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| Personal History |
| Michael Menes was born in Summit, New Jersey on July 4, 1962. Yes, on the 4th of July - an Independence Day baby! He actually came onto the scene just as the fireworks were lighting up the sky at 9:05 PM with a head full of bright red hair. Until he was 18, he lived in Mendham, New Jersey in an upper-middle class town where he became determined NOT to live an ordinary life. As a youth, he made extravagant tree houses, built high-tech box cars, and most significantly, learned and loved to juggle. He heeded the call to "go west young man" and attended the University of Utah where he studied technical theater, drama, dance, and liberal arts. Eventually he switched tracks and headed back to the East Coast and attended New York University. It was in New York that he ran into performers who had trained in Maine at the Celebration Barn with master mime Tony Montanaro. Inspired by this work, he began traveling to Maine in the summers to study mime and improvisation. Gradually, he developed material for touring and perfected his numbers and specialties. In 1991, he bought and renovated a small home in Buckfield, Maine just over the mountain from Celebration Barn and in 2003 began construction on a major 3500 square foot juggling studio for creating new works. Today there are a growing number of theatrical entrepreneurs living in these remote hills of Northern New England. In recent years, Michael has traveled all over the world performing on luxury cruise lines such as Holland America, Radisson Seven Seas, and Norwegian Cruise Lines. He also works regularly in Europe in festivals, varieté and galas. In 2005, he started "Extraordinary Productions", an endeavor designed to open new horizons in the presentation of varieté entertainment. |
| Training |
| Michael has long-term training with master mime and director Tony Montanaro at the Celebration Barn Theater as well as at the Montanaro-Hurl Theater of Mime and Dance in Casco, Maine. He has trained with many colleagues who have specialties in various varieté disciplines. He trained with Michael Moschen, Bob Berky and Fred Garbo at the Antic Arts Academy in Purchase, New York. He's attended many intensive workshops, retreats, and conventions for juggling and varieté in Europe, Canada and the U.S.A. Also, he is, to a large degree, "self-taught". |