Theater of the Absurd Puppet Show & Circus

“What a great time to be alive if you love the theater of the absurd.” – David Lynch

For fans young and old of The Muppet Show and PeeWee’s Playhouse, WRIF presents Theater of the Absurd – a live smorgasbord of circus, puppetry, and music!

Kids tickets(12 & under): $17, Adult tickets: $23. Included in all WRIF passes. GET TICKETS HERE.

HOSTED BY CONTENT CLOWN

Bex Love (they/them) is a heart centered trickster who makes musical puppetry spectacles under the name Content Clown. Their work celebrates the ancient connection between queerness and the natural world, and utilizes the absurd to push against societal boundaries, in order to discover a more liberated world. Bex is also a member of the Sable Ensemble, and the Community Engagement Organizer for The Sable Project, an off-grid artist residency and event space in Stockbridge, VT. Listen to their album “Gender, Feels” here.

FEATURING

“Pattie Peels Out” by Ria Blaas 

“Pattie Peels Out” tells the story of Pattie the potato, who finds the courage to venture outside her potato box where she encounters perils unknown to potato-kind. Ria Blaas has been performing with her ensemble, Upper Loveland Puppets throughout New England at schools, fairs, resorts, daycares and senior centers for over 15 years, presenting their cast of characters to audiences young and old. Blaas is accompanied by puppeteers, Glennis Gold & Cody Williams. Check out Ria’s work here.

Sable Ensemble

The Sable Ensemble is a curated group of alumni from The Sable Project in Stockbridge, VT who come together to collaborate on live performances featuring dance, puppetry, and shenanigans. The group includes Otto Pierce (he/him), Sable’ Founder and Creative Director, Jessica Lee (she/her), Sable’s Director of Operations, and Bex Love, Sable’s Community Engagement Organizer.

Liam Gundlach

Liam grew up performing with Circus Smirkus, then went on to study at the Circus School of Quebec. As a circus artist, a street performer and a hospital clown, Liam finds beauty in what is simple and relatable, giving equal value to the big trick as to the small moment of wonder. Now based in Boston, you can find out what Liam is up to here.

Elliot McGary-Walters

Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, Elliot discovered circus arts in 2019. While training on a variety of apparatus, he quickly fell in love with aerial rope. In 2023, he moved to Brattleboro, Vermont to attend NECCA ProTrack professional training program. Here he discovered and began training tightwire and bottle walking. He is training hard in year 3 of ProTrack, and is looking forward to graduating in 2026.

Oscar

Cal Wicker is 20 years old and is training at the New England center for Circus Arts, in their professional training program as a dance trapeze major and acrobatic theater minor. They started as a competitive gymnast but once they found Circus there was no going back. Tonight you’ll meet Oscar, Cals mime who they have been creating over the last two years of training.