- June 15, 2025
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Circus Arts Conservatory co-founder Pedro Reis stepped down from management of the circus nonprofit last November, but as production strategist, he still is responsible for producing the CAC’s tentpole events, like the Summer Circus Spectacular.
Bringing star performers from all over the globe to Sarasota is getting harder, with longer waits for U.S. visas, and increased scrutiny at border crossings and airports. For the CAC’s Circus Sarasota, held this year from Feb. 15 to March 9, Reis was intent on hosting a troupe of Ethiopian acrobats, but they couldn’t get into the U.S. in time for the show.
“Getting into the country is more challenging and difficult than before,” Reis says.
Even though he didn’t get his Ethiopian artists back in February, he was able to book a troupe of female Ethiopian acrobats called Trio Black Diamond for the Summer Circus Spectacular, which starts June 13.
Trio Black Diamond has wowed audiences across Europe, including at the Monte Carlo Circus Festival and Saint Paul Dax in France.
“I think our audiences are really going to enjoy Trio Black Diamond,” Reis says. “That’s what it’s really all about, thrilling the audiences and bringing them back year after year.”
The Summer Circus Spectacular also includes “America’s Got Talent” finalist Aidan Brant on aerial straps, speed juggler Nilson Escobar, Sian España on the German Wheel and Zeman Quick Change, a husband-and-wife team whose lightning-fast costume switches stun audiences.
There are no animals in the Summer Circus Spectacular, but some traditional elements of the circus remain. You can’t have a circus without a ringmaster (CAC employee Jared Walker) and a clown (Juan Carlos Valencia).
A Florida native, Walker has had a long career as an actor, director and choreographer. He came to Sarasota in 2004 to play Fred Casely in “Chicago” and stayed on. The magnetic performer has been creative director for the Sailor Circus Academy, the CAC’s youth education arm, since 2018.
Clowns sometimes get a bad rap thanks to a subgenre of horror movies. Presenting them to families can be tricky. For some reason, a foreign accent and a little bit of Continental flair makes the tricksters more palatable to modern audiences. Valencia, the fifth generation of a circus family, fits the bill.
As Reis casually drops the names of Ethiopia’s capital and the glamorous gaming mecca Monte Carlo in a telephone interview, it’s obvious that he knows his way around the world.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Reis became a trapeze artist performing in Europe before making his American debut with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1984.
Together with circus royalty Dolly Jacobs, daughter of famed clown Lou Jacobs, Reis co-founded the predecessor organization to the CAC in 1987.
This is Reis’ 17th or 18th season producing the Summer Circus Spectacular at The Ringling, Reis says. He’s not sure of the exact number because one season was interrupted by renovations at The Ringling, the museum that grew out of John Ringling’s desire to leave his mansion and art collection to the people of Florida.
What started out as a one-week show in The Ringling’s Wagon Room has since moved to the museum’s Historic Asolo Theater with a run of nine weeks this year, starting June 13.
First built in 1798 inside a palace in Asolo, Italy, the jewelbox theater’s elaborate proscenium, decorative panels and other components were purchased by The Ringling in 1949. The historic theater, which opened for Sarasota performances in 1952, has only 286 seats. The intimate setting rules out circus acts with large apparatus like the Wheel of Death.
With a running time of about an hour, the Summer Circus Spectacular caters to the short attention spans of young children and internet-addled adults. There is plenty of room in the back and along the sides for walkers and wheelchairs. It’s not unusual to see three generations of a family watching the show, a phenomenon that warms Reis’ heart.
As much as he loves the Historic Asolo Theater (dubbed the HAT, for short), Reis wants readers and ticket buyers to think of his show as the Summer Circus Spectacular at The Ringling.
Why? So they won’t mistakenly go to the nearby FSU Center for the Performing Arts, home of the Asolo Repertory Theatre, which shares a parking lot with The Ringling.
Many a tourist has ended up at the HAT, inside The Ringling, for an Asolo Rep performance, or over at FSU for a show just minutes from curtain at the HAT. It’s confusing, but if these are the worst of our problems in Sarasota, we’re quite lucky.
Circus lovers are also flummoxed when they arrive on Mondays, the day of free admission at The Ringling, to learn that while they can tour the galleries of The John and Mable Ringling Art Museum at no charge, they will have to pay full freight ($30 for adults and $5 for children 6-17) to visit the Tibbals Learning Pavilion and other circus galleries at The Ringling.
Yes, John Ringling may be turning in his grave, but only his art can be viewed for free on Mondays, not The Ringling’s Circus Museum, established in 1948 under the direction of the museum’s first director, Everett (“Chick”) Austin. Sorry, the rules are the rules.
Fortunately for those who want to make it a day of circus at The Ringling and who absolutely must see the world’s largest miniature circus, the CAC and the museum have teamed up to offer Summer Circus Spectacular ticket holders access to the Circus Museum for just $5.
No trip to The Ringling is complete without viewing the Howard Bros. Circus Model, created by philanthropist and circus lover Howard Tibbals. Even the most jaded tourist won’t fail to be dazzled by the sheer scope of the majestic exhibit, which consists of more than 42,000 pieces and spans 3,800 square feet. It’s reminiscent of a military model. But instead of an army taking over a city, it’s a circus in all its glory preparing its cultural occupation.
While there is plenty of Old School circus ephemera at The Ringling, there’s also a new, interactive gallery on the second floor of the Tibbals called “The Greatest Show on Earth.” Opened in April 2024, the exhibit is devoted to the modern era of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which Feld Entertainment of Palmetto acquired in 1967.
All you need is popcorn! Maybe you can eat it in the car.
Food isn’t permitted in the Historic Asolo Theater, but there is a Starbuck’s on the second floor of The Ringling’s entry foyer, right above the gift shop. There’s also a lovely restaurant, The Grill Room, which is participating in Savor Sarasota Restaurant Week from June 1-20. It’s offering a $25 prix fixe special for lunch and a $45 one for dinner.
With the recent addition of the holiday Wonderland circus at UTC, a collaboration between superstar aerialist Nik Wallenda and the CAC, to complement the annual Circus Sarasota in February and the Summer Circus Spectacular, some might wonder: Is there too much circus in Sarasota?
For the circus faithful, there’s never too much. Still, Reis is careful to keep the acts fresh at the events he produces, repeating artists only every four or five years.
“This is, I think, our 18th year at The Ringling,” he says. “Obviously the recipe is working. What is it? It’s a combination of various energies — humorous, sensational, thrilling, death-defying. You are transported into another world.”
P.S. It’s air conditioned.
