Meet the Artist: Spenser from A Good Catch
Spenser Inwood is the youngest member of the intergenerational company A Good Catch Circus. The trio will be performing their piece Casting Off at Chamäleon in February – a good reason to do a Meet the Cast. So we asked her a few questions about her path to the circus and about Casting Off.
Hi Spenser! Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your practice?
Hello my name is Spenser, I started circus as an 8 year old with the Flying Fruit Fly Circus. It ignited my passion for circus, and when I graduated 10 years later, it was the only thing I wanted to do!
So I started working as an independent artist for the next 8 years and started A Good Catch Circus with Debra Batton and Sharon Gruenert in 2017.
My practice is very body based. I like to make things starting with the body and from a physical practice, whether that be learning new skills or enjoying putting limitations and boundaries on myself to find new ways of moving. I’m interested in making work that challenges myself and the other people I work with. I want to experiment with how we use circus to share ideas and stories: Sometimes that is with words and sometimes through abstract movement.
What can you tell us about your show Casting Off?
Casting Off was made in 2017 and it’s a celebration of intergenerational friendship and relationships. We didn’t know we were going to use text when we first started making the show – it was probably about 3 months in that Debra brought the idea of us talking in the show to the table. We would talk a lot during our training sessions and it felt like a direct link to how we were working on the floor during that time.
Casting Off has a very homemade feel, I knitted our costumes and we sit around tables and chairs and invite the audience in to the conversation.
What inspired you to pursue a career as a performing artist?
Performing has always been a love of mine! Growing up in the circus, and traveling and performing on a regular basis means it has been a familiar choice for me. It hasn’t been an easy road but its still one that fulfills me.
What or who are your biggest creative influences?
Debra Batton and Sharon Gruenert (co-founders of A Good Catch Circus) inspire me to push myself on a daily basis. I love working with them.
Could you share a highlight or memorable experience from your time performing Casting Off?
Bringing Casting Off to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018 and Winning the Total Theatre and Jacksons Lane Award for best circus. We had only performed Casting Off a few times before that season and we really were just taking a risk going all the way to the UK as a fledgling company, with a brand new show. It really was the cherry on top of an already massive achievement of getting us to the festival.
(c) Images: Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore
Casting Off at Chamäleon
“Casting Off” by A Good Catch Circus will be performed at our theater as part of the guest performance series Play.
February 02-04, 2024, 8 pm
The performance on February 04, 2024 will take place with a live translation into German sign language.
