Ringmaster David Shipman shares his circus family with fans

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

That was David Shipman’s message to incoming students at the art and design college where he worked as an admissions counselor — an apropos sentiment for a guy who would eventually quit that job to run away with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

“All this advice I was giving to these students, I wasn’t taking,” says Shipman, the ringmaster for Circus Xtreme, Ringling Bros.’ all-new touring show, which runs through Monday, July 6, at the Selland Arena.

He wasn’t looking for a life in the circus when he ran across an audition note in a online actor’s group in Orlando, Florida. He was a working actor at this point and here was a job that seems fun and challenging. Though, he’d actually missed the audition by a week and a half, he inquired anyway.

The worst they could do was say no.

Within two hours he got a reply and was asked in for a private audition with Ringling Bros. talent scouts and producers Nicole and Alana Feld and director Fred Tallaksen. After the audition, they offered him a contract, almost on the spot.

Shipman doesn’t know what it was about his original message that made such an impact, but what got him the job wasn’t his singing or dancing or acting abilities, he says. It was the unique advantage of being able to sit down for a conversation with the producers. They talked about impact the circus has on the lives of its audience.

In the circus’ 145 years there have only been 38 ringmasters, Shipman says. As much as he’s a paid performer, he’s also part of an American institution.

Shipman’s family took him to a Ringling Bros. production when he was two years old.

“I remember the lights, the colors, the clowns – even the Ringmaster,” Shipman says.

In a bit of the world coming full-circle, he performed in his hometown, in that same arena, on his first tour with the company.

As ringmaster, Shipman serves as a guide for the show, interacting with the audience and introducing them to the performers — what he calls his circus family. For Circus Xtreme, that includes the clowns and lion tamers, but also a whole array of modern performers like BMX riders to free-running parkour flippers. Shipman also creates the show’s soundtrack, as the lead singer for a live band that performs music specifically written for the show. The songs, which change nightly, have an upbeat, energy that’s perfect compliment to the visuals of the show, he says.

But his favorite moments have nothing to do with the music, the stunts or the animals. It’s the audience.

From his position in the center of the ring he sees the audience reactions, their mouths agape at the spectacle of it all. He says, “That’s something that is really awesome.”

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Ringmaster David Shipman shares his circus family with fans."