The Actors Gymnasium

I attended this past Saturday’s show, «Marnie & Phil: A Circus Love Letter». It was a really fun experience! This was my first time at Actors Gymnasium, so I was not quite sure what to expect — but I was incredibly impressed by the talent of the young kids who performed. It was a very entertaining show, and I would definitely go back to see another one.
Additionally, the Actors Gym does a great job investing in the Evanston community. I would recommend it to any family!

What a lovely place! I was lucky enough to be a part of the audience last Friday for their 7:30 show of Marnie and Phil. What an excellent show. The actors were fun, the acrobatics were entertaining and well executed. I was a little unsure of bringing my 4 year old because the event page on Unilocal!said the show would be best for ages 5 and up, however she did just fine. 90 minutes no intermission and her eyes were glued to the stage. She clapped her hands and excitedly exclaimed when the performers did tricks. She expecially liked Phil’s silliness. I have to say all around it was an excellent experience, especially for my four year old’s first theatre introduction.
I would note that the story is not geared specifically young children. In fact, I’m not sure my daughter can recall what the story was about. I just think it’s a show the entire family can enjoy. I love it! I would highly recommend checking it out.
One small negative which is charactaritic of all small venues, it gets a little warm in there. Don’t dress too heavy.

I LOVE Actors Gymnasium! It is easily my favorite place in Evanston, and really all of Chicago.
I’ve been taking aerials classes at Actors Gym (AG) for almost two years, and my biggest regret about my time in Evanston is that I didn’t start classes there earlier. AG is truly a special place – here’s what I appreciate about it, and why I absolutely recommend taking a class or seeing a show:
1) It’s CIRCUS. There’s really nothing cooler than learning tricks on the trapeze or silks, or if it’s more your style, you can learn general circus skills (like juggling, miming, etc.), or take a contortion, gymnastics, or circus fitness class. Circus is exhilarating and addictive, and is a unique experience that you can’t get everywhere. Circus is a chance to push what you *think* are your body’s limits. It also makes for excellent Facebook pictures and is a great conversation starter at a party or on a date. ;)
2) The teachers and staff. Everyone who runs AG is just excellent. The teachers are experienced and talented – some grew up in the circus or in circus families, others have been taking classes at AG since childhood. I have found a great mix of encouragement and challenge from the teachers, depending on what phase I was in (nervous newbie vs. more experienced).
3) The community. If you give it time, you will discover that AG has a real community feel – more than just a place to drop in, take a class, and leave without interacting with anyone. One thing I appreciate about taking 10-​week group classes is that I see the same people week to week. If you stick with it, you get to know the other students, your teachers, and even some of the people who run AG (lots of the staff take classes too). This does take time, but is an added bonus if you really get into circus arts. AG has shows, fundraisers, intensive circus programs, and lots of opportunities to feel involved beyond classes, if you look for them (tip: read their emails and like their Facebook page for updates).
4) The chance to grow as an athlete and person. I never believed I would ever do a pull-​up in my life, but after 9 months of aerials classes, I could actually do 2 (there is no upper-​body workout more fun than aerials!). I was fearful of anything dance-​related coming into classes, and nervous to wear tight-​fitting clothes in front of a group of strangers. None of that actually matters. At all. Many different types and ages of people take classes, and the focus is on what you can do, and what you can learn to do – not on whether you are messing up (part of the process!) or on how you look. People encourage each other at whatever level, and the more classes you take, the stronger you get, the more graceful you become, and the more confident you are about every aspect of aerials (or whatever you are learning).
5) The shows. AG has several shows a year and they are excellent and inspiring. Go see one! It is a lot of fun and a good value. :) Circus right here in Evanston!
Bottom line: check out Actors Gymnasium – don’t miss out on this wonderful, unique place!
Final note: if you’re new and don’t know which class to take (especially if you are unsure about it), call the main office and tell them a bit about your interests and experience. Are you a gymnast or dancer, are you totally new, have you been working out a ton or are you looking to start that now? The main office staff is friendly and helpful, and can direct you to the best class for what you’d like to get out of the experience.

Me and my 7 year old loves the show! The talent was outstanding! Ages seemed to be 10−21ish. Truly inspiring!

Shows:
Actor’s Gym offers several performances throughout the year, but their highlight is their winter show and it is NOT to be missed! This year’s CIRCUSCOPE is amazing-​a completely different look at our microscopic world. The show stars the talented and very funny Dean Evans & Molly Plunk as tardigrades (google it). It is brilliant, beautiful, heart-​pumping and full of joy.
Classes:
A little background information — I was always that scrawny clumsy kid picked last in gym class. Not an athletic bone in my body, ever. The most exercise I ever got on through my adult years was maybe an occasional yoga class (child’s pose being my favorite part) or walking the dog.
So almost 2 years ago, I’m hitting the almost-​mid-​40-​somethings, with two teenagers and I go crazy one day and sign up for a Circus Fitness class. I don’t know why-​I couldn’t even do a pull up (really, I couldn’t even do 1 pull-​up).
It was a great choice. The class tends to be nicely balanced between NU students, aerialists who want to strengthen & refine and us regular folks-​some local parents-​who want to get a good workout that also happens to be fun. Everyone is very supportive of each other.
The instructor is amazing! She pushes those who can and offers modifications to those who can’t, but are trying, and then pushes them until they can too.

I had a bad experience here. I took beginner circus arts lessons here a little while ago and the instructor had a horribly short temper. She would often yell at people (me especially) if you failed to execute a trick correctly. It was degrading and created a very tense environment that made it ok for other students to laugh at you if you messed up. I’ve talked to other people who used to take lessons here and they’ve expressed a similar sentiment to me. Avoid this place if you want to keep your dignity.

A couple of years ago I took my daughter to circus class– we had a great time. Less than a year later, I signed her up for a gymnastics class. We got to class, walked in 5 min early (it was fall) and got yelled at because they were not ready for us. Totally turned me off. I have a small child and we have to get coats, hats, gloves, and boots off. Five min to prepare for class was not much to ask. Totally turned off by the experience.
This session I signed my son up for the same circus class, thinking that my daughter loved and and maybe it would be fine. I drove from Chicago to Evanston telling my son that we were going to circus class. He sat in the back seat yelling «Circus», he was so excited. I called to ask about parking, got my answer, paid for parking and discovered that I had missed a phone call from them. The call said that the class was suspended. I called them back and asked why they had not contacted me before the day of class and was told that I «slipped through the cracks». The woman apologized and said that she was new to her position. I asked her if she would come out and tell my 2 year old that there was no class. She said she would. Obviously this woman has no experience with children.
The week past and by Thursday night I had still not heard from anyone to find out if the class is on. I called and left a message. Friday morning nothing. I called before the class started to find out what the story was and the same woman told me that the class was now canceled. She said that she thought that she spoke with me yesterday. I said she did not. She said she spoke to two people about it yesterday to tell them that it was cancelled. Last week she told me that I was the only one that had signed up. Not only was I not called the first time or the second time but she couldn’t keep track of who she spoke to.
I will not be going back to the Actors Gymnasium. I was thinking about doing a birthday party at their space but if they cant bother to keep track of what is happening then no way.

The classes are wonderful and the staff is very nice. The activities are great for kids. highly recommend.

My boyfriend and I came here for the «Exploding Boy & the Invisible Circus» and had a lot of fun. The only part that sucked was that they have kids participating in the acts and some are far less skilled than others. This wouldn’t be an issue if this was free but we paid money to see a show so I expected the performance to be well balanced.

I saw a performance here this past weekend, «The Magical Exploding Boy and the Invisible Circus», and was so pleased i did! I brought my son for the 7:30 show and it ran until 9:15. This show appeals to kids and adults; I think all their shows do have a broad range appeal.
There was a great story line, incredible «hand dancing» (mime), aerialists, gymnasts, singing, dancing, musicians playing ukeleles and violins and a glockenspiel, and hilarity to form a night that you won’t soon forget.
I am definitely coming to their next show, and the next, and the one after that, and so on and so forth. I especially enjoyed the Magical Boy– he was awesome!
The shows held at 927 Noyes Street are in the cultural center, which is on the north side of the street and has its own small parking lot. There’s also street parking.

A while back my boyfriend and I saw «Skooled» and greatly enjoyed it. The adult, teen, and child performers were all excellent. A lot of the stunts were interesting and the story was cohesive. Dean Evans was especially good in both «Skooled» and another Actor’s Gymnasium production that we saw him in. He’s excellent as a mime and vocally imitates the sounds of motors, and moving objects such as fishing rods and car doors. I’m hoping to see him again in «The Chi-​Town Clown Revue» (
) and to catch more shows at The Actor’s Gymnasium.
The main downside is the space itself. While the stage is very big, there aren’t a lot of seats and the seating area feels slightly cramped. Also, some of the scene selections feel out of place. For example, the last show I saw had adult singers and later on an adult juggler on a unicycle; both acts didn’t fit in at all either in tone or quality.

We saw «Skooled» here last weekend because his friend’s old coach is one of the adults in the show. It was AWESOME. Four adults, maybe a dozen teenagers and 6 – 8 littler kids made up the cast. The show is a set of maybe 10 parts, with funny little transitions in between, like a cast member spraying water at the audience, or a random four piece band coming out and playing for a minute.
Here are some things that were all so amazing, in no particular order: 12 kids doing some amazing drumming on paint cans, garbage cans, desks, etc.; the most incredible miming; gorgeous trapeze work; a rock and roll piece with four silk ropes hanging from the ceiling and lots of climbing; unicycles; jump rope finale; chinese yo yo; a man spinning four kids off the ends of two ladders RESTING ON HIS SHOULDERS… it just kept going. A great spectacle, so much fun, and a show with a sweet story to boot! Can’t recommend it enough. SO FUN. Bring your kids to this show, it’s great having them in the audience

This review is strictly for the performances, not the classes. But you say you want to know about the classes. Well, based on the performance, I can tell you that kids are learning cool crazy stuff and loving it.
We went to the «Circus in Performance» show. We really had no idea what to expect. Before we know it, we are watching teens juggle bowling pins, doing minor stacking where they crawl up on each other and create pyramids while doing back handstands. And the big finale for all the kids was riding unicycles. YES! UNICYCLES! It was fun to see — not only because it was a great show but because you could tell the kids were having a blast and absolutely loving that they could do this. That’s something a person just can’t fake.
For some of the more advanced teens, we watched them do individual and group performances on the trapeze bar. (And they weren’t swinging around like monkeys.) Instead, the bar stayed stationary and they worked their magic on the bar.
The adult performances, I would guess, were from the teachers or people who just love the sport, er art, er sport, er art. Well, it is both. These people were incredibly smooth, artistic and performance based. But good grief the amount of muscle, control and strength was astounding!
So if you are in the area, I would say that based on the fun people were having on stage, it’s obvious they loved the classes and what they were able to accomplish. If we lived in the area, I wouldn’t hesitate to go check it out. For now, I will have to settle on driving down to catch the shows.

I decided to take Aerial Arts classes ever since Susan from S Factor would tell us how she would modify silk tricks to the pole. Well, I can just say that S Factor definitely helped strength-​wise for this class. It’s really fun and we did Spanish web and trapeze our first class. The class consists of a 30 min warmup and then 30 min of aerial work. We rotated among the 3 webs and high trapeze while waiting for our turn on the lower trapeze with the instructor. For us true beginners, they taught us the spanish web climb. Then on the trapeze, we learned the bird’s nest, front angel, back angel. It was a great strength workout. I came out with a true appreciation for aerial artists. My upper back/​upper calves are sore, and I think I’m in pretty decent shape. If you want a way to work out your muscles and not realize it b/​c you are having fun, try this class. I would definitely recommend it. There are men and women of all shapes, sizes, and ages in my class. Come on in and embrace your inner aerialist!

I’m loving this place so far!
I’m taking the Basic Aerial class — loving learning trapeze, silks, and spanish web — looking forward to taking the class again and building up more strength!
Would love to perform!

The Actor’s Gymnasium is, in a word… MAJOR FUN! Ok, so that’s two but maybe they could be combined like MAJ-​UN, or JOR-​FU, or FUN-​OR… whatever read below!
**** Last weekend for «Lost & Found –A Recycled Circus» Go see it!!!****
My date and I arrived not knowing what to expect. Kids running around everywhere and through out the seating area. Not that I don’t like kids but I just don’t what some little monkey screaming or jumping on me when I’m trying to watch a performance. Thinking that this was going to be exactly what I feared, but then, I was completely taken back by the show. I noticed I wasn’t the only one, everyone from the young to the old was mesmerized with the performers and what might happen next. The Circus type acts were basic for the most part and some were a step up but what really did it for me was the way they could tell a story. The whole show from start to finish was extremely entertaining.
I don’t know how I’m just discovering this place?! Tucked away in the northern part of Evanston and a part of the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, this school was formed in 1995. It was successful from the very start, having 130 students enroll in the very first class. In that year they teamed up with Lookingglass Theatre, creating the Lookingglass World Circus, an adaptation of world folk tales using circus arts; an outreach show for schools and Chicago Park District’s mini-​festivals.
Not only do they have theater performances but they offer a whole range of classes on performing classic circus acts and acrobatics. Adult and children classes available year round. I’ll be keeping an eye on this place from now on and I might just take a class or two. How much fun would it be to learn an act on the trapeze or the straps!?!

Love this place. I currently take Aerial Arts classes learning Trapeze, Lyra, Silks, Spanish Web. They have many wonderful classes there as well as performances including plays.

Actor’s Gymnasium is currently producing, «Neverwhere, a Circus Underground,» adapted from the sci-​fi/​fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman. By the last half of the show you are completely bowled over by the aerial performers, the creativity and the beauty of the production. It’s unusual because you don’t often see sci-​fi fantasy in theatre productions, and even more so b/​c you rarely see it combined with circus. The show is a little over an hour, and essentially is a chase scene, with evil men who burned Troy and sent the plague to Flanders chasing Door, the remaining family member whose family was killed just before the show started. There is a great trapeze scene of cats who live in the world underneath London, a bridge made of people, a river of sewage made from a brown sheath of silk, sewers to crawl thru made of hoops, and a couple good fight scenes. I think this show would be liked by middle and high school and college students, lovers of sci-​fi/​fantasy, and by lovers of circus and theatre.