Did you know Circus Open Mic is a completely new type of show for Seattle?  Circus performers from all over Western Washington are able to perform their amazing acts in front of an audience, gaining valuable stage time and feedback on their performances.  Judging by the hoots and hollers of audiences filling up Hale's Palladium once a month, we know Circus Open Mic attendees are loving things just as much as our performers.

Circus Open Mic works a little differently than a traditional open mic: performers sign up in advance for the awesome opportunity to perform under the heat of the lights and the gaze of adoring fans, and then those behind Circus Open Mic help to put the show together once a month.  So don't worry: you can attend Circus Open Mic each month without getting pulled up onstage to fly through the air with the greatest of ease, we promise!

Jeffrey Goetsch began Circus Open Mic in the spring of 2010 when he realized there just weren't enough performance opportunities for Seattle's incredibly talented circus artists.  After coming up short for venues for his own juggling act, Happenstance, Jeff took matters into his own hands and brought the circus community together around a little concept he called Circus Open Mic.  Deciding nothing goes better with circus than beer, Circus Open Mic took up residence at Hale's Palladium (in the back of Hale's Ales) once a month.  Three shows, dozens of beers, and hundreds of audience members later, Circus Open Mic is going stronger than ever, with a brand-new show and a growing audience each and every month.

Murphy thinks it's just a hoot to be part of the Seattle fringe theater and/or circus community.  She has teched shows at 14/48, Balagan, Circus Contraption, ACT, Theater Off Jackson, Moisture Festival, and Cafe Nordo.  She loves the seat-of-your-pants, trial-by-fire nature of Circus Open Mic and is honored to be working out of Hale's Palladium, home of the best circus acts in town, and some pretty darn good boozes, too.

Colin Butler (a.k.a Captain Jakalof: The Knotty Seaman) ran away from his family in Alaska to join the circus here in Seattle. While working with Moisture Festival, parts of Circus Contraption, and Orkestar Zirkonium, he fell in love with the burlesque world. In October 2009 he attended Miss Indigo Blue's Academy of Burlesque's first ever boylesque 101 class. Since then, he has been performing with a number of troupes here in town, and toured to NYC's International Fringe Theater Festival with Shine: A Burlesque Musical.

Blair Feehan has hovered around circus for years, but Circus Open Mic is her first go at actually helping make it.  She’s flirted with both flying and static trapeze and wound up (nerd alert!) writing her thesis in college on circus and Cirque du Soleil.  When she’s not toiling away in the circus fields handling COM’s publicity, Blair works for a downtown nonprofit and dreams of running away with Cirque du Soleil.