Carnival/Invisible

Created by Benjamin Fainstein

April 12th at 8pm

April 13th and April 14th
at 8 and 11 pm

Carnival/Invisible is a festive variety show inspired by American circuses and nomadic tent shows. Reveling in the clash of old forms with new ideas and the transformation of the mundane into the incredible, it explores the extraordinary things we do when we become desperate for a place to belong: walk tightropes, peddle elixirs, seek prophets, dance wildly, tell bad jokes, and make room for one another inside our tents.

While not a direct representation Carnival/Invisible takes its inspiration from the early American Chatauquas. Chatauquas were an American tradition of nomadic tent shows from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. These were a blend of vaudeville, musical, and circus acts as well as the strangeness of “medicine shows.” The early Chautauquas often took on the structure of a variety show and were as much social/educational events as they were performances often interspersing political and religious lectures between performance segments.

The clips below are direct references to these Chatauquas and acts that have found inspiration in Chatauqua performances.