Year Round Staff
Carson Anderson, Business Office Manager
Carson is a skilled bookkeeper with a strong passion for numbers and attention to detail. Having grown up in Vermont, she has deep roots in the community and a commitment to supporting local businesses. An avid outdoors enthusiast, she loves hiking and exploring the beautiful landscapes that surround them. Carson is dedicated to providing accurate financial insights and is excited to be part of Circus Smirkus and contribute to its success.
Nate DuBrule, Big Top Tour Planner
With degrees in carpentry and horticulture, Nate did not discover circus until his mid 20’s, but quickly found his way to Circus Smirkus and worked as Backlot Manager for several years before taking a break and returning as Operations Director. After over a decade of living full time in Maine, he is currently a snowbird spending winters in Arizona and summers in Vermont. Nate loves to be outside in the sunshine playing disc golf, watching birds fly, and finding strange plants on the side of the road. On tour, you can find him elbows deep in a generator oil change or a batch of spreadsheets, depending on the time of the day.
Jeff Mandell, MS, is a seasoned camp director, circus artist/educator, and conflict resolution professional. He performed in his first circus show at the age of 5 as a “strong man” and magician. At the age of 7, his dad taught him to juggle 3 balls. But it wasn’t until at 34 years old that he fulfilled his dream to run away and train circus professionally.
Throughout his professional and, at times, unprofessional adventures, Jeff has circled the globe, teaching, problem-solving, clowning, and directing summer camps. Renowned for his highly effective and creative approach to community-building and tackling seemingly intractable problems, Jeff excels in fostering trust in challenging situations, including disputes across cultures and religions.
A dedicated advocate for peace, joy, and collective liberation, Jeff finds immense joy in working with children of all ages.
Genevieve Martineau, Marketing Director
Circus Smirkus is the third leg of Genevieve’s career. After graduating from University of Toronto, Genevieve spent 15 years working as a Product Manager at the onset of the online services and Internet technologies boom. During this time, she also earned her MBA from Northeastern University.
To satisfy her creative passion, she left the tech sector to open her own retail bead store. As one of the largest bead stores in New England, in addition to selling jewelry making supplies, she created a curriculum with over 300 classes and taught thousands of people each year.
After 12 years in retail, Genevieve closed up shop right as Genevieve’s daughter joined the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour. After volunteering for a summer, Genevieve joined the marketing department in 2017 and has been loving it ever since.
June Mumley, Staff Accountant
June brings over 30 years of accounting experience from a wide-variety of well-known and loved Vermont companies; from chocolate to beer to ice cream to motorcycles – June has done it all!
Tawnya Sauer, Big Top Tour Planner
Tawnya comes to Smirkus with a deep and abiding love of spreadsheets. She is, at heart, a planning and logistical savant, but with the reincarnated soul of an 18th century nomadic acrobat. Until she discovered Big Top Tour Planning as a profession, she thought she was doomed to feel unfulfilled in the duality of her personhood, but it turns out, the perfect job for her does exist.
Tawnya comes from a professional background of Event Planning and Coordination, and has been a performing aerialist for 10+ years. When she’s not multitasking in a traveling circus tent, she is enjoying the balmy desert weather of her home state, Arizona (just kidding, she’s inside, hiding from the snakes and scorpions, trying not to melt), and teaching lyra classes at a studio in Tempe.
In her free time, Tawnya sits on the board of a nonprofit performing arts organization she is a founding member of, called Atelotorque, that creates community events and performance opportunities for a diverse group of local artists and performers.
Rachel Schiffer, Executive & Artistic Director
A Vermonter and Middlebury College graduate, Rachel joined the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour in 1995 for the first of her ten years (!) as a trouper. She later worked as a Smirkus Residency Coach, and on the Big Top Tour as House Manager and Trouper Head Counselor. She was also an active member of the Smirkus Alumni Committee for many years.
Rachel traveled the world as a circus artist — working in France, Denmark, England, Wales, and the United States. Highlights include a 4-year tour with Le Cirque Poussiere in France, NoFit State Circus in Wales, and a creative project Laws Of Motion : The Third Law, developed in Denmark and Sweden.
In 2022 she was hired as Smirkus Camp Director; since spring 2023 she also served as Smirkus Co-Interim Executive Director. Rachel loves bringing her performance and circus administrative experiences back to Greensboro and under the Smirkus Big Top where she now serves as the Executive and Artistic Director.
Joshua Shack, School Residency and Special Events Coordinator
Joshua Shack decided to become a clown when he was just three years old. At age nine, he began performing his solo show at many local events, and was a Circus Smirkus trouper from 2000-2003, after two summers at Smirkus Camp. 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 20 productions for Theater in the Open in Newburyport, MA.
With the 2024 Circus Smirkus production The Imaginarium, Josh became the first Smirkus alum to direct the Big Top Tour show. 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.
Becca Tatum, Development Officer