We were lucky to catch up with Felicity Hesed recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Felicity, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of the most meaningful projects I worked on was my solo show, “Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto.” In 2018, I took the leap and left my day job in order to work as an artist full time. Already a mother of two, this was a very scary step for me. As soon as I stepped away from my day job, more and more artistic opportunities began to open up for me. With the ability to concentrate on my art, I suddenly had so many new creative ideas.

The concept for a solo show came into focus for me. The concept was for a clown theater piece with very little words, lots of audience participation, live music, and the use of circus skills throughout. The story was of a young woman pursuing a career as a musician when she meets a young man she falls hopelessly in love with (an audience member). They marry, have babies, and juggle them (literally). Before she knows it, her dreams of being a musician are a memory. The marriage falls apart (the audience member returns to his seat), and the woman is left with a broken heart and the mundanity of everyday life. Time passes and the woman sinks into a deep depression. At her lowest moment, her love of her family and her passion for music become a lifeline pulling her back. In a trapeze act of resilience and renewal she returns to life.

I began to work on this piece with a director, Jeff Raz, and a musician, Clare Armenante. I premiered the first version of the show in the San Francisco International Arts Festival in 2019. I continued to develop it and began submitting it for festivals. I was able to book an initial tour which included remounting it in San Francisco, taking it to Asheville, NC, and then making its European premiere in London, UK. I returned to from the tour in February of 2020. Unfortunately, the Pandemic hitting a month later meant that plans for another tour were permanently suspended.

This project was meaningful for many reasons. It was the first show that I fully created and produced on my own. I learned so much about touring and producing. These have been extremely valuable skills. I was also extremely proud of the show artistically. The show had a unique combination of storytelling, circus, music, and magic. I was able to incorporate skills I had trained for many years, including juggling, acrobatics, trapeze, and violin. I was able to successfully perform an almost 20 minute audience volunteer segment with my “husband” from the audience. I invented some new stage devices including a laundry basket for doing acrobatics on and a concert dress that magically transformed into a wedding gown. In addition, the content and themes were very personal to me. While the show was in no way autobiographical, it was important to me to tell the story of an ordinary, relatable woman and mother. We all make sacrifices and compromises in life. There is loss in this, but there is also the opportunity to discover love and transcendence. Finally, the success of this project confirmed for me that I made the right decision to pursue my vocation as an artist and creator.

Felicity, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a circus theatre creator. I write, adapt, direct, and produce productions that integrate stunning circus performance with theatrical storytelling.

I grew up doing theater as a child. I even formed a theater company called Tower Grove Players with neighborhood friends, and we would put on outdoor shows in the summers. I went to Kalamazoo College in Michigan and majored in Theater Arts. After graduating I moved to Chicago to pursue a career as an actor. I worked professionally as an actor for a few years, but I grew disillusioned with the commercial theatre industry. I missed the creative freedom and meaningful art I worked on in high school and college.

I didn’t discover circus until I was a young adult in Chicago. One day I walked by a place called the Actor’s Gym. It had big windows and inside people were tumbling, juggling, and hanging from trapezes. I knew immediately that I wanted to try it, and I began taking classes. Soon I fell in love with circus.

As an artist, theater and circus both spoke to me deeply. I loved the expressive, visceral quality of circus and the emotional, thought-provoking nature of theatre. I began exploring how I could combine theatre and circus. At the Actor’s Gym, I had the opportunity to create and direct a number of shows that integrated circus into the storyline of a play, including my circus adaptation of “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare.

In 2007, my husband (also a performing artist) and I moved to San Francisco to attend the Clown Conservatory at Circus Center. We wanted to commit more fully to our circus training. In addition to training clowning, we trained acrobatics with Master Lu Yi and I trained trapeze with Elena Panova. We performed as much as we could including performances with the New Pickle Circus and Teatro Zinzanni.

We never expected to stay in San Francisco very long, but 16 years later we are still here. My husband ended up working in tech, and we’ve had two children (ages 10 and 13). After having children, I actually got even more serious about my trapeze training. I began getting hired in shows in which they needed an actor who was also an aerialist. I also became known for my comedy trapeze act in which I enter the stage from the house as an audience member trying to take a selfie on stage. I end up getting on the trapeze. Through a series of comedic failures, I lose my normal clothes and end up doing an amazing act in a sparkly bikini. All of this takes place while I talk to the audience. I was fortunate to perform this act widely including at Moisture Festival in Seattle as well as in in Kaifeng, China at the 10th National Golden Chrysanthemum Festival.

Over nearly two decades of working in circus and theatre together and separately, I have developed my own unique style and voice. Over the last five years, I have been able to focus on creating fully-realized productions that blend circus and theater. From my solo show “Cara Vita: A Clown Concerto” to films such as “Women of America” to my most recent ensemble production of “The Secret Garden.” As a creator, the integration of circus and theatre allows me to tell ordinary stories in extraordinary ways. Humans’ experiences of the world often transcend language. The vocabulary of circus woven into a story allows me to express the ineffable – the depths of loneliness, the exuberance of a flower in bloom, the serenity of true love. This is how I show the magical reality of being alive!

One of the reasons I love working in the performing arts is because of the community it cultivates. I am passionate about working with a variety of artists from different backgrounds and with different specialties. I love building a strong, supportive community with my collaborators when I direct and produce shows. I believe that theatre and circus can be done in sustainable ways that is life-affirming for the participants.

I am also deeply committed to building community with the audiences that see my productions. I create productions that allow the audience to immerse themselves in the world of the show and experience it emotionally, physically, and cognitively. I explore themes that are relevant to audiences, providing opportunities for empathy, inspiration, and cathartic release.

One of the projects I am most proud of is my circus theatre adaption of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel “The Secret Garden.” I read “The Secret Garden” for the first time during the Pandemic. I was hooked immediately by the story of this little girl who was left isolated by the adults around her even before being orphaned by an epidemic. I read this at a time when we parents were plunking our kids in front of screens for their schooling and childcare. The themes of isolation, grief, and trauma for both children and adults felt very present. The book, and my production of “The Secret Garden,” offer antidotes to these difficult parts of being human: communing with nature, being encircled by friends and family, and engaging in play. Although there is no circus in this novel, Frances Burnett Hodgson’s descriptions of growing plants felt so alive and human to me. I immediately imagined the plants coming to life through dance and acrobats.

I first began creation on “The Secret Garden” with collaborators in early 2022 with our premiere production at Circus Center in June of 2022. It was incredibly well-received so we continued to develop and revise it. We went back into rehearsal in the Spring of 2023 in preparation for a month long run in the Summer of 2023 at a theater in downtown San Francisco . The production has received a great deal of attention for its unique style, beautiful performances, and inspiring storyline. I am proud of the process used to make the show, the final artistic product, as well as its success in reaching and touching audiences.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was hired to create and direct “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Circus Center in Spring of 2020. My concept for the show was to incorporate circus into Shakespeare’s play in an immersive production in which the audience would sing and dance along to a soundtrack of popular music. We held auditions in March of 2020, one week before San Francisco went into lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, we had no idea how long the pandemic or the lockdown would last. I went ahead and cast the show and we began having some early rehearsals on zoom, thinking that we would be returning to in person rehearsals within a few weeks. After a few weeks of meeting online, it became clear that we might not return to normal life for some time. There was widespread feeling of fear, uncertainty, and loneliness. Our zoom rehearsals became an important opportunity for the cast to feel connected to a community.
I made the decision to move forward with the project but to do it as a video project. I pitched this to the cast, and people were excited. I switched directions and re-adapted the script for video. We continued rehearsing on zoom with a clear goal in mind. We used wild and innovative techniques to allow people to video in their homes or on zoom. Once we learned it was safe to meet outside, we would meet in the park to shoot scenes. I didn’t want to lose the immersive aspect of the project so the choreographer created video dance tutorials so the audience could learn the dances before watching the episode and dance along in their living room. We got extremely creative with how to incorporate circus, from using former video footage to hanging trapezes from bridges!

This project was a lifeline for all of us who worked on it. It gave us a way to stay connected with other people, a tangible project to work on, and a goal to see through completion. For many of the people on this, it was the only thing that got them through those early difficult months. This project allowed me to explore a whole new medium – video. Since, then I’ve gone on to do some exciting work on video, and I even won an award for my film “Circus Pop Ups.” Finally, I also learned and grew as a director. The extraordinary challenges and restrictions of this project forced me to innovate and think outside the box like never before. This was a big pivot for me, but it worked. We were some of the first people to create pandemic art, and this piece will always be one of a kind.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I believe that art is a vital for humanity. Early humans told stories, danced and made music, and created drawings in caves. Creating art is in our nature as humans.

I firmly believe that art has the transformative power to enrich lives, foster empathy, and bridge the gap across diverse communities. To me, art is a vehicle for joy, meaning, and connection, and I’ve devoted my life to making it more accessible to everyone. Engaging in art and creativity makes people of all ages happier, healthier, and more fulfilled.

Being a professional artist is not for everyone. But I think everyone can benefit from engaging in art or creativity. This might mean being a consumer of art – visiting museums, watching movies, attending concerts. Or it might mean engaging in art – knitting, being in a church choir, making funny videos. Giving people the opportunity to experience and engage in art starting at a young age allows them to find ways to be artistically engaged throughout their life. I believe in arts education for all children.

We also need professional artists. People who are willing to dedicate their lives and careers to the advancement of different artistic disciplines. If the arts are going to be preserved and advanced, we need to invest in them. This investment cannot only rely on commercial funding otherwise there will be no room for innovation, diversity, and discovery. Sometimes there is a faulty notion that people should not get paid for doing art, that they do it because they love it. However, everyone is entitled to make a living. It is okay to enjoy your job and still make money.

I would like to see more public funding for the arts, artists, and arts education. I would also like to see people be more open to paying for the art they enjoy consuming from listening to music to seeing shows. I encourage people to be open to new experiences and to introduce their children to a variety of arts. People are often surprised to find that they enjoy seeing a new show or hearing music on a street corner or seeing a beautiful sculpture.

I would also like to put in a plug for circus as an art form. Sadly, circus is still not recognized as an art form by the US government. This makes it especially difficult to get grants and other forms of government funding. However, circus is absolutely art! It requires years of dedicated training and practice. It is expressive or emotions and ideas. It is a cultural expression that reflects human creativity.     

Contact Info:

• Website: www.felicityhesed.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/felicityhesed
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felicity.hunzekerhesed
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicity-hesed-a16ab991/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@felicityhesed5348

Image Credits
Photographer Credits: Fernando Gambaroni, Molly Kate Holsinger, Alison Park-Douglas, Steve Gregson