PICKLE DILLY : Family Circus Goes From Losing Sleep Over Finances to ‘Tossing and Turning’ in an Antic Ensemble

Performers in the Pickle Family Circus know how to fly without a net, even when they’re not airborne.

In the spring of 1993, having filed for bankruptcy and barely enough money to keep gas in the truck, members of this 20-year-old San Francisco performing troupe stayed on the road, even capping off their tour with a performance in Washington’s Kennedy Center.

To cut costs, the Pickles tripled up in hotel rooms, took on administrative chores and, ultimately, with the help of Bay Area supporters and the artistic guidance of dancer/choreographer Tandy Beal, managed to not only stay afloat but to expand.

Now, with offices in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, the New Pickle Family Circus will bring its “Tossing and Turning” show to the Irvine Barclay Theatre from Friday through Sunday. It will also have its first tour outside the United States in 15 years when it plays Japan in October and is developing another original show to premiere in December.

The Pickles are not your standard circus. There are no jump-roping chimps, bosomy women on elephants or cheesy souvenirs. Unlike traditional American circuses with their series of essentially unrelated acts strung together by a show director, the Pickles work as an ensemble, with each member capable of performing in any number of styles.

Most shows also have a story line. “Tossing and Turning,” which Beal based on her experience with insomnia, follows hapless Razz the Ringmaster (Jeff Raz) as he battles sleeplessness. Alternately aided and aggravated by Pino (diminutive Diane Wasnak), Razz must contend with a pesky mosquito (Wasnak in outlandish headgear), hip-hopping sheep, an uncooperative pillow (Wasnak, again) and an assortment of other irritants in his quest for 40 winks. Music, some of it performed on stage by the cast, punctuates the action.

As metal bowls clanged to the floor while Wasnak rehearsed a new bicycle stunt in the background at their San Francisco rehearsal space, Raz discussed the Pickles during a recent phone interview.

The ringmaster--who has a background in juggling, acrobatics and theater--said he joined in 1991 to fill the troupe’s need for a bottom mount (“that’s the guy that holds people up”) for Wasnak as well as someone who could play drums and bass.

Since then, with guidance of Beal and Lu Yi, a former member of the Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe who serves as the Pickles’ trainer, he has developed an even wider range of skills.

“We put a premium on versatile performers,” he explained. “This is much more of a theatrical circus, an ensemble (in which) anyone can juggle, do acrobatics, dance . . . in the show. The performer who is a sheep doing back flips at one point will come back later and do something totally different. There’s a real weaving going on.”

In fact, said Raz, it was the spirit of the ensemble that helped keep the Pickles afloat during those troubled times last year.

“At the time, we had Chinese performers, a Russian and a French Canadian (in the cast),” he recalled. “Every time we had a meeting to discuss the subject, we had to translate it into four languages.

“But no matter what their language was, everybody said the same thing: ‘I want to be here.’ On any day, somebody could have gone home, and that would have been it.

“Besides,” he added with a laugh, “we were getting standing ovations and had a gig at the Kennedy Center, and no performer in their right mind would give up that.”

Founded in 1974 by a group drawn largely from the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the original Pickle Family Circus was created to present a popular form of theater that combined music, drama, dance and humor with traditional circus skills, according to the group’s press release, which also states that several notable performers, including internationally known theatrical clown Bill Irwin, have come out of the company.

In 1987, the group’s original members began to leave, and the circus went through a number of administrative and artistic changes in leadership before the bankruptcy filing in the spring of 1993.

Beal, director of the contemporary dance group Tandy Beal & Company, had choreographed a Pickle show in 1990 and was with the troupe in 1993 as creator and show director of “Tossing and Turning.” Unwilling to see the Pickles go under, Beal’s nonprofit management company, the Friends of Olympia Station, took over the circus assets, and with the help of arts consultant Barbara Kibbe, helped give the troupe a new start. The company is now headed by a six-person team that includes Beal, Raz, Wasnak and the development, marketing and business managers.

Despite the changes, Raz says, the current batch of Pickles has remained true to the original goal of entertaining as broad an audience as possible.

“We’ve had three and four generations of a family come up after a show and say how much they enjoyed it,” Raz said. “One of the greatest compliments we get is parents saying ‘I loved it; the little ones loved it, and my teen-ager loved it. And they haven’t loved anything in about 3 1/2 years!’ ”

What: The New Pickle Family Circus.

When: Friday, May 27, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. (Show runs about two hours).

Where: Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive, Irvine.

Whereabouts: From the San Diego (405) Freeway, exit at Jamboree Road and head south to Campus Drive. Turn left on Campus, then right at Bridge Road. Parking is $3

Wherewithal: $15 to $19 for adults; $10 to $14 for children 12 and under. Discount tickets, priced at $12, are available with a minimum purchase of four seats.

Where to call: (714) 854-4646 or (714) 740-2000 (TicketMaster).