The Sharon Academy's Circus Extravaganza
Come One, Come All: Kids Will Remember This One Forever
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Sharon, VT — Yesterday, I had the pleasure of slogging a half mile down my mud road to a car parked in a less muddy spot for a quick drive to The Sharon Academy (TSA) where the circus reigned supreme for two days in Mud season.
This was the middle school carnival and circus held in the gym at the TSA high school. Due to the pandemic, it was the first time in two years that the community had come together like this. A long time in the making, this day was as much a community celebration of seeing friends and family gathered in one place as much as it was a time for TSA middle schoolers to display the new skills they had acquired during a two week circus interim.
For two weeks preceding the circus, middle school students learn the art and craft of the circus, including clowning, juggling, unicycle riding, diablo and plate spinning, hula hooping, gymnastics, stilt walking, and, this year, doing all this while assuming the roles of many famous fairy tale characters.
The three, ummmm, make that Four Little Pigs and two Big Bad Wolves ran rampant throughout the show until they become friends at the end. The Muffin Man told some pretty silly puns and jokes, the Tortoise and the Hare moved slowly, then quickly across the great stage, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White, the Three Blind(folded) Mice, and many others made this “Fractured Fairy Tales” theme of a circus a show to remember.
All The Sharon Academy middle schoolers get a chance to participate by taking on large theatrical roles. And this was theater at its best based on the involvement of students with all skill levels. From up high on stilts to jumping rope in ones, twos, and threes, these kids had a ball on stage. I suspect the same was true throughout the two-week circus interim. And the audience, a packed house, applauded and laughed, stomped its feet and cheered on the students cum circus performers for the entire forty-five minute, high-energy show.
Scripts and clowning, staging and props, music and scenery were prepared by the students who clearly had an enthusiasm for this show that could be felt around the gym. Oh, and the four little pigs and two big bad wolves? They were performed by teachers and administrators who reveled in their time with students.
This was a colorful, musically upbeat, heck of a circus show thanks to a gentleman named Troy Wunderle, who served as its ringmaster. Troy is the founder of Wunderle’s Big Top Adventures and the artistic director of Circus Smirkus. Having gotten his start with Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus, he has energy to spare, and he certainly knows how to motivate middle school students to put on a brilliant show.
I found this link to a 5-Minute Video of the circus at The Sharon Academy website. It includes TSA students and grads talking about their circus experience and how it helped them develop new skills, created new friendships, brought them into the community, and even changed their lives. Plus some pretty cool unicycle riding footage and a banana-eating student on stage. The final takeaway? “Your kid is going to remember this forever,” as one student explained.
Look for this show next year when you’re thinking about what to do during the doldrums of a Mud Season weekend in March. Or, better yet, get your middle school-aged child enrolled at The Sharon Academy so he, she, they can experience for themselves what it’s like to be part of the powerful theatrical community of the Big Top!
Dave Celone writes from Sharon, VT about goings-on in and around the Upper Valley region of NH and VT. And my how he loves a good circus! Dave may be reached at: djcelone@gmail.com.