1-Ring Circus Trumpets Acts of Literacy

Comic theater, acrobatics and clowning, a chance for the audience to get into the act and a sweet little jazz band--those are the elements that have made San Francisco’s Make-A-Circus theater troupe a summer treat for 19 years.

The free one-ring circus will make several Southland tour stops, beginning next Saturday at Riverside’s Fairmont Park and July 12 at Wilson Park in Torrance.

The Make-A-Circus event is presented in three parts: a one-hour professional comic play filled with acrobatics and clowning, a half-hour audience circus skills workshop, open to all, and a second scripted play of varying length using workshop participants.

This year, the show’s theme is literacy, according to Make-A-Circus artistic director Peggy Ford. “Basically, we thought what was important to get across was that knowledge is freedom,” she said.

The opening play, “Check It Out,” centers around a “tough, defensive” kid who can’t read. When her “Watchalot,” a kind of “hybrid of Nintendo-type video games, television and boom boxes,” is stolen, she blames it on a boy who “loves to read.”

The “boy”--the performers are all adults--and some of his favorite literary characters help track down the thief in production numbers “packed with circus skills.”

“Sherlock Holmes does phenomenal things over the vault box,” Ford said. “There’s a double trapeze act when Pippi Longstocking is getting information from a falcon. And the Void”--the villain who wants kids to use the Watchalots so they’ll waste time--”is a towering character on stilts. We have juggling throughout and a lot of acrobatics,” she added.

The point, Ford said, “is not that the evil is television or video games or blasting boom boxes. It’s in only doing that with your life and not looking any further.”

Following the show, the cast conducts workshops in “juggling, stilt walking, acrobatics, clowning and a special workshop for children who are 5 or under,” Ford said. “We invite parents to participate, too. It’s great for the kids to see the adults being seals or monkeys or walking on stilts, having fun.”

The second show, “Look It Up,” is about a child and his grandpa who get in trouble at the zoo because neither can read. The audience plays different kinds of animals.

Make-A-Circus is funded through corporations, individual donors, the San Francisco Parks and Recreation Department, the National Endowment for the Arts and the California Arts Council. In Southern California, Arco “is a big sponsor” and some local parks and recreations departments come up with the money for the show.

But “times are tougher,” Ford said, “and we’re having a really hard time trying to find someone to help us pay for the East L.A. show (at the Lou Costello Recreation Center on July 17). Regardless, we’re going to be there.”

In addition to its summer performances, Make-A-Circus conducts a clown therapy program in hospitals, rehabilitation and recreational centers.

* Next Saturday, 3 p.m.: Fairmont Park, Riverside. July 12, 12:30 p.m.: Wilson Park, Torrance. July 13, 6:30 p.m.: Desert Sands Park, Palmdale. July 14, 7 p.m.: Lancaster City Park. July 17, 12:30 p.m.: Lou Costello Recreation Center, East L.A. July 18, 2 p.m.: Polliwog Park, Manhattan Beach. July 19, 12:30 p.m.: Stagecoach Park, Carlsbad. July 20, 5 p.m.: La Mesita Park, La Mesa. July 21, 5:30 p.m.: Linda Vista Recreation Center, San Diego. July 25, 12:30 p.m.: Ganesha Park, Pomona. July 26, 1 p.m.: Chapparosa Park, Laguna Niguel. July 28, 5:30 p.m.: Beach Park, Bakersfield. Free; (415) 776-8470.

By the Book: Literacy is the theme, too, in KCET’s month-long “Hooked on Books” summer reading project, back for a fourth season beginning Monday. Presented by KCET’s Educational Enterprises Department and the Southern California Library Systems, the series encourages children to read through a diverse series of book-based stories, films and animated shorts for kindergarten to 8th graders. Parents are encouraged to share the experience.

Included are segments of “Tales From the Brothers Grimm,” “Long Ago and Far Away” and “WonderWorks.” New this year are a fairy tale from India, animation from Czechoslovakia and the Oscar-winning film “Molly’s Pilgrim.” The programs will air Mondays through Fridays through July 31 from noon to 1 p.m. on Channel 28, preceded by the PBS series “Reading Rainbow” at 11:30 a.m.