It’s a costume party at Discovery Theater with our Halloween host, Nic Whimsey. He’s a one man Halloween circus who loves to involve the kids – there’s even a treat for every child to end the show! Great Halloween practice for the youngest goblins. Grown-ups- bring your cameras!

A Closer Look - About the Artist:

Nick Newlin is a circus artist, vaudeville performer, artist in residency, director of education, -- all this and he juggles fruit and swords!

“On Nick Newlin's first day as a Harvard freshman, he found his true calling.  “I came into my dorm room, and one of my roommates was juggling, doing a few three-ball routines," explains Newlin. "I had never seen juggling up close before, and was really floored by it. It excited me incredibly right off the bat. So I started practicing." He had a vision of himself as a street performer in Paris, so he took a year off, found a nice little apartment near the Centre Pompidou--a prime location for outdoor entertainers using that museum's huge courtyard as their stage--and began his self-styled internship.

"I wrote a poem in French about rabbits and hunters and had the -juggling balls go along with the story, so that as I increased the number of balls, the rabbits were multiplying. I also juggled burning torches that I carved out of broom handles.  I was miserable at first, but I watched the other performers, and learned how to gather a crowd, and get people to pay afterward."

For a time, Newlin teamed up with a French entertainer, and then rounded out his year abroad with a - working tour of southern Europe. He plied his trade on the streets of Boston, San Francisco, Key West, Fla., and other states.

It was during that period that Newlin become aware of and eventually associated with the New Vaudevillians, a young crop of clowns, magicians and stunt people--among them the Flying Karamazov Brothers, Avner the Eccentric, Bill Irwin, Penn and Teller, and :the members of the Chesapeake Vaudeville Revue--intent on both celebrating and reenergizing a classic theatrical form.

Newlin plies his trade in theatrical productions such as the Folger's zany "Merry Wives of Windsor", on the Renaissance fair circuit, and of course, on tour. With his wife and lady the Queen of Whimsey and her animal associates--two mules, a donkey and two performing roosters--he travels for nine months out of the year. Newlin says the transient life style suits him just fine; when things get to him, he just starts juggling.

"It's kind of like a meditation," he explains. "You're so concerned with keeping the balls going that you can't think about your car payment."

The NicoloWhimsey Show has performed for audiences at:

• The White House
• The KennedyCenter Millenium Stage
• Folger Shakespeare Library
• The International Children's Festival at Wolf Trap
• Constitution Hall

...and at countless festivals, schools, and special events throughout the United States as well as abroad. In addition to their hilarious Variety Arts act, Nick and Joanne (the Queen of Whimsey,  also conduct workshops in juggling and circus skills for enthusiasts of all ages. Nick also plays keyboards and accordion in the local Dance band: Jamnation!

NOTE: Nick has a new CD! My World Grows, 17 songs for kids and adults, featuring old-timey tunes, children's songs, poems and an amazing array of sounds, featuring The Queen of Whimsey's Musical Saw, Nicolo's accordion, David Roe's guitar, and Eliza Newlin Carney's vocals! Order it on www.nicolowhimsey.com.