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| UP TO THE MINUTE - DETAILS 9th Annual Juggle This! Bindlestiff Cavalcade of Youth Fushigi Launch Catch It Early Viveca Juggles Through China Cavalcade of Youth Free Juggling Lessons at Irondale Learn to Juggle Virtual Field Trip Swing-A-Ring Circus Nights Bronx Day at the Botanical Garden Expanding the Brains of Bezos Scholars Cavalcade of Youth Sean Blue on NBC's TODAY Show Juggle This Show Spectacular How Time Flew The Grand Falloons in A Village of Fools Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cavalcade of Youth! Happy Birthday, America! "Down With Gravity" at World Science Festival ABC-TV Good Morning America Playful Productions Launches New Website! The Grand Falloons in A Village of Fools Cavalcade of Youth Juggle This! NYC's 7th Annual Juggling Fest Cavalcade of Youth Archives  9th Annual Juggle This! Juggle This Show Spectacular  Produced by Playful Productions.Featuring world-class local and international talent:
Where: Pratt Institute, Memorial Hall 200 Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn, NY Click here for directions.  Tickets: General admission $10.Advance purchase recommended; Buy tickets here. Online ticket sales end Friday at 7pm. Tickets will also be available in the ARC on Friday & Saturday. Why: The Juggle This Show Spectacular is part of NYC's 9th annual juggling festival. From April 8–11, Brooklyn's Pratt Institute will host free workshops, games, vendors, prizes, special guests, a raffle, and more!! The weekend will be super fun. Most events are free and family-appropriate. Open to the public—No experience necessary. Find out more at JuggleNYC.com. Bindlestiff Cavalcade of Youth 
Playful Productions and Bindlestiff Family Cirkus present a special showcase for young variety performers, ranging from amateurs to world-class professionals. Juvenile jugglers, diminutive dancers, adolescent acrobats and a host of other moppets and mummers present a full show of vernal vaudeville. Acts range from debuting amateurs to world-class champion performers—all under the age of 21.Now in its seventh year, the Bindlestiff Cavalcade of Youth continues to feature an amazing array of young talent. These are the future stars of Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and television. Juvenile unicyclists, tap dancers, magicians, clowns, and contortionists share the stage with Broadway-bound singers and classically trained musicians. All the performers are under 21, but audience members of all ages love this show! The Cavalcade of Youth is a co-production of Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and Playful Productions. We are delighted to be performing at the historic Sideshows by the Seashore in Coney Island and grateful to Coney Island USA for its support. When: Sunday, March 28, 4pm Show will last approximately one hour with no intermission Where: Sideshows by the Seashore 1208 Surf Ave. (Coney Island) Brooklyn, NY Tickets: $10 youth/$15 adults Advance purchase through brownpapertickets.com Find out more at bindlestiff.org Fushigi Launch 
Playful Productions was delighted to meet Fushigi's challenge to provide six highly skilled contact jugglers for a national commercial shoot in Clearwater, Florida, on Sunday, January 31, 2010.Fushigi is launching a new line of "Magic Gravity Balls," clear, acrylic balls that come with an instructional DVD for use as a therapeutic form of relaxation: "The art of maneuvering a clear, reflective sphere through mind and body isolation and manipulation creates the illusion that the sphere may be defying the laws of gravity, as if the sphere is moving on its own." Our expert object manipulators showed off the prop's potential. Watch videos of our performers, and find out more about Fushigi at fushigiball.com. Catch It Early 
This summer at the International Jugglers' Association annual festival, Catch It Early filmed Viveca Gardiner delivering the visual punchline in a video encouraging breast cancer awareness and prevention. Catch It Early uses juggling and circus arts to entertain and educate the community about cancer prevention. Catch It Early is an initiative of Playing By Air Productions under the direction of Jacob Weiss, PhD, with cancer education provided by the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Watch the video and find out more about the program at catchitearly.org. Viveca Juggles Through China I am thrilled to be flying to China Sunday to spend almost two months performing as part of Matt Henry's terrific act, "Video Killed the Juggling Star." Matt won the 2001 gold medal for best individual from the International Jugglers' Association. He's a great juggler, and I'm honored to be working with him. First, we'll be competing in the 12th China Wuqiao International Circus Festival, one of the most prestigious circus festivals in the world. Then, we're among the festival acts invited to tour with the "China Wuqiao International Circus Festival Prize Awarded Acts Propaganda China Tour." We'll try to stay in touch to take care of all your holiday booking needs; email us early though as we won't be checking the phone till we get back. Find out more about the festival at wuqiao.org. Find out more about Matt at trainedhuman.com. Update: The festival and tour were amazing; it was a treat to work with talented circus artists from all over globe including Cuba, Mongolia, Ukraine, South Africa, Columbia, and North Korea just to name a few. The final count was approximately 24 shows in 16 cities. Contact us to book "Video Killed the Juggling Star." Cavalcade of Youth 
Playful Productions presents a special showcase for young variety performers, ranging from amateurs to world-class professionals. Juvenile jugglers, diminutive dancers, adolescent acrobats and a host of other moppets and mummers present a full show of vernal vaudeville. Acts range from debuting amateurs to world-class champion performers—all under the age of 21.Now in its sixth year, the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cavalcade of Youth continues to feature an amazing array of young talent. These are the future stars of Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and television. Juvenile unicyclists, tap dancers, magicians, clowns, and contortionists share the stage with Broadway-bound singers and classically trained musicians. All the performers are under 21, but audience members of all ages love this show! The Cavalcade of Youth is a co-production of Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and Playful Productions. We are delighted to be performing at the historic Sideshows by the Seashore in Coney Island and grateful to Coney Island USA for its support. When: Sunday, October 18, 5pm Show will last approximately one hour with no intermission Where: Sideshows by the Seashore 1208 Surf Ave. (Coney Island) Brooklyn, NY Tickets: $10 youth/$15 adults (walk-up only) Find out more at Bindlestiff.org Update: We love Coney Island!!! Too bad it was a bit cold and rainy for the beach, but the sideshow's theater and museum are revamped and gorgeous. What a historic venue! Our terrific acts included a rip sticking fiddler, a comic strongman, a lucky dozen juggling team, and more with a pint-sized, green-haired joke-telling ringmistress holding it all together. Good times! See you in the spring. Free Juggling Lessons at Irondale We'll be giving free juggling lessons at The Irondale Center's Fall Festival. All ages and abilities welcome. The day's other activities include performances, a pot-luck dinner, art exhibitions, and other workshops. When: Saturday, October 17 Free activities: 1–10:30pm; Click here for the full schedule Free juggling lesson: 2:30–3pm Where: Irondale Center 85 South Oxford Street Brooklyn, NY 11217 More Information: 718.488.9233 irondale.org Update: Irondale has taken over a former Sunday school and converted it into a dramatic showcase for theater and art. The Fall Festival was lovely with lots of free food and fun activities. We had fun teaching a few dozen people to juggle, perusing the New York art exhibition, and watching clown band The Maestrosities perform. Learn to Juggle Virtual Field Trip Viveca Gardiner teaches juggling skills and history in the featured episode of Meet Me At The Corner, a dynamic, interative site of educational "virtual field trips for kids." Join Meet Me At The Corner for a new episode, and learn more about the art of juggling. Juggling is challenging, gratifying, and fun. It uses both sides of the brain. So why should you juggle?
Watch the episode here. Meet Me At The Corner, Virtual Field Trips for Kids, is a dynamic, interactive site, which encourages individual expression and participation through video submissions from children worldwide. Swing-A-Ring Circus Nights Come down to the traveling rings on seven Saturdays this summer. There will be free demonstrations and individual instruction in ring swinging, unicycling, juggling, hula-hooping, slacklining, acroyoga, and sand sculpting by accomplished artists and performers:
Where:Hudson Beach in Riverside Park 105th Street all the way west, lower level New York, NY How: Access to the Park is at 103rd Street and Riverside Drive The closest subway is the #1, which stops two blocks east, at Broadway and 103rd Street More Information: And awesome videos of swing-a-ring experts: swingaring.com Bronx Day at the Botanical Garden 
The New York Botanical Garden celebrates its 19th annual Bronx Day, this year with Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. Bring your lunch for an afternoon of free musical entertainment, family events, children activities, raffle prizes, information kiosks, and more.Playful Productions will be onsite to celebrate with clowns, jugglers, and stilt walkers. When: Saturday, June 13, 11am–3pm Playful Productions will participate from noon–2pm Where: Clay Family Picnic Pavilions The New York Botanical Garden Bronx, NY Directions Tickets: Advance tickets are required for admission. To receive your free tickets, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope with the number of tickets requested (6 maximum) to: Elizabeth Figueroa, Director of Community RelationsFor more information, please call 718-817-8990 or visit nybg.org Update: Over 5,000 requested tickets to this nice event, and the Gardens are so big that was no problem. Neither was the rain— we took over a tented area and put on an impromptu and interactive show for hordes of happy, wet children and families. Expanding the Brains of Bezos Scholars 
The Bezos Family Foundation is a private, independent foundation established by Jackie and Mike Bezos that works to strengthen educational opportunities for everyone, regardless of economic circumstances, and cultivate learning as a lifelong process that begins in early childhood.This year, the Foundation launched a partnership with the World Science Festival to provide an innovative five-day, all-expense-paid scholarship to bring five student scholars and five educator scholars from New York City's public high schools—one team from each of the City's five boroughs—to the World Science Festival, June 10–14, 2009. This was the pilot for what will be an annual event. Playful Productions was delighted to send two juggling instructors to their kick-off event June 10 to teach the scholars, their educators, and the Foundation staff to juggle, an activity that has been consistently shown to improve cross-brain coordination and increase gray matter (see JuggleNYC.com/press). The young scientists learned the three-ball cascade quickly and were excited to practice their new skill. Find out more about this valuable program at BezosFamilyFoundation.org Update: These young scholars were as coordinated as they were bright! We had fun teaching them to juggle, and they all promised to practice their new skills. Cavalcade of Youth  In 2003, Playful Productions and Bindlestiff Family Cirkus co-founded this showcase for young performers. Since then this successful program has expanded and improved. Our shows have featured three-year-olds making their stage debuts and 20-year-olds seasoned professionals who've performed all around the world. This show marks our first time at a new venue and will be the last Cavalcade until fall. This show is appropriate for all audiences, but you don't need kids to come!When: Sunday, April 26, 2pm Where: Dixon Place, 161 Chrystie Street, NYC Tickets: $10 youth/$15 adult at the door or $7/$12 through ovationtix.com Find out more at Bindlestiff.org Update: The new venue was lovely, and the show had a great mix of kids, ranging from a seven-year-old dancer to several college student clowns, who are definitely ready for the big time. Sean Blue on NBC's TODAY Show  Watch for Playful Productions' juggler extraordinaire Sean Blue on Monday, March 9, on NBC's TODAY show. In NYC, TODAY is on channel 4, and the segment is scheduled to run at approximately 10:15am EST. Check local listings for times and stations elsewhere.When TODAY called us for a juggler who could "impress fast," we immediately thought of the man Bill Irwin described as a "muggler," or master juggler. Sean will be performing briefly and then giving a quick lesson to show hosts Hota Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford as part of a series in which the hosts attempt to learn a range of different skills. Update: After drinking a few Barbie-themed cocktails and slipping on their plastic Barbie-inspired stilettos (the program aired on Barbie's 50th birthday), the hosts didn't quite learn how to juggle, but they did have fun throwing the balls around To watch the clip (on Sean's brother's website), click here. Juggle This Show Spectacular  Produced by Playful Productions.Featuring world-class local and international talent:
Where: Pratt Institute, Memorial Hall 200 Willoughby Ave., Brooklyn, NY Click here for directions.  Tickets: Admission $10. Tickets available at the juggling festival (see below).Why: The Juggle This Show Spectacular is part of NYC's 8th annual juggling festival. From April 3–5, Brooklyn's Pratt Institute will host free workshops, games, prizes, special guests, a raffle, and more!! The weekend will be super fun. Most events are free and family-appropriate. Open to the public—No experience necessary. Find out more at JuggleNYC.com. Update: The show sold out the 504-seat theater, and this year's festival may have been the best yet. How Time Flew Where did 2008 go? Those last few months sped by; we were so busy we neglected to post our updates here! Some highlights from Playful Productions' fall 2008:
Best wishes to all for a very happy 2009! The Grand Falloons in A Village of Fools  October 16–26: Playful Productions and The Grand Falloons present a puppet-vaudeville-theater trilogy for the whole family.Stephen Ringold's original script is adapted (with permission) from three fairytales in Isaac Bashevis Singer's Zlateh The Goat: "The Snow In Chelm," "The First Schlemiel," and "Zlateh The Goat." These stories move from a celebratory rite of political stupidity, through a classic fools' journey, to a tragically comic tale reminiscent of Fellini's Nights of Caberea. The scenic elements, multi-dimensional landscapes, and puppets are based on the landscapes and portraiture of Jewish-French expressionist painter Chaim Soutine. This show combines the work of these two Jewish, 20th-century Eastern-European masters with original music and the populist instincts of circus and vaudeville to create a powerful synergy leading to a vital musical theater—populist yet spiritual, emotional yet intellectual. Photo by Irene Young. Where: Theater for the New City 155 First Ave., Manhattan theaterforthenewcity.net/grandfalloons.htm When: October 16–26; Thurs–Sat: 7pm; Sun: 3pm How: All seats $15 Purchase tickets online at ovationtix.com/trs/71812 Cavalcade of Youth 
September 28: The performers of tomorrow steal the stage today in the
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cavalcade of Youth co-produced by Playful
Productions. Acts range from debuting amateurs to world-class
professionals; the cast and crew are all age 21 or under.Now in its fifth year, the Cavalcade continues to feature an amazing array of young talent. These are the future stars of Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and television. Where else can you see juvenile unicyclists, tap dancers, magicians, clowns, and contortionists sharing the stage with Broadway-bound singers and classically trained musicians? Where: Zipper Factory Theater 336 West 37th Street New York City When: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 2pm How: Purchase tickets online at thezipperfactory.com. In advance: $7 youth/$12 adults At the door: $10 youth/$15 adults For more information, call 212-352-3101. Happy Birthday, America! 
July 2008: Most of the time we provide performers for private events, which also means we don't have that much to announce here. We love designing the perfect entertainment for private events, but it's extra fun to produce full shows or perform out in the community, and there's nothing more "out in the community" than a small-town parade.This year Playful Productions provided performers for the 4th of July Parade in Ridgefield, NJ, and in September we'll be returning to the Elmsford Day Parade for the third year in a row. Think of Playful Productions for all your red, white, and blue variety needs! Next year for Bastille Day anyone? Ooh la la! "Down With Gravity" at World Science Festival 
May 2008: Playful Productions co-presented the "Down With Gravity" jugglers at the first annual World Science Festival in and around NYC's Washington Square Park. The trio taught juggling lessons and presented a stage show for an audience that held rapt despite intermittent thunderstorms.This first WSF was a smash, selling out every ticketed program. Playful Productions wishes this worthy endeavor much success in the future. Fun Fact: World Science Festival founder and string theory pioneer Brian Greene was Playful Productions' president Viveca Gardiner's resident advisor at Harvard in the 1980s, and his father, Alan Greene, was a real vaudevillain! ABC-TV Good Morning America May 2008: ABC-TV booked Playful Productions to provide three jugglers and a comic roller blader for a segment on the interesting characters you may meet in a NYC park. Update: Unfortunately the show host, Diane Sawyer, was out with a sore throat, so the segment never aired. Still, it was an honor to be asked, we became an approved Disney worldwide vendor, and the show producer said our performers were "wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!" Thanks. We think so too! Playful Productions Launches New Website! April 2008: Welcome to the new site, designed by Cynthia (CynRa Media), Viveca's partner on CircusNYC.com and JuggleNYC.com, and featuring original artwork by Megan Montague Cash (megancash.com), co-author of the Bow-Wow book series. We hope you enjoy it. Browse around our virtual home, and please feel free to send any comments, questions, or other feedback to info@playfulproductions.com. The Grand Falloons in A Village of Fools  April 25–26, May 4: Playful Productions and The Grand Falloons are
pleased to invite you to two upcoming performances of our puppet
trilogy: A Village of Fools.This is an engrossing play for the whole family. Stephen Ringold's original script is adapted from three Isaac Singer fairytales from the book Zlateh The Goat: "The Snow In Chelm," "The First Schlemiel," and "Zlateh The Goat." The sets and puppets are based on the portraiture and landscapes of the early 20th century Jewish/Parisian painter, Chaim Soutine. Complete with puppets of all sizes and styles, traditional vaudeville shtick, physical comedy, circus skills, and lively klezmer music, A Village of Fools is very funny and profoundly moving. The performance also features original music composed by Kevin Schmidt, Elizabeth Swados, Ilene Weiss. Friday April 25 & Saturday April 26 at 7:00pm NACL Theatre 110 Highland Lake Rd, Highland Lake NY Tickets: $15 for adults/$5 for children See nacl.org/grandfalloons.html for more info Sunday, May 4 at 4:00pm Riverspace Arts in Nyack, 119 Main Street, Nyack, NY Tickets: $12 adult/$10 students and seniors Proceeds of this event to benefit Riverspace and the Family and Children's Programs at JCC Rockland. See riverspace.org for more info Update: Both shows went well, and we're officially considering this show ready for primetime. We've scheduled a run at NYC's Theater for the New City in October, and we'll be presenting it at Manhattan's Jewish Museum in December. Stay tuned. Cavalcade of Youth 
April 20: The performers of tomorrow steal the stage today in the
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cavalcade of Youth co-produced by Playful
Productions. Acts range from debuting amateurs to world-class
professionals; the cast and crew are all age 21 or under.Now in its fifth year, the Cavalcade continues to feature an amazing array of young talent. These are the future stars of Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and television. Where else can you see juvenile unicyclists, tap dancers, magicians, clowns, and contortionists sharing the stage with Broadway-bound singers and classically trained musicians? Where: Zipper Factory Theater 336 West 37th Street New York City When: Sunday, April 20, 2008, 2pm How: Purchase tickets online at thezipperfactory.com. In advance: $7 youth/$12 adults At the door: $10 youth/$15 adults For more information, call 212-352-3101. Update: Another fabulous and crowded show. Playful Productions thanks the parents and the Zipper Factory and salutes the enormously gifted CavalKids. See you in the fall! Juggle This! NYC's 7th Annual Juggling Fest 
March 7–10: Playful Productions is pleased to announce we will once
again be producing the show at NYC's annual juggling convention. This
year's show will be Saturday, March 8, 7:30pm at Pratt Institute's
Memorial Hall (200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn). Please join us
there!The show features an incredible cast from around the city and around the world, none of whom have ever appeared at Juggle This, and many of whom have never performed in New York!
The rest of the festival, March 7–9, is free and promises a good time—free workshops, games, open juggling, and more. Update: The festival was the biggest yet, with approximately 250 participants over the course of three days. The 500-seat theater, Pratt Memorial Hall, sold out for Saturday night's shows. Cavalcade of Youth 
January 20: The performers of tomorrow steal the stage today in the
Bindlestiff Family Cirkus Cavalcade of Youth co-produced by Playful
Productions. Juvenile jugglers, diminutive dancers, adolescent
acrobats, and a host of other moppets and mummers present two
different full-length shows of vernal vaudeville. Acts range from
debuting amateurs to world-class professionals; the cast and crew are
all age 21 or under.Update: The 200+ seat Zipper Factory Theater sold out to an enthusiastic and appreciative crowd. The show was featured in The New York Times, Time Out New York: Kids, and GoCityKids among other publications. Thank you to everyone who came out to support the kids—and everyone who came to see a great show! Archives It's so hard to let go of the past! Click here to check out some of the activities we posted on our original website, and laugh at our prehistoric web design. We're not updating that page, though, so don't expect the links to be current (or, in some cases, functional). |