A Labor of Love
SHOW Circus Studio began in the spring of 2009. Henry Wheaton and Chris Oakley, came together with a desire to create a circus training space in the Pioneer Valley. They both loved the Pioneer Valley area and felt that circus was the only thing missing in their Western Massachusetts community. After an exhaustive search for space with appropriate ceiling height, they found an opening at the Paragon Arts and Industry Building in Easthampton, MA. Together with fellow circus enthusiasts Jamie Hodgson, Marah MacRostie, and Stephanie Santoro, they turned their 900 sq ft former industrial space into an intimate circus facility. They named the space “SHOW” based on the last names of the people who were initially involved with its creation.
Interest about circus in the community started to build, and SHOW began to offer classes in the fall of 2009. Teachers were recruited from the local area and from the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, VT. By April of 2010, the studio had already outgrown its tiny 900 sq ft space and moved down the hall into a 1500 sq ft suite. More classes were developed and the student population began to grow.
In 2011, SHOW absorbed an additional 1000 sq ft next door to the 1500 sq ft room and created a bigger entranceway along with an additional teaching room, allowing for more classes and events. The studio began offering youth vacation programs, community events, and workshops. In 2015, SHOW grew further to include an open floor plan training area (“Big Top”) with built-in office and waiting room. Since then, the studio expanded once more, to now include a second studio space across the hall (“Little Top”).
SHOW survived the COVID-19 pandemic with careful community health protection measures, and is still going strong thanks to a supportive community base of students, staff, friends, and families.
In 2025, the baton of studio ownership was passed to Tara Jacob and Victoria Quine, who now lead the studio in its latest evolution.
