Event

Rob Merwin-Circle of Sawdust

This is a full evening one-man show, an educational and entertaining "Picturesque History" lecture lavishly illustrated with a dazzling array of clips from 100 silent films! It is divided into film sections with live commentary in between: Slapstick, Romantic Comedy, Adventure, Foreign Drama, American Drama, and Comedy. The intent is to shed new light on the acting style of the silent era while giving modern audiences a fresh and entertaining look at the talents of the silent stars. It is a celebration of the art of physical actingwhat Rob's mentor Marcel Marceau called the "silent language of the soul"seen through the lens of silent cinema.

Rob Mermin is the founder of the award-winning international touring youth circus Circus Smirkus
Rob Mermin ran off to join the circus in 1969. He clowned with various European circuses including England's Circus Hoffman, Sweden's Cirkus Scott, Denmark's Circus Benneweis in the Circus Building by the Tivoli, the Hungarian Magyar State Cirkusz, and circus palaces throughout the former Soviet Union. His formal training includes mime with masters Marcel Marceau and Etienne Decroux, and a degree in Drama and Literature from Lake Forest College. He is former Dean of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, and President of Blackfriar's Summer Theater. In 1987 Mermin founded Circus Smirkus in Greensboro, Vermont.

Mermin's awards include Copenhagen's Gold Clown; Vermont's Bessie Award; Best Director Prize at the International Circus Festival on Russia's Black Sea; the Lund Family Center's "It Takes A Village" Award; the Vermont Arts Council Award of Merit; Lake Forest College's Outstanding Alumni Leadership Award;[5] and the 2008 Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Mermin currently resides in Montpelier, Vermont.