People are always bursting Casey Carle's bubbles. And he couldn't be happier.
"I'm glad the bubbles burst," says Carle, an acclaimed bubbleologist (perhaps the only bubbleologist) and comic performer who will be the main attraction at this weekend's Bubble Days at the Maryland Science Center. "If they didn't, I'd have to actually have a much bigger house to put all my creations in. It would be a huge challenge."
Perhaps not as challenging, however, as the stuff he does during his act — stuff that involves making that most ephemeral of creations, soap bubbles, do all manner of tricks. He fills them with gas, makes them spin like a top and refract light like a disco ball, walk a high wire, bounce on a soap-film trampoline. He even makes them big enough to enclose people.
Carle is an expert on how bubbles are created, what makes them so fascinating and what makes them so fun. He's bubbly in ways most people have never thought possible.
"I take bubbles to a level nearly all people find extraordinary," he says.
Clearly, Carle is not your everyday bubble-maker, and his bubbles are not your everyday bubbles.
"You can't go 30 seconds in my show without having something beautiful, something funny or something jaw-dropping happen," Carle brags. "My presentation style is beauty combined with comedy combined with jaw-dropping skill."
Carle, 47, has spent more than two decades honing his act. As a student at State University of New York, Geneseo, he originally saw himself specializing in math or science as a career. By the time he left, he was into theater. And a two-year stint with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, during which he began to realize the entertainment value of the bubble, pointed him toward a calling that brought together all his interests.
"I'm able to combine my love of science, my love of theater, my love of visual art, my love of comedy and my love of being around people to bringing Bubblemania to life," he says with infectious enthusiasm. "I call it 'Science, soap and showmanship.' It's all there."
If you go
Bubble Days are set for noon-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Maryland Science Center, 601 Light St. Casey Carle will perform "Bubblemania" three times daily, at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., on both days. The shows are free with paid science center admission. In addition, there will be exhibits on the science of bubbles, bubble-gum-blowing contests and a bubble factory where kids can create and try out their own bubble-making solutions. Call 410-685-5225 or go to marylandsciencecenter.org