Lazer Vaudeville combines high-tech laser magic with the traditional arts of vaudeville to create an original theatrical production. This exciting event will be held at the Charles W. Eisemann Center on Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 2:30 pm in the Hill Performance Hall. Complete with superlative juggling, black light illusion, acrobatics, zany comedy, and audience participation, Lazer Vaudeville offers clean, classy fun for the entire family. A cast of fantastical characters leads the audience on a journey through the imagination as a wizard creates magical illusions with laser beams, a neon cowboy kicks up a luminescent rope-spinning display, and an audience member escapes from a straitjacket. The master of ceremonies is a seven-foot tall, fluorescent, fire-breathing dragon named Alfonzo.

Touring since 1987, Lazer Vaudeville fulfills Carter Brown's dream of bringing contemporary vaudeville to the American stage. Internationally acclaimed as a master of his craft, Brown demonstrates the endangered art of hoop rolling. In an astonishing visual display, up to ten hoops roll around the juggler’s body and circle the stage as if taking on a life of their own. Some are century-old antique wooden bicycle rims. Brown also collaborates with performers Cindy Marvell and Nicholas Flair to fly indoor kites, spin glowing staffs, and juggle running chainsaws.

"The kind of juggling we do blows away everybody's concept of what juggling is about," Brown comments. Together the troupe creates pinwheel illusions and percussive sounds with South American bolas, bounces balls off airborne drums in a mesmerizing ensemble piece, and defies the laws of probability by passing up to ten clubs in an engaging display of buffoonery and expertise. Lazer Vaudeville has performed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. and was featured in the P.B.S. specials Juggling Work and Family with Hedrick Smith and Center Stage at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX. International tours have included theater festivals in England, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Bermuda, and Saudi Arabia.

Composer Jesse Manno of the University of Colorado in Boulder has created an original soundtrack that captures the show’s special effects and vaudevillian spirit. The music mixes electronic sound with Turkish guitar, Macedonian tambura, Greek bouzouki, Australian didjeridu, and Irish fiddle. The troupe sells this lively and lyrical recording on CD along with a performance video, available online at www.lazervaudeville.com.

Designer Maia Robbins-Zust of Berkshire Production Resources in Richmond, MA created the company’s fiber-optic scenery. A floating castle lights up the stage and monument valley glows in the evanescent moonlight. Imaginative costumes by Jennifer Johanos add extra sparkle to the performance.

Cindy Marvell, the first woman ever to win the International Jugglers’ Association Championships, “juggles like a poet" and performs with "a compelling mix of pragmatism and magic," according to Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times.


Marvell also dresses up like a chef and teaches children from the audience to spin plates. Master manipulator and physical comedian Nicholas Flair intercepts clubs with razor-sharp timing as Brown and Marvell send them whizzing by at precarious angles.

All three performers became interested in circus skills at a young age. Brown was born to a theatrical family and led the University of Vermont's mime troupe, The Silent Company, while majoring in theater and art. A graduate of the Ringling Bros. Clown College in Sarasota, he toured with Ringling Bros. Circus for two years, then went on to perform his solo juggling act with Carden International Circus and the Monte Carlo Festival du Cirque.

Cindy Marvell, a native New Yorker, embarked on an international juggling career after graduating from Oberlin College with honors in 1988. As a teenager, she trained at the Antic Arts Academy at SUNY Purchase and performed regularly around the city including events at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She has toured with San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus, collaborated with modern dance companies in New York, and worked solo in Japan. P.B.S. specials include Sesame Street’s 25th Anniversary and Children and the Bomb with Elizabeth Swados. Off stage, Marvell has written articles about her field for The New York Times and for Juggle, Spectacle and Kaskade magazines. Marvell and Brown are also featured in the DVD A Juggling Journey (www.dube.com). “The technical level we perform at is very high,” says Marvell, now in her 14th season with the company, “and we explore the frontiers of the art in a way that still appeals to kids and enthralls adults.”

Nicholas Flair got hooked on juggling as a high school student in Ithaca, NY. As a math major at Brown University, he founded the Out of Hand Juggling Club and performed with Misnomer Dance Theater. After graduating in 1998, he trained at the National Circus School of Montreal. His signature cigar box routine combines demanding technique with aerial acrobatics, dance, and flamenco rhythms. New York credits include productions with the Metropolitan Opera, New York Theater Ballet, and variety theater shows in Madison Square Garden and Times Square. His solo act has taken to the waves with Holland America cruise lines and hit the airwaves on FOX TV’s 30 Seconds to Fame. Collaborations have taken him to the International Jazz Festival of Montreal and the Summer Festival of Quebec. Flair recently completed a seven-month tour of Switzerland with Circus Starlight.

Lazer Vaudeville is based in Colorado at the Boulder Circus Center, which offers juggling and aerial classes. The first 15 minutes of the show are in black light, so attendees are asked to be seated before the show begins at 2:30 pm. Tickets for this family event range from $10-$20 and are available online at www.eisemanncenter.com or by calling the Eisemann Center Ticket Office at 972.744.4650.

The Charles W. Eisemann Center is located at 2351 Performance Drive in Richardson, Texas. The Eisemann Center is accessible from Highway 75 North taking the Galatyn Parkway/Renner Road exit going north and the Galatyn Parkway/ Campbell Road exit going south or from the DART light rail station at Galatyn Park. Season sponsors include The Dallas Morning News, WFAA-TV Channel 8, Richardson Living magazine and DART.