Told with whimsy and eye-popping athleticism, first-time Cincinnati Fringe participant Imaginez’s Take Flight is a charming exploration of self, faith and taking a risk. This family-friendly production, onstage at Know Theatre, is a delicious nest of cotton candy woven around a warm and lively heart.
Take Flight begins with the silent clown Bumbles, played by a Gabriel Faith Howard. Bumbles boards a plane. He wants to fly into the future of his dreams, but laden with baggage — fear and self-doubt wrought by years of pain — he can’t seem to get off the ground. His heart, named Kiki, portrayed by Kathleen Hoil, and his mind, called Fink, embodied by Genesee Spridco, both urge him forward. Yet Bumbles struggles to find the courage to step away from the safety of the familiar and into the frightening unknown of his aspirations.
Hailing from Chicago, Imaginez describes itself as “an ensemble of circus theatre professionals devising dynamic new works” using the “universal language of movement.” Spridco, Hoil and Howard, all skilled and engaging performers, delight audience members through a collage of theatrical circus skills including acrobatics, music, mime, clowning, storytelling, poetry and the production’s extra special feature: aerial silks. Each performer takes a turn on the silks, spinning and extending into gorgeous stage pictures that beautifully illustrate the shows themes of soaring to great heights and tumbling to rock bottom lows.
Howard’s quiet melancholy as Bumbles is a charming contrast to Hoil’s boisterous and childlike heart and Spridco’s wise, measured mind — together this trio of colorful ragamuffins conjures a whole lot of theater magic. And while truly entertaining, the show clearly wants the audience to walk away thinking.
Take Flight is for anyone who has ever asked “What if?” What if I took a risk and went after what I truly wanted from life? Would I fail? Would it be worth it? Would I survive the fall? Hopeful, happy, bubbling with warmth and enthusiasm and peppered with hilarious pop culture references, Take Flight soars.
The Cincinnati Fringe Festival runs through June 10. Find showtimes, tickets and more info here.
