Crew of 'Cirque Eloize' begins set up at River Campus

The technical crew of "Cirque Eloize: Nebbia" drove its 18-wheel semi truck into Cape Girardeau this morning and immediately started rolling crates and props onto the Bedell Performance Hall stage in order to get the stage set for the European circus.

Eleven gymnast and acrobats will perform Nebbia at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday in Bedell, at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus. The stage crew will spend roughly 20 hours setting up equipment, focusing lights and arranging the truss that will hold every cue for the show. Nebbia uses nine bars for curtains alone, according to Genevieve Dupere, Nebbia's stage manager and assistant to the director, Daniele Finzi Pasca.

"We play between reality and nonreality with curtains," she said.

"Cirque Eloize: Nebbia" is the third in the Sky Trilogy. It follows "Nomade" and "Rain."

"Nebbia" means "fog" in Italian, and the production addresses the blurred line between dreams and reality.

"It's all really fluid," Dupere said.

Tickets are $39 and $33 at the River Campus box office, 651-2265, www.metrotix.com or MetroTix outlets.