New Washington-run circus, Shoestring, to make Olympia debut in late June and early July
.jpg "Shoestring Circus will perform 14 shows in Olympia between June 28 and July 7.")
If you’re driving by the Swantown Marina in downtown Olympia in the coming weeks, keep an eye out for a red and white big-top tent. Olympia will become the second city to host Washington’s upstart Shoestring Circus when a 14-show run kicks off on Friday, June 28.
Olympia shows are planned for June 28 through July 7.
Shoestring was started in 2022 by a group of four veteran circus performers, Nicole Laumb, Justin Therrien, Sadye Osterloh, and Poki McCorkle. The group put on its first run of shows in Bellingham last year, and, after another run in Bellingham in mid-June, it’s expanding to Olympia.
“The opportunity came up to buy this big top tent from a company in California,” Laumb said in an interview ahead of Shoestring’s rehearsal on Tuesday morning. “It’s a company that I worked with for many years and this tent was very special to me… so when the chance came up to buy it, we all jumped [at] it, ‘let’s give it a go.’ We thought we’ve maybe done enough to be able to make it ourselves, and we really wanted to make a circus artist-owned circus company, and bring it to Washington.”
After their inaugural run last year, the group said they were surprised by the reception they got, and decided to expand the show beyond Bellingham.
“That was incredible. We did 14 shows and every show sold out after opening night. People really responded to our style of circus and the kind of acts we were bringing in, so we were like ‘let’s do it again,’” Laumb said.
They settled on Olympia as their second destination because they wanted to bring the show to a similarly-sized city in the region.
“Last year we were like, ‘yeah, let’s kick it off in Bellingham.’ This year we added our stop in Olympia which is at another port. So we’re kind of doing a port tour around Washington.”
If all goes according to plan, Shoestring will look to expand to more cities in the next few years.
“We always want to be this kind of an intimate setting… I think we’ll build up to three or four months in a summer of finding communities that like what we do and we bring them a new show every year,” Laumb said.
What can you expect from the shows?
The Shoestring team doesn’t want its shows to be a random collection of circus acts, so they lean heavily on storytelling, according to Laumb.
“It’s a bit more contemporary, but not in the ways people would think. It’s contemporary in that we’re a very absurd, silly, fun show,” Laumb said. “And we mix in a lot of high level skill and a big variety of acts. But it is more on the line of circus theater. So there’s no red-nose clowns or a ringmaster, but what we do always have is a narrative and through-line characters.”
This year’s story will have a medieval-fantasy theme.
“There’s a medieval element to this but there’s also a fantasy element to this. Half of the show takes place in the ‘stringdom,’ the other half takes place in the fantasy land we have to travel to to solve our problem,” Laumb said.
Shoestring also expanded its cast this year, with 12 performers, up from nine in 2023. Among the newcomers is Colin Creveling, a tightrope walker based in northern California. Creveling said he was drawn to the Shoestring team because of how collaborative it is.
“It’s very heart-forward. Everyone here are veterans of circus and of building ensemble-based work, which is definitely where my interest is… From pounding stakes, setting up the tent, to actually building the show itself, it’s all really deeply collaborative,” Creveling said.
How to buy tickets
Tickets cost $32 for general admission and $48 for a spot in the front row. Children under the age of 12 can get in for $16. The shows are open to all ages and tickets are available on the circus’s website.
Shows are scheduled for the following times:
June 28 at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
June 29 at 1:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
June 30 at 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
July 4 at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
July 5 at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.
July 6 at 1:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m and 8:00 p.m.
July 7 at 1:00 p.m.
This story was originally published June 6, 2024 at 5:00 AM.