A circus greeter in Loveland turns out to be the star of the show, and the man behind the tent says he nearly lost everything before building it.
Venardos Circus has been set up in a parking lot in Loveland. Kevin Venardos, a former ringmaster for the Ringling Circus, said the show reinvents the American circus as a stage-driven experience centered on artistry, narrative, and connection.
“If you can get a community to believe in you, there is not a power on heaven and earth that will stop you,” Venardos said to Denver 7.
Phoenix Baisa meets the audience before the show, welcomes them, and helps them to their seats. As the audience settles under the big tent, they do not yet know Baisa is also the star of the show.
Earlier in the day, the cast rehearsed.
“This year we’re doing a story which is Alice in Wonderland, and I’m Alice,” Baisa said.
While Baisa and Angel Ramos warmed up, Venardos remembered a time after leaving the Greatest Show on Earth when, he said, he had nothing except an idea.
“Having the experience to be ringmaster of the Ringling Circus, I was 22 when I got that gig, in my naivety, most of this mess happened in my early 30s,” he said.
Venardos said that period brought bad decisions, bankruptcy and an apartment with no furniture.
“I had to be brought to my absolute knees to recognize, to begin to nurture a sense of gratitude,” he said.
“Pain is like a spoon that carves out room in your heart, and it’s only then you have room for gratitude to get in there,” Venardos said.
He said he built his own circus after making a pitch from a rented tent.
“We made a little video of a circus that didn’t exist in a rented tent. A vision for a thing I once wanted to accomplish, and I used that video to pitch a dream,” he said.
Now, 12 years later, Venardos said he sees the effect in the audience.
“We’ve touched dreamers who’ve been in the house, and it’s inspired them to live their circus dream. Whatever that is,” he said.
Monday was the last day of the show’s Loveland run. It will now split into multiple touring companies to hit the road.
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