Umbrella Festival of Circus and Comedy

The Sixth Annual
UMBRELLA FESTIVAL
of Circus and Comedy

returns to
The Alberta Rose Theatre
3000 NE Alberta St

Six shows
THURSDAY 3/30 through SUNDAY 4/2
April Fool's Weekend!

Full Festival Passes and Individual Event Tickets available now
at www.albertarosetheatre.com

MINORS WELCOME with adult accompaniment, except the Saturday night show which will be 21+ only.

THE UMBRELLA FESTIVAL of Circus and Comedy returns for its fifth year to The Alberta Rose Theatre! Festival director Noah Mickens has invited some of the finest vaudevillians, acrobats, jugglers, physical comedians, musicians, and aerialists from the global Varieté culture that he calls home. Over the weekend, our storied guests will fill this historic music hall with laughter and wonderment for young and old alike. THE UMBRELLA FESTIVAL – Be There or Be Bored!

THURSDAY 3/30 - Contemporary Cirque
Doors at 7, show at 8
Opening night shines a light on the youthful artists and dance-infused style of today's Contemporary Circus movement. Much in the way of aerial dance is included here - Dream Frohe and Naomi Ullian from Bellingham, and local Portland aerialists Paulina & Omri. We've also got Las Vegas cyr wheel maestro Christ Crescent, the Rose-city Acro Devils, hand balancer Daniel Patrick, and the musical stylings of Portland's own Three for Silver.

FRIDAY 3/31 - New Vaudeville
Doors at 7, show at 8
The New Vaudeville movement began just as the mystic adventurers of the 1960s landed on the shores of the freaky 1970s - a revival of the traveling entertainer lifestyle tinged with acid, politics, and postmodernism. A rich global culture of New Vaudevillians has arisen in the decades since, and we've set aside Friday night to show it off. Live music by electroswing big band The High Step Society soundtracks the stage antics of Seattle's Unicycle for Two, song-and-dance men Alex Bistrevsky and Alex Mak from Los Angeles, a ladder act by Matthew Kerrigan of Shaking the Tree Theater, clown duo A Little Bit Off, and Italian physical comedian Stefano Iaboni.

SATURDAY 4/1 - Family Matinee
Doors at 1, show at 2
Seattle aerialist Kate Herndon leads a line-up of circus and variety artists devised to keep kids and parents enrapt and entertained, including Chris Crescent on the cyr and Unicycle Built for Two.

SATURDAY 4/1 - Dirty Cabaret
Doors at 7, show at 8
Portland itself has been a flashpoint of the Dirty Cabaret, ever since Sinferno Cabaret and the Suicide Girls put our town's adult variety entertainers on the map. Don't bring the kids unless you're feeling awfully permissive - this show has nudity, foul language, and worse as our guests do their best to shock us. Maya Papaya (LA), Annie Shephard (Seattle), and Miss Spooky of the nomadic World of Wonder sideshow join local hellions Jon Dutch, Layne Fawkes, Indigo Sky, Asimov Atomsmasher, Juliette Electrique, and drag heroine Pepper Pepper as our guest MC. The second half of the evening features the very sultriest of all our musical offerings, CJ Mickens & Band, making their Alberta Rose debut.

SUNDAY 4/2 - The Next Generation
Doors at 1pm, show at 2pm
The AWOL Aeros return to the Umbrella, leading a line-up of child circus prodigies from Echo Theater, Afterglow Aerial Arts and more off our city's finest schools. We're always thrilled to see what the future holds for our bohemian arts underground, and these are the fledgeling artists who will bring that future about. Get ahead of the curve.
Not only that, but we're bringing back beloved novelty singer Al Simmons and cowboy clown Leapin' Louie to keep all those kids and parents entertained.

SUNDAY 4/2 - Rock-and-Roll Monsters
Doors at 7, show at 8
Seattle's legendary Super Geek League equals one savage metal/punk rock band, one ripping horn section, a tangle of kayboards and electronics, the soulful vocals of Skylar Johnson and Noah Mickens (aka William Batty of Wanderlust Circus), a mob of world-class circus artists and go-go dancers; and a warehouse full of giant monster costumes, confetti-shooting robots, and the most bizarre and convoluted Sci-Fi back-story you could ever hope for. SGL has been a sister troupe to Portland's beloved Wanderlust Circus for around five years now, and we're thrilled to bring their newly-refined masterpiece to the stage for its world-premiere. With guest performers from throughout the festival, we can guarantee that you've never seen anything like it.

And that's just who we have confirmed as of today, two full months before opening night. We'll be hiring all sorts of other circus, vaudeville, burlesque, and variety artists from all over the country between now and then. So watch this space, cousins, as we reveal more details. It's going to be a good one.