Mark Nizer Appears as Part of Edison Ovations! Series 9/17

He may not run with scissors, but Mark Nizer is the juggler your mother always warned you about. Buzzing chainsaws, electric carving knives, 16-pound bowling balls, even a flaming propane tank - all are tossed aloft and twirled about with gleeful, seemingly reckless abandon.

This fall, Nizer will launch Edison's ovations for young people series with 3-D, his latest draw-dropping one-man show.

The performance, which begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, is the first of four ovations for young people events scheduled for the 2011-12 season. Tickets are $12, though subscriptions are available at $8 per ticket to any three or all four shows.

Tickets are available at the Edison Box Office and through all MetroTix outlets. Edison Theatre is located in the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd.

For more information, call (314) 935-6543 or email edison@wustl.edu.

Note: Free 3-D glasses will be available at the door.

Since winning the International Jugglers Championship in 1990, Nizer has emerged as the quintessential juggler's juggler, combining deft comedic wit with new tricks and invented technologies that seem to make the impossible suddenly possible. He has juggled while hang-gliding. He has juggled underwater with sharks. He has juggled jellyfish and - once, briefly - cats.

For 3-D, Nizer quite literally reinvents the modern lightshow, replacing pre-set computer programs with Laser Diablo, a spectacular new gizmo of his own design. Based on the traditional diabolo - itself a version of the Chinese yo-yo - Laser Diablo features four small lasers that cast beams at a 1000 rpms just above the heads of the audience, their colors amplified by fog machine

"The result is something akin to the northern lights," notes the San Francisco Chronicle, "neon greens, pinks and oranges whirling around the auditorium at mind-boggling speeds."

Complimenting the lightshow are Nizer's Human Rhythm Composer and Dimension Beam, which allow him to perform live music by bouncing infrared beams off of various juggled objects - thus transforming movement into sound.

Named by the Los Angeles Times as "One of the best practitioners of the art," Nizer has performed around the world and opened for Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Hope, George Burns, John Byner, Gladys Knight, The Temptations, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles and Barry Manilow, among others.

His numerous awards include Comedy Entertainer of the Year from the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities, Collegiate Entertainer of the Year, and three Entertainer of the Year nominations from the National Association for Campus Activities.

For more information, visit www.nizer.com.

ovations for young people

The ovations for young people series will continue Feb. 11 with Cashore Marionettes in Simple Gifts, a series of touching vignettes set to music of Vivaldi, Strauss, Beethoven and Copland. On March 3, Ballet Hispanico will present ¡Viajes!, an all-ages exploration of Latin American and Caribbean dance forms. Concluding the series, on May 5, will be Montreal's Dynamo Theatre with Mur-Mur (The Wall), an acrobatic exploration of friendship and young love.

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