about us
Formed in 2017 by Violenza and Eli Rose, The No Ring Circus is a New York based theatrical production company and agency dedicated to the fusion of circus sideshow, performance art, and theater. Company members span the globe, and collaborate in everything from short-form acts, to full-length ensemble productions. Additionally, they provide entertainment booking for events small and large, private, corporate, and beyond.
The No Ring Circus is responsible for three full-length productions with original scores. CLOWNS, which had three runs in New Orleans between 2017-2018, PSYCHOPOMPS, which ran in New Orleans in 2018, and THE UNSEEN WOODS which ran in Detroit in 2019.
From 2021-2024 they created and produced a monthly series at the legendary House of Yes titled MIDNIGHT AGONY, which became a Brooklyn nightlife cult favorite.
In 2023 they added two additional series to their schedule, both at The Red Pavilion in Bushwick: VIOLENZA, which is monthly, and SUMMER LAND which is quarterly.
The No Ring Circus performs original acts at variety shows, events, and in productions across the US for companies such as Theatre Bizarre, House of Yes, Company XIV, The Great Gatsby Party, Dances of Vice, Torture Garden, FNT, Shanghai Mermaid, The Box, and Little Cinema. In addition, the company performs at private and corporate events, and have appeared at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Coney Island USA, Six Flags, and Traumatica at Europa Park.
In 2023 company members Eli Rose, Violenza, and Fibi Eyewalker were invited to participate in Darkness Visible, a performance art bootcamp in Athens, Greece, under the mentorship of Ron Athey.
Founders
ELI ROSE
(they/them) is an accomplished MC, sword swallower, and composer. They have been the MC and face of touring event The Great Gatsby Party since 2017. They have appeared in print in Grey Magazine, and on film in Cage the Elephant’s music video for their Grammy winning “Cold, Cold, Cold.” They write the original music for all No Ring Circus productions, collaborating with their 10-piece (ever expanding) band known as The No Ring Circus Orchestra, including members Reverend Beat-Man, J.D. Wilkes of Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, Zebulon Whatley of Sons of Perdition, Chris Scruggs, and Doctor Sick of The Squirrel Nut Zippers. They are also a member of the band Sons of Perdition.
VIOLENZA
aka Daphne Rose Malfitano (they/them), has acted professionally from age four, and studied at the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, the Lee Strasberg School, the School at Steppenwolf, and the Piven Theatre. Daphne is the librettist for two operas by Thomas Pasatieri, “The Family Room,” which premiered in 2011 at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, and “The Martyrs,” which premiered in 2012 at DiCapo Opera Theatre in New York, and which they also directed. Their play “Paternus” was premiered in Los Angeles at Rogue Machine Theatre in 2014. They have also been published as a film critic, and freelance journalist. Daphne is the director and co-writer of all No Ring Circus productions. In addition, they are the lead main stage entertainment producer on event series Dances of Vice, as well as producing weekly variety entertainment at Brooklyn nightclub Red Pavilion.
company members
COOPER STANTON
(he/him) is a queer NYC-based performer hailing from the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. A 2014 graduate of The National Circus School (Montreal), Cooper has performed aerial and ground acrobatics internationally, and has toured the U.S. with Seattle-based circus company Acrobatic Conundrum. His work with The No Ring Circus includes appearances in Midnight Agony, Summerland, Violenza, and Nightfall at The Green-Wood Cemetery. Other credits include Pirates! The Penzance Musical on Broadway, Watch Night (Perelman PAC NYC), 50th anniversary tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Paint Your Wagon, Cinderella (MUNY), and Jerome Robbins Broadway (TUTS). Cooper’s artistic pursuits are driven by a deep desire to uplift and unite through shared experiences and the celebration of love!
FIBI EYEWALKER
(she/her) is an international sword swallowing superstar with a background in fire arts, flying trapeze, event production, storytelling, as well as experience as a yoga and pilates instructor. A genius of the stage, Fibi performs all around the world, from nightlife to the opera house. A cast member in Florentina Holzinger’s “Ophelia’s Got Talent” at Berlin’s Volksbühne Theatre since 2022, Fibi divides her time across the world appearing with such companies and venues as: The Box, House of Yes, Coney Island USA, Theatre Bizarre, Sadistic Circus, Torture Garden, Virgin Cruise Lines, and G.O.P. Germany. She is the co-creator of New York’s favorite adult clown show “Disasterpiece Theatre” as well as the creator of the first sideshow festival “Sideshow Worlds Collide” which has run at Coney Island USA + Køpi Berlin.
GOD COMPLEX
aka Aeon Andreas (he/they), is a drag + performance artist, director, and choreographer based in Brooklyn. He makes work that sits at the intersection of joy, sex, faggotry, and the abyss. As an award winning drag artist, (Brooklyn’s Drag King of the Year 2019 among many others), God Complex has performed across the US in iconic places and shows such as Lincoln Center, The Chelsea Hotel, Sasha Velour's Nightgowns, Bonnaroo, Bushwig Drag Festival, Theatre Bizarre, and a vast smattering of dive bars, gay clubs, boats, barns, art galleries, and strip clubs. Outside of nightlife, they are a director, dance maker, and occasional actor. He spent eight years teaching at NYU Tisch Drama’s Playwrights Horizons Theater School. God Complex produces, directs, and curates ABSOLUTELY, a maximalist drag spectacular that merges installation art, environmental theater, and extraordinary drag.
LALLA MORTE
(she/her) is a performance artist based in Paris, one of the important figures of the French cabaret, circus and neo-burlesque scene. After co-founding the ‘Cabaret Dangereux’ troupe MurderSuicidePresents in 2006, she became a full member of HEY! La Cie. She has collaborated for many years with Cirque Électrique, and the Swiss label Voodoo Rhythm Records. She creates original numbers in which she develops an aesthetic, the poetry and irrationality of which serve the heritage that inspires her: the cabaret of the early 20th century played in circus and in music hall. In her work, the intrigue of the gesture prevails, where a hypnotic charm emerges from all of her performances. Each of her acts is a short story populated by characters typical of her universe (the glass walker eating fire, the bird of paradise, the voodoo creature.). Fakirism, feather fans, black light, illusion, ballet, body painting are among her means, and her flexible frame allows her to travel in her suitcase to the stage.
ROSEBUD
(they/them) is a classically trained actor, dancer, and singer who ran away from the off-Broadway acting world to become a low artist of the performance art and burlesque variety. They have been performing in New York City for over fifteen years. You can find them on the big screen in their first feature length film, The Horror at Gallery Kay.