See the summer spectacle to end all spectacles! Watch mythical creatures burn! Feel the awe when aerialists play with fire! Acro-stilters will astound you! Bedlam Theatre and Infiammati Fire Circus are pulling out all the stops for Persephone: Reign of Fire, taking place in the Bedlam parking lot from June 3-13.
In addition to the above, you’ll experience: fireworks, dancers, large quantities of fire, live music, shadow puppets, and much more. (Did I mention there will be fire?) For Perspehone—Infiammati’s fourth annual event—Infiammati founder and director Rah Kojis is teaming up with award-winning choreographer Krisin Freya and the Northern Lighters Pyrotechnics impresarios.
An epic battle between innocence and evil, Reign of Fire tells the story of an innocent maiden’s journey to the underworld, her rise to power as queen, and her incandescent return to the living as a harbinger of spring. As the seasons cycle, she encounters mythical beasts and creatures ablaze. Fire whips, fans, wings, palms, costumes, and set pieces “light the way,” according to the Bedlam Web site.
Kojis is more excited about, and inspired by, this show than any of the previous shows, she said.
“It’s such an amazing group of performers, designers and artists, coming together to create a fabulous show that is a grander spectacle. There are amazing new props and fire costuming by the Infiammati crew!”
There will be clowns, pre-shows, and aftershows featuring side show acts, live bands, and DJs. There will be family-friendly stuff before the show. “I’m pulling out the circus aspects, more than ever. It’s a multi-media circus event on fire,” Kojis said.
This year’s spectacle is bigger than ever. Kojis intends to make the event larger every year. “We have more aerial work and acro-stilting stuff than ever before,” she said. “Pyrotechnics and fireworks, amazing sets!” There is more seating, with better sightlines this year than in past years.
There are also more professional dancers and the music will be amazing. Fiddler Naomi Joy (from Mother of Fire) is the music director. A live musical score is featured, created by Joy and Asylum Sound System. The Rest Easys, featuring Black Blondie’s Liz Draper on bass and Sean Pettiway on accordion, is the house band performing the pre-show. There will be live vocals by Emily Gergen Bar.
Two after-show bands performing are Book of Right On—celebrating their CD release at Bedlam on June 3—and Pre-Apocalyptic Junkyard Orchestra, a gypsy-punk-bluegrass band from Mankato.
Kojis’s carnie barker side came out as she exclaimed, “It’s a summer spectacle you don’t want to miss! Music, fire, aerial artists, pyrotechnics…there’s nothing like this in the Midwest.”
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