His life is a circus

For Brian Newman, AS ’03M, life is truly a circus. He is the production manager for a traveling one-ring show by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in theatre at Louisiana State University, Newman enrolled in UD’s Professional Theatre Training Program. He graduated in 2003 and worked in Pennsylvania and New York, before joining the circus in 2004.

“The next thing I knew, I was in graduate school and then I’m in New York, and then I’m here,” he said during a series of circus performances in the spring at the Bob Carpenter Sports/Convocation Center on UD’s Newark campus.
In addition to overseeing the preparations for the show and dealing with staff schedules and issues, he watches each show to make sure that it maintains high standards.

“One of my friends had worked on the show, and she always had funny stories about what happened on the road. She always made me laugh,” Newman says. “When people ask my parents, ‘Where did Brian go?’ they say, ‘He ran away and joined the circus.’ And they say, ‘I can see that.’”

Newman says the circus has taken him to more than 130 cities, from Puerto Rico to Mexico and Canada, but the most memorable was a visit to his hometown, Baton Rouge, La., in February 2005.
“I was swamped,” he says. “My friends were just going crazy to see me, because I hadn’t been home for three years. I went there for Christmas last year, but now home is here. It’s not there any more. It’s a traveling town, and you have a different ZIP code every week.”

Newman says the group of 130 individuals in the circus form strong bonds with one another and often marry and raise families that stay with the group.

“This is a very big family and lots of small nuclear families within that,” Newman says. “It’s a circus!”

—-Martin Mbugua