LEWISTON — Phyzgig and Phyzkids, world-class artists from around the country, will offer up a blend of juggling, illusions, magic, storytelling and physical comedy when they bring their family-oriented vaudeville shows to Bates College on Saturday, Dec. 31.

Phyzgig entertainers include Leland Faulkner, Michael Trautman, Yo Yo People, Karen Hurll Montanaro, Reifer and Saccone, Fred Garbo and Peter Mezoian.

Theater artist Faulkner combines Japanese art forms, mime, shadow theater, illusion, improvisation and folk tales with original special effects. In his show, paper shimmers with movement as butterflies dance and multiply; rice, water and fruit spill out of nowhere; and shadows take on a life of their own in an exploration of light.

Faulkner spent seven years on the coast of Tanzania, East Africa, and credits his international experience with stimulating his love for theater. He is a trained actor, director, choreographer, licensed pyrotechnician, filmmaker and a creator of effects for theater and television. Former director of the Celebration Barn Theatre, he has toured a variety of popular programs from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to the Ebaru Cultural Center in Shinigawa, Japan, for more than 20 years.

Trautman is a visual comic, performance artist, new vaudevillian, mime, physical comedian, storyteller and magician. He has performed at the New York International Festival of Clown Theater, Festival D’Ete in Quebec, the General Jackson Showboat at Opryland, USA, the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. In 1999-2000, he was the star clown in the national tour of “OOPS! The Big Apple Circus Stage Show.”

Yo-Yo People are a husband and wife team, John and Rebecca Higby, known for their consummate skill and deft timing to swinging music coupled with high energy and humor. John has performed for U.S troops abroad and busker festivals have taken him to Canada, Singapore and Japan. Rebecca met John in 2001, and was easily incorporated into his show.

Montanaro is a professional ballet dancer and mime artist. She danced with the Ohio Ballet and Marmstadt Opera Ballet in Germany. From 1987-2002, she performed and taught with master mime Tony Montanaro. For the past 20 years, she has taught mime, dance and movement to children throughout the United States.

Reifer and Saccone met at Tony Montanaro’s Celebration Barn in 1980. They toured and performed with the Celebration Theater Ensemble for five years. In 1987, they created Reifer & Saccone and have been performing and offering workshops ever since. Their sketches weave movement, mime and monologue to create comic and often poignant observations of life.

When not touring with her husband, Jackie performs her solo show, “Reifer Madness.” A licensed and certified speech/language pathologist, she is contracted with Northeast Hearing and Speech. She applies theater and improvisation techniques to her ongoing language groups for adults with developmental differences and students diagnosed on the autism spectrum. She also facilitates groups for first-time youth offenders in the Jumpstart Program.

Besides his work in Reifer & Saccone, John is movement education teacher at Merriconeag Waldorf School in Freeport. He is a guest artist with the Portland Ballet Company and a teacher at Casco Bay Movers Dance Studio and the Rudolf Steiner Institute. He facilitates groups for first-time youth offenders in the Jumpstart Program under Seeds of Independence.

Garbo got paid for doing a card trick in 1974, and has been a professional performer ever since. On “Sesame Street,” he was the acrobat inside Barkley the Dog. On Broadway, he was chief juggler in the musical “Barnum.” He toured Europe, Hong Kong and Australia with the Obie Award-winning “Foolsfire,” with Bob Berky and Michael Moschen.

Whether tumbling for the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center or dancing with MOMIX in Brazil, Garbo brings a gymnast’s timing and an actor’s presence to his Inflatable Theater Co.

An engaging performer, Mezoian has taken the banjo across the world as a feature act at music festivals and theater and nightclubs in the United States, England and Japan, and on more than 50 cruise ships.

For more information about the Phyzgig and Phyzkids shows, call L/A Arts at 782-7228 or send an email to mail@laarts.org.

Go and do

WHO: Phyzgig and Phyzkids

WHAT: vaudeville shows

WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 31

Phyzgig and Phyzkids, 2 p.m.

Phyzgig, 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Schaeffer Theater, Bates College, 305 College St., Lewiston

TICKETS: Phyzgig and Phyzkids, $10 for adults, children under 12, $8

TICKETS: Phyzgig, $15 for adults; $10 for seniors/students

Call 782-7228 or visit www.laarts.org

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