Cast Set For CAESAR'S CIRCUS at North Shore Center for the Performing Arts

“Caesar’s Circus,” an all-new show starring one of Chicago’s most beloved performers, Frank Ferrante, announces its full cast that includes a diverse array of performers from a variety of locales specializing in juggling, contortionism, singing, aerial acrobatics, clowning and more. “Caesar’s Circus” makes its world premiere at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts (9501 Skokie Blvd.) Wednesday, Nov. 27 – Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. 

Best known in Chicago for their work with “Teatro ZinZanni” and "Cabaret Zazou,” this new collaboration between Ferrante andDirector/Aerialist Dreya Weber is an interactive vaudeville-style entertainment featuring Ferrante’s longtime alter ego, Caesar, and a multi-talented ensemble of acrobats, clowns, magicians, singers and live musicians. “Caesar’s Circus” tells the story of a wandering troupe of performers in search of a theater home. Ringmaster Caesar leads the zany hijinks of this world class crew in a celebration of the power of shared laughter, awe inspiring acrobatics and live music. 

The full cast for “Caesar’s Circus” includes:

Frank Ferrante | CAESAR

Ferrante first developed and played the outrageous Latin lover, Caesar, in 2001. In 2019, the Chicago Tribune included his portrayal as Caesar in “Teatro ZinZanni” on its list of “top ten” theater performances. Ferrante can be heard on television's “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “The Garfield Show," and has been awarded the New York Theatre World Award. Nominations include London's Laurence Olivier Award, the NY Outer Critics Circle Award and Washington D.C.'s Helen Hayes Award. 

Groucho Marx’s son, Arthur, discovered Frank Ferrante as a USC student, when the latter performed his senior project “An Evening with Groucho.” Subsequently, Marx cast Ferrante to portray the legendary comedian Off-Broadway. Since then, Ferrante has played Groucho in over 3000 live performances of “An Evening with Groucho." 

Dreya Weber 

Weber’s one woman show, “Hexen,” is currently being presented at the El Portal in Los Angeles. This new work focuses on witch ancestry and archetypes, and is a theatrical melding of story, song and aerial dance. Her recent work includes roles in “Groucho: A Life in Revue,” Opera Zuid’s “A Midsummer Nights Dream” and “Lady in the Dark.” Weber was a writer and artistic director for Chicago’s “Cabaret ZaZou” and produced and starred in the feature films “The Aerialist,” “A Marine Story” and “The Gymnast.” She has won 48 festival awards including seven “Best Actress” nods. Weber also choreographed aerials for P!NK’s current and past world tours and conceived her celebrated Grammy Award performance of “Glitter In The Air.” Additional aerial choreography credits include Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Madonna, Rihanna, Micheal Jackson, and Britney Spears.

JAMIE ADKINS 

Jamie Adkins is known and loved around the world for his unique brand of acrobatic physical comedy. He began his career at age 13 in San Diego, delighting passersby as a street performer. At 22 he joined the Pickle Family Circus and embarked on the life of a full-fledged circus artist, finally following his talent to his adopted homeland, Québec, in the 2000s. Jamie has collaborated with some of Canada’s biggest circuses to create shows including “Excentricus” and “Typo.” In 2008, Adkins transitioned from major productions to creating his own shows, starting with “Circus Icognitus” and “A Fool’s Errand” – which have been presented more than 1,000 times in over 27 countries around the world. 

MARY PAT LETOURNEAU 

MP (Mary Pat Letourneau) is an award-winning choreographer and performance artist who performs nationwide as a contortionist, pole artist, aerialist, dancer, and also is a stunt performer for multiple TV Shows. She enjoys combining her years of experience in training inMongolian contortion and ballet in the acts she currently performs, and additionally for tv shows, movies, and music videos.  

 ANDREY MORARU

Starting his professional artistic journey at a College of Circus and Variety Arts in Kyiv, Ukraine in the early 2000s, Andrey Moraru has traveled the world performing hand balance. He performed in long-running resident cabaret shows in Miami, Atlantic City, Kansas City and won awards at Mondial du Cirque de Demain in Paris. He has toured in the U.S. with a number of entertainment companies, including Quixotic and Cirque Dreams.

Moraru’s career in the U.S. started in 2005 in Las Vegas when he joined the cast of “Le Reve,” an aquatic spectacle created by Franco Dragone, at the Wynn Hotel. In addition to solo work,  Moraru is performing an exquisite acrobatic duo act that he created together with contortionist MP Letourneau, combining hand balance, dance and contortion. 

 David Kaplan 

The Great Kaplan is a modern-day vaudevillian master. With an infinite assortment of unique and visually stunning skills, coupled with impeccable comedic timing, Kaplan creates a world where anything is possible. The mundane becomes magical; everyday objects become vessels of mystery and mayhem resulting in ahilarious ballet of chaos and calamity. Kaplan was a headliner at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, has appeared on the prestigious French television show, “Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde” and was a guest performer at the world's largest magic festival, FISM in Italy, Kaplan is undoubtedly at the top of his field. 

 BOBBI WILSYN 

Discovered singing in a popular jazz club in her native Los Angeles, Bobbi Wilsyn travelled nationally before planting her stakes in Chicago in the late 70s, singing the jazz, blues, pop and gospel repertory that inspired her as a child. She was featured in the Chicago musical productions of “Beehive,” “It Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues”and “Sophisticated Ladies.” Wilsyn has gained recognition with the late William Russo’s “Chicago Jazz Ensemble,” Orbert Davis’ “Chicago Jazz Philharmonic,” “Symphonic Jazz International” and “The Italian Jazz Orchestra.” She has shared the stage with many notable jazz and blues artists including Kurt Elling, Corky Siegel, and the late greats Ramsey Lewis, Eldee Young, Lonnie Smith, James Mack, and Buddy de Franco. Wilsyn continues to perform with her own jazz groups, in addition to her curated one-person jazz-cabaret shows, “Ladies Who Sing the Blues,” “Wilsyn Sings Wilson (A Tribute to Nancy Wilson)” and “Stormy Weather - A Tribute to Lena Horne”

 HARLEQUIN GRIM 

 A mortuary worker turned full-time performer, Harlequin Grim is as macabre as he is whimsical, a circus artist who specializes in tall unicycle, juggling and aerial acts. He typically performs with his duo partner, Achillea Grim, the co-founder of their company Grim Theatre. He is also an author, with his debut horror/thriller novel "The Black Carnival" signed for release in October of 2025.

ACHILLEA GRIM 

Achillea Grim is an accomplished aerialist whose charming stage presence combines a dynamic range of movements, strength, mobility and characters. Though aerial hoop is her favored discipline, she also performs contortion, unicycle, juggling and a wide variety of aerial apparatuses.  

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