess, Miss Pandora Pink.Juggling, Puppets and Performance with Nigel (Mr. Spin)
11am-12pm
Inspired by Vaudeville greats Francis Brunn and Bobby May, and with a background in dance, Mr. Spin focuses on his high level circus skills, fluid movement and his own quirky style of comedy. Mr. Spin has performed internationally as a dancer, musician, comedian and clown.
SPONSORS
Festival of Fools is sponsored by American Flatbread, Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Merchant’s Bank. Media sponsorship by WCAX-TV and The Burlington Free Press.
Supporting sponsors Champlain College, Green Mountain Care, and Magic Hat.
Additional support from from Global Companies, LLC., Fairpoint Communications, Eyes of the World, New England Floor Covering, Pawbella and Pet Food Warehouse.