Ever bemoaned the slow waits of the MBTA or the commuter rail, or perhaps taken for granted the convenience of train travel? “Passengers,” a circus show by the troupe The 7 Fingers, may have you feeling differently, and perhaps even reflecting fondly on the intimacy and power of train travel.
Shana Carroll, the writer, director and choreographer of “Passengers” – a multiform American Repertory Theater show of acrobatics with music and text – explores train travel as “a metaphor for a lifetime, and all the beautiful, unexpected things that happen along the way, and the times when the ride is cut too short, and sad departures and happy arrivals.”
Carroll remembers train travel as a place for interconnectivity – something circus offers her and her fellow cast members, and extends into the audience.
The 7 Fingers was created in 2002 by seven friends and circus performers in Montreal who wanted to be the ones creating the shows, rather than just performing in them. They bring an element of risk and trust to live theater, between not only the performers, but extending to the audience.
“Circus honestly is one of the most apt ways of demonstrating our interconnectivity and interdependence, even on a purely technical level. When we’re doing circus tricks, you have five people all involved in throwing someone in the air or catching them from a high height, and literally making sure they don’t land on their head and die,” Carroll said. “We really feel the connective tissue between us at all times, and you have no choice but to be there for each other.”
Train travel today looks a lot different than how Carroll remembers it. The convenience of phones and Internet access eliminates the boredom that transformed into so many crucial memories, but with “Passengers,” Carroll hopes to revitalize that feeling.
“I had so many crazy, life-changing moments on trains, where I happened to be in a sleeping car with three other women from different countries and different ages and we just bonded like crazy,” Carroll said. “Or leaving a man I loved and never seeing him again and being on the train and crying my eyes out and looking out the window.”
The 7 Fingers will board audiences into a theater to experience rides together throughout September.
“All of the wonderful things about live theater, about feeling each other’s pulse and all the visceral things that happen while you’re sitting in the room that don’t happen while you’re watching a screen are kind of tenfold when entering that acrobatic context,” Carroll said.
Having devoted her life to circus arts, Carroll has a continued belief in their healing power, not only for performers and creators, but for audience members as well.
“I really hope people walk away feeling like they’ve gotten that oxygen and hope and catharsis and maybe a tear, and just feel like they have been moved that makes them feel more whole.”
“Passengers” plays Sept. 3-26 at the American Repertory Theater’s Loeb Mainstage, 64 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge.
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