Charlotte Theatre Professor Causes Gasps And Wows With La Bestia
As the performance of “La Bestia: A Circus Journey,” comes to a close, the audience is on its feet cheering, whistling and applauding. For more than an hour, the people filling uptown Charlotte’s Blumenthal Performing Arts Center’s Booth Playhouse have witnessed breathtaking feats of skill and daring, and they are eagerly showing their admiration.
But the show is not over. Slowly the players, members of the Nouveau Sud Circus Project, walk across the darkly lit stage, and one player begins to ascend another, climbing to stand on his shoulders. As she steadies herself and her compatriots gather around, a third player comes from behind to scale the human ladder. It is not easy. As he reaches the top and tries to stand, the bodies wobble. Someone in the audience cheers; another person whistles; the rest watch with wide eyes. Finding their balance, the three players — one on top of the other — stand tall and proud.
“More than anything, I heard the gasps and the wows,” said Associate Professor of Theatre Carlos Cruz a few days after the performances of “La Bestia” in early July. Cruz teaches physical theater, which includes commedia dell’arte and circus arts. In 2014, with a grant from the Arts & Science Council, a local funding agency, he founded Nouveau Sud, a community-engaged contemporary circus company in Charlotte. “La Bestia,” a show about immigration, is the company’s fifth production.