Our Coaches

Our 2026 Coaches & Counselors

Smirkus Camp coaches and counselors are experienced circus professionals trained in a range of disciplines — from juggling to acrobatics to clowning and aerials. Beyond their expertise, our coaches and counselors are committed to creating Smirkus magic for a new generation of campers while always welcoming the truest, silliest, happiest versions of every single Smirko and Smirkling who passes through our tents.

Coaches

Moo Butler, Clown Coach
Moo is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, and outdoor educator who loves all things relating to circus and the natural world. They live at the intersection of the whimsical and the wild! As a lifelong learner and clown, Moo believes that learning should feel like play. As a creative with a deep love for storytelling and treasure hunting, they do their best to help young people build confidence through curiosity, exploration, and hands-on skill-building.

Moo has been involved with circus ever since childhood, as their father is a former clown. Moo is a graduate of NECCA’s Protrack program, and has worked at Berkcirque, a circus camp in the Berkshires for nine years. They also spent three years coaching circus for the Campus School’s June program in Northampton.

Moo’s background in clown comes from working with Nettie Lane and completing Giovani Fusetti’s Clown Teacher Training. They have been teaching an adult clown class in Greenfield, Massachusetts over the last two years and last summer Moo returned to Smirkus for the first time since being a camper to work under the big top as a clown coach. They are thrilled to be returning to camp again this summer and expanding the clown revolution to both children and adults alike!

Raymond Diamond, Acrobatics Coach
Raymond Diamond is a bounce juggler, acrobat, and handbalancer based out of Portland, ME. Raymond is a professional bounce juggler, with some recent notable performances in the International Black Circus Weeks of 2024 and 2025, and Cirque Vida’s second rendition of Ventanas in Austin, TX.

This is Raymond’s first year working with Circus Smirkus, and he’s excited to bring his knowledge and experience to campers this year!


Lev Eisner, Juggling Coach
Growing up in Baltimore, MD, Lev Eisner learned to juggle at a local circus camp when he was 10. Just two years later he returned to that same camp as a junior coach. Since that humble start, Lev has performed, coached, trained, and gotten lost all over the country. Notably, he is an alumnus of both the Smirkus Big Top Tour and Smirkus Camp.

Outside the ring, Lev travels between USA rock-climbing competitions and coaches young climbers in his hometown. He is thrilled to be spending this summer at Smirkus Camp! Lev calls Greensboro his heart’s true home and hopes to help each camper feel the same.

Tadea Martin-Gonzalez, Aerial Coach
Tadea Martin-Gonzalez is excited to be returning this summer as a coach. A former high-level gymnast and multiple-time state champion, Tadea primarily focuses her own practice in standing partner acro, tumbling/movement research, hand balancing, and straps. She was drawn to circus because of its ability to marry storytelling with strength, and is particularly interested in the role that it can play in telling queer and Latinx stories. When not doing circus, she can be found dancing, hiking, budget traveling, or exploring new restaurants.

 

Tomas Harris, Acrobatics Coach
Tomas Harris is a student at the University of Maryland and a performer with the University of Maryland Gymkana Troupe. Harris loves helping his students master new skills, finding the excitement of a new skill “clicking” to be totally infectious. He can’t wait to spend this summer at Smirkus building the next generation of acrobats.

 

 

Spencer Hovel, Acrobatics Coach
Spencer Hovel has been a beloved face at Smirkus for years, having served as a counselor, social media intern, and now returning as an acrobatics coach. Spencer is an experienced educator and coach, having spent time coaching gymnastics, parkour, and trampoline. He’s excited to return to camp and create the magic of Smirkus for a new generation of Smirkos.

 

Jon Roitman, Skills Intensive Director & Roadshow Director
Jon Roitman has a background as an international circus performer and coach, specializing in club passing, banquine and Russian bar. He is a graduate of the Montreal National Circus School, and has performed with various circus companies in seventeen countries across six continents. Highlights of his performance career to date include touring with Cirque Éloize (Rain), performing at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia (Carousel and Clothesline), and working for the GOP Variety Theater in Germany (Karussell.) Unrelatedly, he holds a B.A. in French translation and literature from McGill University.

Jon’s story with Smirkus started when he was a Smirkus camper in advanced camp 2000-2001 and on Road Show in 2002. In 2016, he returned to coach at Smirkus Camp and then worked as a coach-on-tour with the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour from 2017 to 2019 and from 2022 to 2025. In 2020, he coached for Smirkus Camp again, and in 2021 was a coach for Big Top Tour’s InTENTsive program. 

Jon is the artistic director and head coach of the Flying Gravity Circus, a non-profit youth circus performance and education organization based in Wilton, NH. Jon teaches French and physical education at the High Mowing School, where he is also the Circus Studies program coordinator. In this role, he is pioneering a new pre-professional high school track for students interested in pursuing professional circus careers.

Joshua Shack, Individuals Show Director
Joshua Shack decided to become a clown when he was just three years old, and at age nine, he began performing his solo show at many local events. As a teenager, he toured for four summers with Circus Smirkus. He then toured nationally as a clown with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. 

He is a co-creator and performer of The Piccolini Trio and directed their critically acclaimed stage show Circus in a Trunk. Other directing credits include Out of Orbit at The Theater at Saint Peter’s in New York City; Nothing but Nonsense, a variety musical comedy at Circus World Museum in Baraboo, WI; and 25 productions for Theater in the Open in Newburyport, MA. Josh became the first Smirkus alum to direct the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour show with the 2024 production The Imaginarium. He served as creative consultant for Cirque Us’s Ragtag and Boston College’s The King Stag, and Associate Director of Pagliacci by Opera Vermont.

He is a teaching artist-in-residence for Circus Smirkus, and has served in a dozen different roles with the company, including Production Manager, Director of Programming, and Associate Artistic Director.

 

Mike Smith, Clown Coach
Mike Smith has spent years circling the globe as a circus clown.  He is a proud graduate turned instructor for both the legendary Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Clown College and the prestigious Dell ’Arte School of physical theater.

Mike is from Idaho, where he currently resides at the top of a mountain with his wife, Lara.  Having successfully raised four daughters (one of whom is also joining Smirkus this summer), they now spend their days outnumbered by two dogs and seven or so cats.

Luella Smith, Clown Coach
As the daughter of two professional clowns, Luella has been clowning around for most of her life. This summer, she’s excited to join her dad, Mike Smith, who is coaching in the Smirkus Clown Tent. Luella’s international performing career began at age 12, when she spent a month performing in China with her father. She spent last summer as a counselor at Smirkus and is excited to return to Greensboro to work closely with her father on influencing the next generation of clowns.

 

Ester Van de Lagemaat, Aerial Coach
Esther is an internationally renowned lasso artist and aerialist from Colorado, USA and has the cowgirl experience to back it up. Having grown up riding and performing with horses, and more recently graduating from New England Center for Circus Arts in spring 2025, Esther performs lasso in a style completely her own. Nowhere else will you see dance and acrobatics blended with the highest technical level of rope spinning. She has performed for Spiegelworld, Cirque Us, Quixotic Fusion, Bellingham Circus Guild and more and just recently finished a resident contract at Krystallpalast Varieté in Germany.

Raven Witkowski, Aerial Coach
Raven Witkowski is a passionate coach and an experienced circus artist. They began their circus career at the Arizona Circus Center six years ago. In 2023, they were accepted into the San Diego Circus Center’s prestigious Preparatory Program. 

Raven specializes in Lyra and dance trapeze, but also finds joy in training newer disciplines such as tightwire and contortion. Since 2024, Raven has been coaching in Arizona, now teaching over 10 classes a week across multiple disciplines, as well as managing the studio.

Counselors 

Samantha Miel, Counselor
Samantha fell in love with the circus at seven years old when she saw her first Circus Smirkus show, and she has been upside down ever since. In addition to 16 years in gymnastics, she spent nine summers with Smirkus Camp before joining the Big Top Tour for three summers. When right-side up, she is an artist, ice cream enthusiast, gymnastics coach, and proud owner of a pet snake, named Mochi. She is currently attending Scripps College, where she plans to major in Physics and Math. Samantha can’t wait to return to Smirkus Camp this summer!

Addie Nevit, Counselor
Addie  is a third year Smirkus Camp Counselor and former camper. She is mainly an aerialist who specializes in solo rope and duo straps and Lyra. Smirkus is such an important part of so many lives, and Addie can’t wait to help keep the magic alive this summer.

 

 

Raya Petruschke, Counselor
Raya has been a Smirkus camper and was a trouper on the 2025 big top tour, and is excited to return this summer as a counselor. She lives in Vermont and trains acro, juggling, and tight wire. She’s excited to help campers find the same encouraging, welcoming, magical place she experienced at camp.

 

Ricky Tilk, Counselor
Ricky Tilk is a dedicated circus performer and instructor based out of Cleveland, Ohio. Since he was 7 years old he has worked and performed at his family’s circus Wizbang Circus theater. Not only is he a performer, he is also a circus educator, teaching children with Wizbang Circus School since 2020. Ricky has taken courses with SpyMonkey and clown intensives in London with Angela DeCastro just to name a few. He has also spent 8 years as a camper and staff at Circus Smirkus camp!


Camp Staff 

Alevia Doyle, Camp Store Manager
This summer will be Alevia’s fifth summer at Circus Smirkus Camp. Before her own circus stint, she spent many years watching her brother in the Big Top Tour, immersed in the circus world in her own way. Her experience as Head Counselor for the past two years has her eagerly anticipating returning to Greensboro, but this time as the Camp Store Manager. When she’s not picking up new circus skills around camp, Alevia works as an after-school teacher and office manager at a Montessori preschool in Essex, Vermont. 

Mariah Fraker, Activities Director
Mariah has been participating at Smirkus Camp longer than any current campers have been alive. Of the six or so different positions Mariah has held over the years, Activities Director continues to take the cake. What a blessing to teach traditions to the younger campers, and a blast to think of exciting new things with the returners. Mariah is looking forward to seeing what adventures arise this summer, and can’t wait to get into the games. Play ball!


Lary Packard, Assistant Camp Director
Lary grew up in circus life, spending summers at Smirkus Camp and at various circuses over the years before joining both Smirkus Camp and the Big Top Tour as staff. After a brief time performing, they found their passion behind the scenes, where logistics, operations, and the choreography of a moving circus lot became their own form of art.

He has previously served many roles throughout Smirkus, most recently as Head Counselor for both the Camp and the Big Top Tour, as well as Box Office Manager, and is passionate about building systems that support people, creativity, and community.

Atala Pepperdew, Camp Cook
Atala is an ecclectic circus artist from Chicago. Whimsy whirls around them! Find Atala swinging high on a trapeze, twirling fire around their body, or performing death-defying sideshow, amongst other tricks and treats. The human body is a playground of mystery and adventure, and their artist endeavors exemplify this curiosity.

 

Harley entered the world of circus at age 8, when their parents forced them to try a physical activity. To Harley’s surprise–and delight–they fell in love with flying. This summer, Harley will share that love with the next generation of Smirkos as the Assistant Camp Rigger.

Josephine Somerville, Head Rigger
Josephine is a dynamic, expressive circus artist once described as a friendly neighborhood cat. Early in their teens, they started taking circus classes and quickly fell in love. After earning a BS in neuroscience, they completed the New England Center for Circus Arts ProTrack program in 2023, specializing in tippy lyra and German wheel. 

Josephine has performed in tents and theaters across the US and Europe and has taught in the Netherlands, Belgium, and New England. Along the way, they developed a strong interest in rigging and went on to complete a 5-month circus rigging course at the Stockholm University of the Arts. They have since rigged with Cirkus Cirkor and NECCA. As a circus artist, rigger, and coach, Josephine is passionate about safety and risk management and loves to share their knowledge and collaborate with others in and out of the ring.

Jenna Struble, Interim Camp Director
Jenna Struble feels the most alive and childlike in circus and camp. She is very excited to be the Camp Director for Circus Smirkus! Jenna comes to Smirkus with a varied background as a creative, a technician, an administrator, a teacher, a program director, a consultant and a camp director.

Jenna started working with teens at her hometown LGBTQ center, organizing activities and mentoring teens. She started working in camp as a counselor and coordinator for the Amarillo Family YMCA, later developing an Arts and Counselor in Training program. She then became Association Camp Director for the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas overseeing 7 teens camps across the metro area. It was during this time that Jenna coordinated large events for teens in civic engagement and Model UN programs at the state and national level. Most recently, Jenna developed staff training and supported a camp for children with intellectual disabilities and trauma.

With a degree in theater, Jenna was co-founder of a theater company in Orlando when she ran away with the circus.  She worked in wardrobe for a residential and touring show for Cirque du Soleil in Orlando, Japan and Europe. She was also Executive Director for the New England for Circus Arts in Brattleboro, VT from 2021 – 2024.

Jenna lives in Brattleboro with her two fur babies J.F. and Ellie and works as a freelance consultant for non-profits, arts and youth-serving organizations. She is writing plays, telling stories and is active in the community as a volunteer with the Town Arts Committee and various arts organizations.  Jenna is passionate about poetry, art, circus, story-telling, and working with young people. She believes that everyone has a unique spark within them that makes the world a better place.