With the upcoming fourth tour of its show RagTag: A Circus in Stitches, the New England-based circus collective Cirque Us enters its seventh year on the road. RagTag follows a group of threadbare, yarn-spinning characters as they explore a new patchwork world. But after two years of pandemic, getting to tour the show again was not a surety. As part of a world- and industry-wide conversation about the return to live shows, Cirque Us Founder and Operations Director Doug Stewart gives us a look between the seams at how his company kept itself stitched together during the pandemic. 

We are very excited to be returning to the stage! It’s no surprise the last few years were extremely challenging for all small companies, and performing arts companies were no exception. Cirque Us had toured every summer since 2016 across New England and the East Coast. In 2020, we decided to switch things up and do our first-ever spring tour. We were in the middle of a three-week rehearsal period when the world shut down that March. ...