by Mia Phillips
Who says the circus can’t be sexy?
This year at the Payomet circus tent, burlesque and circus came together to create Back in the Saddle, a burlesque-style circus show set in the Wild West. Eleanor Getz and Gabrielle Teddy Ment were on a road trip to California, driving through the Southwest, when they were inspired to create a Wild West circus show. While passing through a town in Arizona named Tombstone, designed like a western movie set, Getz remembers thinking, “what a perfect backdrop.” During their hours on the road, Getz and Ments would workshop the story, going back and forth about what they wanted it to look like. “We spent that winter learning how to rope,” says Getz. Ment recalls a trip the two took to Lake Tahoe where they saw “some really incredible Wild West towns.”
In California, Getz and Ment lived together in a small trailer on a mountain. “Most of our time was spent outside training at the circus, and she (Getz) learned how to lasso, and I learned how to use a bullwhip,” says Ment.
They came back to the Cape with the first iteration of their Wild West show, and in 2021, they presented Payomet audiences with a family-friendly version. A few years later, after being introduced to a burlesque show during a variety show the tent put on, Getz and Ment decided to fuse the two, and thus Back in the Saddle-Burlesque! as it is performed today, was born.
“It’s our favorite show,” says Ment.
The show is a narrative piece about a young farm girl, played by Ment, who leaves home to make money for her family. She ends up on a men-only ranch, “so, Mulan-style she had to dress up in drag and impersonate being a man,” says Getz. The show is narrated by Pepper the horse, played by Copper Santiago, “who is a really fun showgirl character,” says Ment. Getz plays a prospector who owns the ranch. He is the founder of the town and responsible for the law that made his ranch men-only.
Local juggler Trevor Pearson plays Slim Tickens, the prospector’s right-hand man. “The four of us have been working together in some capacity over the last 12 to 13 years,” says Ment. In the show, there is a group juggling number with all four cast members, a moment that inspires pride in Ment. “It’s a really wonderful moment that the four of us are working together,” says Ment. “It brings me a lot of joy working with them and having a group number.”
Ment adds, “there’s commentary on gender equality, gender bending, and it’s also really a theater show. I think a lot of people, when they think of the circus, they think of elephants and freak shows. This is a more contemporary circus where you can think of it like a play.” Sometimes burlesque plays an integral role in the performers’ storytelling, like when it’s used to allow the main character to transform into a persona. Other times it’s used for its comedic aspects to bring humor to the story. “It’s really elevated the whole narrative of the show,” says Ment.
Circus, by nature, is an interdisciplinary art form, so “adding this element of burlesque felt natural to us,” says Ment. In 2024, Getz and Ment were introduced to burlesque at Payomet. Looking to branch out, the organization wanted to explore adding burlesque into their programming. “It wasn’t necessarily something that we had planned for, but we decided it was a fun experience,” says Getz.
The duo met at circus school. Getz came to the school as a modern dancer and went to college for dance. During her senior show, the troop arranged to have a group picture taken of them hanging in the air from the school’s building. “We found someone who would teach us the silks, which are the long pieces of fabric we used to hang us up there,” says Getz. “Then I was hooked, and I needed to go to circus school.” Ment’s story is a bit more straightforward. “I actually started as young as six years old,” says Ment. Where she grew up, there was a youth troupe circus that she participated in after school. “I just totally fell in love with it, and my coaches took me under their wing and recommended I go to circus school,” says Ment. “That’s where I ended up meeting Eleanor, and it totally changed my life.”
While Ment grew up in the circus, Getz spent her childhood summers on Cape Cod. After attending circus school as a young adult, she heard from Payomet’s executive director, Kevin Rice. “He had heard about me because there aren’t many circus artists out here. So, we met 15 years ago, and he had this vision of starting a circus program.” This vision was “perfectly aligned” with what Getz wanted to do: “we both wanted to bring the circus to the Cape.” But she wasn’t going to do it alone. “I told Rice that I came as a package deal.” She and Ment had been studying duo trapeze and partner acrobatics at school that year and became joined at the hip. Together they came to the Cape and began work to make their vision a reality.
Back in the Saddle – Burlesque! will be performed at Provincetown Town Hall, 230 Commercial St., Saturday, August 29 and Friday, September 4, at 7 p.m. For tickets ($33) and information call 508.487.5400 or visit payomet.org.
