Comedian Seth Bloom wades into an audience of delighted schoolchildren during a recent performance of the national touring show ‘Air Play.’
LOGAN – When the Cache Valley Center for the Arts promises something for everyone in its National Touring Season, you can take that pledge to the bank.
The debut of Air Play at the Ellen Eccles Theatre on Sept. 7 was part artistry, part whimsy and all entertaining. Moreover, it was like nothing ever seen before by local audiences.
The two-person show, starring spouses Seth Bloom and Christina Gelsone, has been variously described as a piece of theater, a comedy, a mobile sculpture and a circus act. In reality, Air Play is all of those things and more.
The show’s innovative creators prefer to call Air Play a visual poem in which the pair used balloons, umbrellas, vast sheets of fabric and confetti to skillfully and beautifully defy gravity.
But whatever you call it, Air Play was sheer fun both for its performers and the audience.
Using no words, Bloom and Gelsone performed a mime show of innocent sibling rivalry in a style of physical comedy that was subtly reminiscent of the Italian commedia dell’arte. Not content to merely clown around with each other while juggling aerial props, they also engaged with members of the audiences, both on-stage and in the house.
With a tip of their hats to current events, Bloom and Gelsone even incorporated topical face coverings and social distancing into their usual shtick.
Bloom and Gelsone have performed Air Play in venues throughout the world, because its childlike themes can be universally understood. That also makes the show particularly appropriate for two performances that were slated for Cache Valley schoolchildren on Sept. 8.
While it might appear simple to the audience, the artistry of Air Play is heavily dependent on the skills of backstage technicians. They included air sculptor Daniel Wurtzel, director West Hyler, lighting designer Jeanne Koenig, production manager Todd Alan Little and stage manager Flora Vasar.
The next act in the CacheARTS touring line-up will be the legendary Sons of the Pioneers on Sept. 27.
The Cache Valley Center for the Arts is an independent non-profit organization that promotes the use of Cache Valley’s publicly owned cultural arts facilities.
Those facilities include the Ellen Eccles Theatre, the Thatcher-Young Mansion and the Bullen Center.