Bolts and nuts may hold the stage together but the strongest pieces on the grandstand are the arms, legs and hearts of those unweaving an extraordinary story of struggle, love and birdhouses.
"It's not like the typical performance of animals, rings and fire. There's nothing else quite like it," Janeen Johnson, tour stage manager for "The Mechanics Birdhouse Factory Show," said.
The show will reconstruct John R. Emens Auditorium into a 20th century factory when a combination of contortionists and a circus meld together into one well-maintained theatrical machine. The show begins at 7 p.m.
Cirque Du Soleil veterans stretch and bend the physical capabilities of the human body with unicycles and trapezes, all the while entwining a comedic appeal and an uplifting plot into the show.
"It's ironic in a way," Chris Lashua, the original concept creator and director of the show, said. "We set up the show and take down the show much like a factory. But it's people who are getting to do what they want while performing the highest level of acrobatics with a fresh approach. It's a very funny thing."
The workers are unable to break their habitual factory lifestyle until a single bird flies into the mundane scene of everyday production, causing commotion that begins a journey of flight, love, loss and birdhouses.
"The bird represents change, hope and freedom; that's what is at the heart of all of it," Lashua said. "The bird inspires the workers not to be linear thinkers anymore. The workers are caught with the mentality of working for the man; the bird, the hope changes everything." The show pulls from diverse creative figures for inspiration such as Charlie Chaplin's film "Modern Times," Mexican-born mural artist Diego Rivera and cartoonist Rube Goldberg.
"Diego Rivera's murals gave direction for a sense of color," Lashua said. "He glamorized the assembly lines. Chaplin's film had a wacky conveyer belt, and we used that idea in the show."
Lashua has been familiar with factory clichés such as "grinding gears" and "spinning one's wheels" long before "The Mechanics Birdhouse Factory Show" came to town. Lashua competed as a Bicycle Motocross (BMX) rider in 1987 performing stunts. His mastery of wheels created new opportunities for Lashua, and he left his BMX career and found his place beneath a circus tent.
"I started as an advertising major going to college in Boston and was given the chance to tour within the Cirque Du Soleil performance entitled 'Fascination' in Japan because of my skills with a bike," Lashua said.
During the five years he spent touring with another Cirque Du Soleil production, "Quidam," he invented an improved version of the German Wheel using pump handles to generate rotation. Lashua performed his German Wheel act at various occasions, such as the Academy Awards, the Atlanta Olympics and shows on MTV.
"It's the type of event you just can't describe to people," Emens Director Robert Myers said. "No matter how you try to tell it to them, they just won't understand how fantastic it is. Until it's your experience, you can't fully appreciate it."
BirdhouseWhat: "The Mechanics Birdhouse Factory Show"When: 7 p.m.Where: John R. Emens AuditoriumAdmission: Adults $24 in advance/$29 at the door, $10 youth, $5 BSU students, $18 artist series subscribers & Pick 4+
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