Acrobats return to the Maxwell Theatre at Augusta University just before Thanksgiving

Kick off the holidays at Augusta University’s Maxwell Theatre with an awe-inspiring exploration of human and machine.

Cirque Mechanics: Pedal Punk brings its freewheeling take on the circus to Augusta University’s Summerville Campus at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 20.

Cirque Mechanics quickly established itself as a premiere American circus, with its unique approach to performance, inspiring storytelling and innovative mechanical staging. Spectacle magazine hailed it as “the greatest contribution to the American circus since Cirque du Soleil.”

Pedal Punk showcases creator and BMX rider Chris Lashua’s “Gantry Bike,” a pedal-driven performance apparatus. This remarkable creation is a modern-day industrial circus caravan, moving around the stage with a dynamic and quirky ensemble of high-flying unicyclists, death-defying wheel acrobats, soaring pole climbers and floating trapeze artists. Although inspired by modern circus, Cirque Mechanics finds its roots in the mechanical and its heart in the stories of American ingenuity. The stories are wrapped in circus acrobatics, mechanical wonders and a bit of clowning around.

Cirque Mechanics: Pedal Punk is the second performance in this season’s Lyceum Series and promises to be one of the most memorable. Tickets can be purchased online at augusta.universitytickets.com, by calling 706-667-4100, or at the Maxwell Theatre box office on the Summerville Campus.

The Lyceum Series returns on Saturday, February 17^th with the Aquila Theatre Company in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and concludes with A Day of International Cinema and Culture on Saturday, April 14^th.