Bunny Holmes

Bunny headshot

  • Theater & physical comedy (lifelong)
  • Tarot Fortune telling since 1998
  • Living Statue since 2003
  • Fire Poi 2006-2012
  • Aerial Fabrics 2008-2016
  • Magic & Balloon-Twisting 2009-2012
  • Tight-Wire Walking since 2014
  • Flying Trapeze 2014-2016

Aerial & Flying Trapeze Training: TT Robson (Gravity Arts), Laura Stokes (Ricochet), Cohdi Harrel (Ricochet), Naomi Hummel (Capacitor), Vüsch Berlin Aerial Studio, Sarah Holmes (Paper Doll Militia), The Athletic Playground, [Oakland] Trapeze Arts, San Francisco Circus Center, Emerald City Trapeze Arts, Lara Elise (for cloud swing), Hannah Griffith (for swinging trapeze)

Dance Training: Shawl Anderson Dance Center (ballet), Rena Cochlin (folk dance – UCSC), John and Nancy Lingemann (Argentine Tango), John Slaymaker (Irish Folk Dance), El Cerrito Ballet Center

Theater Training: Barry Lubin (Big Apple Circus), Ramshackle Circus (clowning), M. Foley UC Santa Cruz (puppetry), Contra Costa Civic Theater, Fae Diddle Diddle (Happily Ever Laughter Parties, founder), Berkeley/Richmond JCC Youth Theater

Wire Training: Erica Saben (AcroSports, Charm City Movement Arts), Estelle Borel (Kinetic Arts, Smirkus), Colin Creveling (SF Circus Center), Jasmine Manuel (IMPulse), Ariele Ebacher (Aloft)

Fire Training: Russ Megowan (Vulcan Crew), Dyami Kaplan (Nocturnal Sunshine), Noah Reson-Brown (Santa Cruz Fire Conclave).

Noteworthy Clients:

  • Fiat
  • Google
  • Pepsi
  • Trulia Real Estate
  • Frances Ford Coppola Winery
  • The California Water Environment Association
  • University of California (Berkeley & Santa Cruz)
  • Mills College
  • The Citizen Hotel
  • SLO Rotary Club

Performance Companies:

  • Lemon Drop Cosplay 2004
  • Slugs in Fishnets (Santa Cruz Rocky Horror Picture Show cast) 2005-2006
  • Santa Cruz Fire Conclave 2009
  • Happily Ever Laughter Parties 2009-2012
  • Fire Euphoria Conclave 2010-2012
  • The Vespertine Circus (founded) 2010 – current
  • SwimmingMermaid.com (founded) 2011-2013
  • Catalyst Arts 2013 – current
  • Cirque de Boheme winter 2015
  • Take3 Events summer 2016-2017
  • Circosphere Entertainment 2017- current

DIRECTED & PRODUCED:

Shows performed in Oakland, Alameda, and San Francisco:

  • La Boutique Obscure Dreaming
  • La Boutique Obscure Zombi
  • La Boutique Obscure Steampunk
  • La Boutique Obscure Halloween Night
  • La Boutique Obscure Never Never Land
  • La Boutique Obscure [Bawdy] Holiday
  • The Vespertine Circus: Welcome Home
  • The Vespertine Circus: Science Fiction
  • The Vespertine Circus: Zombie Apocalypse
  • The Vespertine Circus: The Grand Adventures of
  • The Vespertine Circus: Superheroes
  • The Vespertine Circus: Fairytale
  • The Scarring Party and Friends (A night of music & circus)
  • The Vespertine Circus’ Fall 2014 Hinge Benefit
  • The Vespertine Circus’ Garden Party
  • The Vespertine Circus: Rites of Spring
  • The Vespertine Circus: Coast of Barbados
  • HiNGE (fall 2015)
  • Midsummer (2016)
  • Two Houses [Alike in Dignity] 2016
  • Rocky Horror Circus Show (fall 2016)
  • Charlie & the Chocolate Circus (2017)
  • Rocky Horror Circus Show (2017)
  • No Graves, No Masters (2019)
  • High Tide (2020)
  • Vespertine // Unwoman (online, 2020)
  • Vespertine // Shaina E (online, 2020)
  • Vespertine // Boomeo (online, 2020)
  • Rocky Horror Circus Show (2022)

Tour shows performed in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana:

  • Absolutely Anything (summer 2011)
  • A Perfect World (summer 2012)
  • Important Business (winter 2012 – summer 2013)

Bunny Holmes has been casting and putting on shows since preschool – first plays for the neighbors, then DIY dance recitals for friends from school, and by fourth grade she was enrolled in before-school choir, after-school drama classes, and briefly missed school outright because she was touring as a toy-soldier in a youth ensemble Nutcracker Ballet. In high school, she started street performing around tourist attractions in San Francisco as a living statue.

Alongside circus & performing arts, Bunny studied music history, humanistic psychology, and religious studies at UCSC. There she gained a reputation for coordinating large all-ages events both on and off campus – often designed with an absurd, whimsical or humorous concept. Needless to say, her love of the stage has never diminished and when she told her friends she was going to start a circus, they believed her and some joined the cause.

 

Bunny’s jobs at the Vespertine Circus have included:

Design Jobs:

• Writing scripts, & Editing other people’s scripts,
• Sound design & audio editing,
• Choreographer,
• Graphic design,
• Video editor,
• Makeup designer,
• Costume designer,
• App co-designer,
• Game Theory based Immersive Theater Design

Management Jobs:

• Front of House Manager,
• Stage Manager,
• Venue manager,
• Casting director,
• Tour Booker (three US tours),
• Marketing & Social Media Director (+press-release +copy writing),
• Conflict Mediator,
• Crowdfunding Campaign Manager,
• Talent Booking Agent for private & corporate events,
• Fundraising Events Manager,
• Shift manager for multiple 24 hour run 50 person production team tech-week rushes,

Technical Staff Positions:

• Fire Safety,
• Rigging & hardware safety inspections,
• Makeup artist for ensemble casts,
• Lighting Board technician,
• Sound Cues technician,

Performance Positions:

• MC/Ringmaster & Public Speaking roles,
• Acrobat,
• Puppeteer,
• Clown

Construction Jobs:

• Prop & puppet Fabrication,
• Set Painter,
• Stage Building & painting,

Misc:
• Chief of Security,
• Photographer,
• Doing all the insurance paperwork you might imagine,
• Contract Negotiation,
• Rhinestone glue-er,
• Stake-pounding Roustabout who carries a lot of steel truss and sings sea shanties while she works.

…Luckily, she doesn’t do these jobs alone.