Unicycle taxi service in the city. From left: Max Crombie, Jem Russell, Avery Featherstone, Bridger McSweeney, Jackson Surette Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Brook Minehart (top) and Julia Bisson (bottom) scale a skyscraper using aerial silks. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Alien lifeform Lucas Lawson-Spratley pilots a spacecraft. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Zoe Mooney (left) photographs Juniper Cardenas (center) handstanding on a hoverboard while alien Jem Russell (right) looks on. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Troupe members contortion themselves on stage. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Cian Holmes Houghton juggles rings as he walks across the stage. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Alexandra Culp dangles mid-air from a trapeze. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
All aboard the Hilltop Express! Troupe members drive their tour bus to the big city. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
The Hilltop Circus troupe welcomes the audience to an afternoon of acrobatic mayhem. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Members from The Hilltop Circus troupe mascaraed as giraffes while traversing the stage on stilts. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Liv Henry hangs effortlessly from a suspended lyra. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
Miles Russell (left) and Jem Russell (right) serve as trees for the squirrel Lucas Lawson-Spratley (top). Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript 
The Hilltop Circus troupe forms a human pyramid after fixing the alien lifeforms’ stranded ship. Credit: TYLER DION / Ledger-Transcript
What happens when an alien spacecraft crash-lands in the middle of a “sparkling, shiny, extravagant, marvelous, outstanding city?” According to The Hilltop Circus troupe, it calls for juggling and acrobatics and a little audience-driven chaos.
The Hilltop Circus at Pine Hill Middle School in Wilton capped off February with its 30th annual performance, a two-hour, high-flying production titled “A Day in the City.”
The show opened with a group of “alien lifeforms from outer space” running out of fuel and crash-landing on a stage transformed into a bustling downtown scene. The middle school auditorium was decked out to resemble a generic metropolis — not any one specific city, but a blend of many places and eras, complete with taxis, reporters and even a mayor.
From there, the stranded aliens set off in search of fuel for their ship, encountering remarkably athletic tourists and a host of urban adventures along the way. The performance featured stilt-walking, unicycle-riding, trampoline-jumping and gravity-defying acrobatics.
This year’s circus embraced a “Choose Your Own Adventure” format, with the audience playing an active role in shaping the story. Throughout the performance, attendees were asked to weigh in on key plot points, including questions like whether to let the city burn or call the fire department. More often than not, the crowd leaned toward the more disastrous option, adding an extra layer of humor and unpredictability to the show.
“As the eighth-grade class was considering which theme to choose for this year’s circus, one common wish was to do something that had never been done before,” Circus Director Jonathan Roitman said. “When we finally settled on ‘Choose Your Own Adventure,’ it was both exciting and challenging.”
As the storyline developed, Roitman said the group gravitated toward the idea of spending a day in a city filled with the sights and sounds of a busy metropolis.
He thanked The Hilltop Circus Band for enhancing the show’s soundtrack and credited teacher Jen Kershaw for sharing her theater expertise with the students.
This year’s production was also bittersweet for Roitman.
“This is also a year of goodbyes,” Roitman said. “This class of eighth graders were in first grade when I began my work at Pine Hill as the Movement Teacher, and directed my first Hilltop Circus.” He said he was both honored and grateful to have gotten to know his students so well and see them grow over the years.
The Hilltop Circus was first started in 1996 by Pine Hill teachers looking to brighten the winter months.
The troupe performed three shows between Friday, Feb. 27 and Saturday, Feb. 28.