Truly Remarkable Loon comes to Bloomington

With a quarter century's experience in juggling giant bean bag chairs, spinning plates and tossing flaming torches, Truly Remarkable Loon will perform Friday as part of Buskirk-Chumley Theater's Family Series.\nLoon, who goes by his stage name in real life, said he is excited about his second performance in Bloomington.\n"I really like this town," he said. "It reminds me of Madison, (Wis.) where I live. Both are college towns, have a square in the center of the city and a similar ambience."\nHe said his performance here two years ago was very well received.\n"The performance was great, and the audience enjoyed my show a lot," Loon said. "Most audience members belonged to the family audience category, which I can relate to best."\nBCT Director Danielle McClelland said Loon's last performance was very impressive.\n"The entire auditorium was sold out when Truly Remarkable Loon performed the first summer of BCT's Family Series," she said. "He is a flawless juggler and has a wonderful rapport with the audience."\nThe Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department is partnering with BCT for the family series. Youth Services Specialist Pamala Dunscombe of Bloomington Parks said she really enjoyed Loon's show last time.\n"It was wonderful," she said, "The plate-spinning, comedy and juggling were all very entertaining."\nLoon said he thought his juggling appealed to college crowds, as well as families. \n"I started with college audiences 26 years ago when I started as a street performer," he said. "I used to perform in the center of campus. Later, I performed for the National Association of Campus Activities. So I can relate quite well to college audiences as well."\nLoon said students at IU should enjoy his jokes. An older audience has the intellectual awareness to enjoy his social commentary on election perspectives and world situations.\n"He makes great jokes," McClelland said. "His humor operates at several different levels -- the level of adults and children."\nLoon said he was impressed by the intelligence of the Bloomington audience members in his last crowd.\n"The audience in Bloomington has a high intellectual level," he said. "The jokes I made were social comments, and people got that pretty well."\nDunscombe said there will be a juggling workshop for kids following the performance teaching them how to make three balls out of balloons and rice and juggle them. Joe Ladwig of the IU Juggling Club will help with the workshop.\nLoon said audience expectations are generally higher with indoor performances, and he is looking forward to performing for a high-energy crowd.\n"Most performances in summer are outdoors, so it is a real treat for me to perform indoors," Loon said.\nMcClelland said she believes IU students will get a kick out of the performance. \n"It is a very good deal for $5," she said.\n-- Contact staff writer Sheeba Madan at smadan@indiana.edu .