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The Circus Spectacular is a dazzling fundraising event. Starring guest artists from circuses around the world, this is a unique opportunity to see some of today’s most renowned high flying aerialists, acrobats, and jugglers in Brattleboro on the Latchis Theater stage. An evening of incredible, world-class entertainment that supports scholarship and outreach programming that affects LGBTQ youth, families & circus professionals!

  • Over a third of those enrolled in NECCA’s programs (professionals, adults and kids) are either LGBTQ or and/or are being raised in same-sex parent households. NECCA is an oasis of support, trust, love and positive reinforcement for these LGBTQ kids, adults and families!

JOIN US FOR AN LGBTQ+…AND ALLIES…NIGHT AT THE CIRCUS!

  • “I am the Walrus”…Meet the Master of Ceremonies Marshall Jarreau! Join us from 5-7 with special Master of Ceremonies and circus performer Marshall Jarreau! – along with VIP Circus Cast appearances, raffle prizes, food, and cash bar – for a pre-show Reception & Benefit to launch NECCA’s new LGBTQ+ Scholarship Fund! Marshall has been entertaining audiences professionally for almost 20 years, performing around the world with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and was also a top finalist on the first season of FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance”. In 2010, Marshall began formal training as an aerialist at NECCA and from there landed the part of the Walrus character in Cirque Du Soleil’s “LOVE” (above). Additionally Marshall took first place at the 2013 Pole Expo Classic competition in Las Vegas and has had the privilege of performing with MOTH Poetic Circus in Denver, Aerial Horizon Company in San Antonio, and Topsy Turvy Queer Circus in San Francisco. We’re pleased and proud to have Marshall with us as the MC for the LGBTQ+ Scholarship Reception & Benefit!

    The excitement begins at Echo Restaurant across from the Latchis Theater! Join us from 5-7 pm for a pre-show Reception & Benefit to launch NECCA’s new LGBTQ+ Scholarship Fund with VIP Circus Cast appearances, raffle prizes, food, and cash bar. Plus, special Master of Ceremonies, professional circus performer and NECCA Graduate Marshall Jarreau!

Free Surprise Circus Gifts for all who join us!

Exciting Door Prize Raffle for all who join us! The evening’s Door Prize is a 24″ x 19″ large-format “Performance Circus Art” photograph shot by Brattleboro photographer Jeff Lewis, professionally double-matted and framed ($350 Value)!

Over $3,000 in Raffle Prizes (Raffle tickets are $5 each, or 5 for $20) Raffle Prizes include…

      • The LGBTQ+ Scholarship Raffle Drawing Grand Prize is an all-expense paid, LOVE BRATTLEBORO VT “BrattleLicious, BrattleFabulous Weekend for Two” which includes three night’s lodging at the Latchis Hotel, a Deluxe Vermont specialty food & bodycare welcome basket from Duttons Berry Farm, Farmstand & Greenhouse, daily farm-to-table lunch and dinner at top local eateries – including T.J. Buckleys, The Blue Moose Bistro, Hazel, The Fat Crow, A Vermont Table, Top of the Hill Grill & BBQ, specialty food tasting at Grafton Village Cheese, distillery tasting at Saxton’s River Distillery, brewery hop at Hermit Thrush Brewery, and a glassblowing & pottery making experiences at Fire Arts Vermont – a $1,500+ value! Simply BrattleLicious & BrattleFabulous! (Raffle tickets are $5 each, or 5 for $20)

        Grand Prize: All-expense paid “BrattleLicious, BrattleFabulous Weekend for Two” includes three night’s lodging at the Latchis Hotel, a Deluxe Vermont specialty food & bodycare welcome basket from Duttons Berry Farm, Farmstand & Greenhouse, daily farm-to-table lunch and dinner at top local eateries – including T.J. Buckleys, The Blue Moose Bistro, Hazel, The Fat Crow, A Vermont Table, Top of the Hill Grill & BBQ, specialty food tasting at Grafton Village Cheese, distillery tasting at Saxton’s River Distillery, brewery hop at Hermit Thrush Brewery, and a glassblowing & pottery making experiences at Fire Arts Vermont, a $1,500+ value! Simply BrattleLicious & BrattleFabulous!  Additional Raffle prizes include:

      • Winter Rendezvous Gay Ski Week Stowe Passes ($500 Value)
      • Frog Meadow $300 Gift Certificate
      • 2020 Circus Spectacular host Stephanie Monseau: “Over a third of the students – and coaches – in NECCA’s programs are either LGBTQ+ or and/or are being raised in same-sex parent households. NECCA is an oasis of support, trust, love and positive reinforcement for these LGBTQ+ kids, adults and families!”

        Beacon Light Guesthouse Provincetown
        $300 Gift Certificate

      • Bloomin’ Antiques Fitzwilliam NH $200 Gift Certificate
      • The Lodge at West River Newfane $130 Gift Certificate
      • NECCA Flying Trapeze Lessons for Two ($100 Value)
      • Shapeshifters Apparel $100 Gift Certificate
      • Mountainside Camping $100 Gift Certificate
      • OutRyders LGBTQ Ski Club Memberships ($70 Value)
      • George J. Brooks Florist $50 Gift Certificate
      • Windham Movement Apparel $50 Gift Certificate

Circus Spectacular Performer Ariele Ebacher: “NECCA’s annual Circus Spectacular presents high-flying aerialists, acrobats, and jugglers who bring thrills, laughter and awe to Brattleboro’s historic Latchis Theater stage. Join us to support a wonderful organization that nourishes our vibrant LGBTQ+ community!”

What’s a Circus Spectacular you ask? For this very special, once-a-year fundraising event, the New England Center for Circus Arts brings together professional performers and NECCA alumni from around the world to donate their talents to raise money for NECCA’s outreach and scholarship programs. High flying aerialists, acrobats, and jugglers will bring laughter and awe to the Latchis stage for 2 shows only. If you are unable to join us Saturday night, please consider going to the 1PM Matinee on Sunday! This may just be Brattleboro’s hottest event of the year—with jaw-dropping, world-class circus entertainment that the entire family can enjoy.

The 2020 celebrity host will be Stephanie Monseau, who recently toured as Ringmaster with the Big Apple Circus. Monseau will be joined for mayhem and merriment by her Bindlestiff Family Cirkus co-founder, Keith Nelson. Together they will bring wit and wackiness as the connective entertainment between acts.

Performers include:

  • Molly Gawler, who was lead dancer with the modern dance company Pilobolus, bringing grace and athleticism to her performance on the cyr wheel. Gawler’s second act is a poignant mime and dance act with an empty jacket.
  • Ariele Ebacher, who’s touring credits include the European Nofit State Circus and American Big Apple Circus, will dance on the tight wire two meters off the stage floor.
  • Montana Miller was the first American accepted into circus school at the prestigious Ecole Nationale des Arts du Cirque in Chalons-sur-Marne, France, and holds a degree from Harvard in Folklore and Mythology. She will be soaring on the aerial rings with a narrative act about a near death experience.

Circus Spectacular Performer Sam Gurwitt: “NECCA’s Outreach and Scholarship Programs help at-risk, LGBTQ youth and provides them with a nurturing LGBT-friendly environment that they can call home!”

Other performers include:

  • NECCA founders Elsie Smith and Serenity Smith Forchion. These award winning artists, formerly with Cirque du Soleil and Ringling Bros., will perform solo aerial acts.
  • Troy Wunderle, who once directed clown acts at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and is now Artistic Director of Circus Smirkus.
  • Susan Murphy, one of the original devisers of dance trapeze—an art form that began with Terry Sendgraff in Berkeley, CA in 1978. Susan holds a master’s degree in modern dance and is a Certified Movement Analyst from the Laban Institute for Movement. Her performance highlights include Lincoln Center and the Skirball Center of the Performing Arts.
  • Sam Gurwitt of CirqueUS, playing all the parts in a comedic tennis match. He devised his act somewhere between touring with Circus Smirkus, getting a degree at Yale, street performing, and working as a reporter in New Haven, CT.

Circus Spectacular Performer Molly Gawler: “Come connect with friends old and new, see dazzling performers from around the globe – while supporting LGBTQ and at-risk youth!”

Join us for “oohs,” “aahs,” and laughs—all to raise funds supporting NECCA’s transformative outreach programming and scholarships. Circus education offers aspiration, expression, empowerment, innovation, strength, grace, a place of belonging, and joy. People can’t fly, but at NECCA, they do.

NECCA’s outreach programming and scholarships include:

  •  After-school programs to specialized instruction for at-risk, LGBTQ and questioning youth who are provided with the opportunity to discover and develop themselves and grow in an unconditionally supportive, non-judgmental and nurturing LGBTQ-friendly environment that they can call home.
  • Workshops for cancer survivors and people with disabilities.
  • Performances in area group homes and rehabilitation centers.
  • Subsidy for need-based scholarships.

NECCA founders, twins Elsie Smith & Serenity Smith Forchion: “All of us…Serenity and I, our students, staff and coaches THANK YOU SO MUCH for Supporting NECCA’s new LGBTQ+ Scholarship Fund! We look forward to seeing you at the pre-performance Reception & Benefit from 5-7 at Echo and at the Circus Spectacular Performance at 7:30 at the Latchis Theater…we promise you it’ll be a truly amazing and unforgettable evening!”

Over a third of those enrolled in NECCA’s programs (professionals, adults and kids) are either LGBTQ or and/or are being raised in same-sex parent households. NECCA is an oasis of support, trust, love and positive reinforcement for these LGBTQ kids, adults and families!

ALL ARE WELCOME TO JOIN US FOR A PRE-SHOW RECEPTION AND BENEFIT TO LAUNCH NECCA’S NEW LGBTQ+ SCHOLARSHIP FUND FROM 5-7 PM WITH VIP CIRCUS CAST APPEARANCES, RAFFLE PRIZES, FOOD, CASH BAR AT ECHO RESTAURANT (ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE LATCHIS THEATER) 69 MAIN STREET BRATTLEBORO!

Can’t join us? Click here to donate to NECCA’s new LGBTQ+ Scholarship Program!

Thanks for your support!

EVENT PICS AND GRAND PRIZE DRAWING VIDEO BELOW

 

Some of the many 200 year old stone walls at Frog Meadow!
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Frog Meadow Farm Bed & Breakfast and Massage Oasis for Men is a welcoming, non-judgmental place for men of all colors and backgrounds to unwind and shed the trappings of busy modern life.

Situated on 63 beautiful & private acres, Frog Meadow frequently hosts men’s gatherings, workshops and retreats. Hosts Dave & Scott are committed to providing a welcoming environment to re-connect with nature and yourself.

The South RoomFrog Meadow is only 4 miles from the popular Rock River swimming hole, 10 miles from Brattleboro, VT and 30 minutes Mount Snow & Stratton Mountain ski resorts.

Relax in our spring-fed swimming pond, soak in our wood-fired hot tub, or enjoy our 4-season recreation trails and extensive perennial gardens and orchard!

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