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High-tech laser magic, juggling, black light illusion and acrobatics take the stage at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center

Oct. 8, 2007
Lazer Vaudeville, a high-tech, high fun family show will present two performances at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center on the Harrisburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College, at 4 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3. The media partners are Central Penn Parent and PennLive.com.

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 10 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 said. 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 10 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 PBS specials "Juggling Work and Family" with Hedrick Smith and "Center Stage" at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas. International tours have included theater festivals in England, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Bermuda and Saudi Arabia.

Marvell, the first woman ever to win the International Jugglers' Association Championship, "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 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.

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. PBS specials include "Sesame Street's 25th Anniversary" and "Children and the Bomb" with Elizabeth Swados.

Flair got hooked on juggling as a high school student in Ithaca, N.Y. 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.

Tickets for these performances are $15 adult/senior citizen/student, $10 child (5-12 years of age). RLAC Box Office phone is 717-231-ROSE (7673). Ticket sales are avaialbe online by clicking on the Website below.
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