Where else can you find people twirling on hanging silks, flipping on trapeze bars and practicing stage combat — other than The Actors Gymnasium?
Located in the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, The Actors Gym is a nonprofit circus and performing arts training center that offers classes for nearly all ages, ranging from introductory levels for young children to professional two-year training programs for aspiring circus performers.
Founded in 1995, The Actors Gym celebrated three decades of circus in Evanston on Friday at its 30th Birthday Bash, held at Tallmadge Park.
The event featured a special guest performance from Midnight Circus, a professional circus troupe that tours public parks in the Chicago suburbs.
Co-founder and Communication Prof. Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi was part of the original cast, and she reunited with her longtime friend and former colleague, Midnight Circus co-founder Jeff Jenkins, to bring spectacle and excitement to the Birthday Bash.
Inside a remarkably large circus tent, Midnight Circus awed attendees with flips and tricks that seemed to border on the impossible.
“It’s so lovely to see these two really pivotal pillars of the Chicagoland area circus world together,” said The Actors Gym’s production manager Erin Hollway. “Acknowledging that we both as organizations have grown up together and celebrating each other’s existence and accolades and exquisite talents.”
After the performance, the circus tent transformed into a party full of chatter, an auction, snacks and drinks. Illuminated Brew Works even brewed a unique beer specifically for the event, which featured a customized can label.
Because The Actors Gym could not celebrate its 25th anniversary due to Covid-19, marketing manager Alice Wu said, a large celebration this year has been in the works for a while. She said planning began about six months ago — and for most, it was a success.
“It was just a night of joy and revelry and celebration of the things that The Actors Gymnasium has brought to the circus community in the Evanston and greater Chicago area,” Hollway said.
Hernandez-DiStasi co-founded The Actors Gym three decades ago alongside Carlyle Coash (Communication ’90), Lawrence DiStasi (Communication ’87) and theatre critic Tony Adler.
As a second-generation circus performer who grew up in a troupe and previously performed in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Hernandez-DiStasi is the only founder remaining at the circus school.
The Actors Gym was originally founded to expand actors’ skillsets by offering courses in gymnastics, aerial apparatuses, juggling and more. About five years into running, Wu said the gym began offering stage combat classes where participants can take tests to become certified in using a certain weapon onstage.
Over time, The Actors Gym pivoted to mainly specialize in circus skills. Its aerial classes are the most popular, teaching students how to use aerial silk, trapeze, lyra (or aerial hoop) and Spanish web.
“That’s what everybody wanted, especially when we first opened. Cirque du Soleil was really huge,” Hernandez-DiStasi said.
Along with courses for children, teens and beginner adults, The Actors Gym offers a unique two-year ProTraining program intended for performers who want to pursue circus full-time and actors who want to enrich their acting toolkits. The intensive program requires participants to practice five days a week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and instructs them in almost every facet of circus.
Hollway completed the ProTraining program in 2023. She said she jokes that she has a “master’s degree from clown college,” describing the program as a full-time education in circus.
The Actors Gym produces over ten shows a year, including showcases in a talent show-like format and productions that Hernandez-DiStasi said are “circus with a little bit of story.”
Wu, the marketing manager, said she hopes that these performances not only entertain, but influence as well.
“If we do something on stage that inspires someone to take a risk, or take a class and do something that feels maybe a little scary that they maybe wouldn’t do before, to me, I think that’s so worth it,” she said.
The Actors Gym’s 30th Birthday Bash saw three decades of former students and their families and friends walk through the tent. Many of these attendees started practicing circus for fun and exercise in grade school; others joined The Actors Gym to prepare them for a future profession.
Having mentored these students since the very beginning, Hernandez-DiStasi has watched individuals, friendships and relationships blossom. She’s even officiated multiple weddings between students.
“It’s the people that come through,” Hernandez-DiStasi said. “It’s the connections that you make, it’s the friendships. I feel like I’ve raised thousands of children.”
Email: [email protected]
X: @mayaw0ng
Related Stories:
— Raving with robots: ‘Sex Tech No’ stages techno-theater reckoning with AI, search for connection
— Northwestern Dance Program classes offer approachable entry-level introduction to dance
— Over 20 years later, TONIK Tap grooves through generations
