Jasper Patterson (Artistic Director) grew up during the height of the “Vaudeville-Nouveau” movement. His eclectic performance background includes studying with Director Joanne Akalaitis, ground breaking puppeteer Basil Twist, and physical theatre with master teachers Avner Eisenberg and Jim Calder. Jasper was also awarded a scholarship to further his formal training with teachers from the NY Metropolitan Opera.

In 2006 he toured the Canadian street theater festival circuit with circus darling Jan Damm, as a two-man expressionist danger vaudeville duo. He next landed in the post-modern vaudeville show Speakeasy with Janine Garafalo and Josh Lucas. Next was a casting  as a Flying Karamozov in their version of Don Quixote . The new eccentrics were founded in the bohemian circus/cabaret scene of Portland and San Francisco in 2007 where they birthed their pop-up cabaret, culminating last summer with a performance at the Comic Book Theater Festival in New York.  Currently Jasper is the Artistic Director of City Circus.

 

Sarah “Styles” Al-Kassab is a one woman powerhouse of art, beauty, magic and performance. With a mixed-culture and mixed-religion background, along with a bi-coastal up bringing, Sarah spent most of her time studying the symbols of history, art and popular culture to answer the question, “What exactly is the -ism of style?”

Drawing on her extreme experiences and the -isms of the past; her understanding that style is what one makes of it; the realization that symbols are the universal language; and that magic is made everywhere, she, along with her partner Jasper Patterson, created The New Eccentrics. They are currently developing new material in the underground vaudeville and cabaret scene in San Francisco.

 

 

Jan Damm (Rolla Bolla/Clown) has performed clowning, juggling, and his
unique balancing act throughout North America and the world. He began juggling in Maine,
his home state, at ten. One economics degree and several
street-performing tours later, Jan entered the S.F. Circus Center to
train with masters Lu Yi, Jeff Raz and John Gilkey. He has worked with
Cirque Mechanics, Circus Zoppe, New Pickle Circus, and with Cirque
Magnifique for NASA.
He recently performed solo on ‘Late Night with David Letterman’, and
just returned from a tour with Celebrity Cruises, as lead performer in
their flagship circus production show.  He is thrilled to create and

perform with the New Eccentrics, a collaboration stretching back, under various names, to 2004.