PBN recently talked with Providence native Mark Gaipo before he helps roll the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus into the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Performances will run from May 4 to 8. Gaipo grew up in the Mount Pleasant section of the city, attended LaSalle Academy and Providence College, before joining the circus.
PBN: How did you begin your career with Barnum & Bailey?
GAIPO: My sister, Christine, was a senior at Classical High School when the circus pulled into town. She went down there and got to know the people, and, literally, ran off with the circus just two months before graduation. As she built a career on the road (she’s been with the circus for 18 years now), it became apparent we didn’t want to distance ourselves, so I started driving to where she was to see her within a 500-mile radius. Then, they wanted me to join them for a little while and have some fun. My vacation with the circus began Dec. 26, 1994 and it hasn’t ended.
PBN: What are your responsibilities?
GAIPO: It involves moving 300 people and 4,000 tons of equipment from town to town. There is a lot of pre-planning and logistics. I work with the controller, planning the budget and maintaining the budget. There’s everything from transportation to working with vendors.
PBN: How does the preparation work for the next show work when you already have a circus to put on somewhere else?
GAIPO: There are day-to-day challenges. For instance, I already began working with vendors in Providence four weeks in advance. We were in New York City ordering produce and feed for the animals, and so on. There is also a lot involved with moving 4,000 tons of equipment. We have six semi-trailers filled with equipment and there’s 17 flatcars going over rail. There’s flat tires and delays with the trains to deal with from time to time, but for the most part it is a very smooth process.
PBN: With so many forms of entertainment to compete with – DVDs, PlayStation, sports – how does the circus continue to attract people or keep an edge?
GAIPO: The producer has effectively mixed some of the nostalgia of the circus, which began in the 1840s, with the present and future. We have state-of-the-art moving lights, unbelievable sound systems and live bands. Of course, there are the animals, which are our biggest draw. I think the audience we would really like to hit is the younger adults, like in Providence we should get Brown, URI and Johnson & Wales students. I think if they got to see us, they would be surprised by the technology and sophistication. When thinking about the circus, a lot of people have a vision of a dirt floor with bales of hay.
PBN: I would imagine you have some interesting work force issues?
GAIPO: What is most challenging for us is that we are not stationary. We pick people up on a town-by-town basis. We do use the Internet like other businesses, which involves a screening process. People are then transported to our field units after that. For the most part, we have the same problem that any other business would have: It is very hard to find anyone with a work ethic anymore. I came from a single-parent family. My mother worked three jobs to send me to LaSalle. I have an appreciation for hard work. It’s something that is difficult to find these days.
PBN: There must be some unusual work force training?
GAIPO: We have some challenges when it comes to initial orientation to this workplace. Some of the things that we go over are very different than most companies. For example, there is orientation for train safety, general rules and performance conduct, and animal care. Then, we have more traditional training, like going over sexual harassment and non-smoking workplace policies, and workers’ compensation and fraud issues.
PBN: I understand you have also had success in the circus on a personal level, meeting your wife there?
GAIPO: Yes, I met my wife, Natalia, who is a Russian trapeze performer. We have a 3-year-old boy, so, yes, I really have flourished with the circus in many ways.
PBN: How do you raise a child while traveling with the circus? How are they educated?
GAIPO: Part of my responsibility on the show is to maintain and progress the school and nursery. We travel with our own day care and schoolteachers. Our performers and their families have top-notch teachers.
PBN: What’s your favorite part of the circus?
GAIPO: That would be the “spec,” or spectacular, which is the finale of the first half of the performance. It has some of the highest energy and is the most interactive part of the circus. You just can’t help clapping your hands and tapping your toes.
