Cy-Fair student runs off, joins circus

Chase Culp

Circus Smirkus, an award-winning, international, traveling youth circus based in Vermont, has invited 15-year-old Houston teen Chase Culp to join its summer tour, performing 70 shows in Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and upstate New York.

Culp’s parents support his dream of clowning around this summer. Culp, a Cy-Fair student, is a self-taught performer, who has always hoped to join the circus, according to his father, Lloyd Culp, but needed to find a place to help him hone his craft. He found that place at Circus Smirkus Summer Camp, which he attended last summer, says his mom, Susan Culp. His talents as a clown and a juggler won him a place on the Circus’ 2011 Summer Tour.

Culp knows this summer’s tour will be exhausting, but he is up for the challenge. “Being a clown is what I feel I was meant to do,” Chase said in the press release, “I take being ridiculous very seriously.”

For more information about Circus Smirkus’ 2011 Summer Tour, visit www.smirkus.org.