BORDENTOWN – Gage Curran, a seventh grader at Bordentown Regional Middle School, has always had a thrill to entertain people through his creative visions and artistic prowess.
As a big fan of Halloween, Gage went all-in to entertain and even jolt a little scare into his fellow Bordentown residents and people from the surrounding areas with his “CarnEvil Circus” production. For his efforts to provide some fun and terror, he won the 2022 Bordentown Halloween House Decorating Contest.
Gage and his parents, Robert and Alicia, created a 40-foot-long tent designed to look like a real circus tent. Two 12-foot skeletons presented a giant banner welcoming guests into the CarnEvil Circus show at their residence on West Point Drive in Bordentown Township.
“I’ve always loved the circus,” he said. “I loved the clowns. I wanted to bring a Halloween theme to it and designed it in that way.”
From the moment visitors walked up to the ticket booth and saw the trunks full of circus props, Gage’s CarnEvil Circus took visitors into another world.
There were mountainous geysers of fog and lights moving and pulsing in front of visitors as they entered the tent. And as visitors waiting in line with giant animated characters, it was “grab your snacks (cotton candy and buttered popcorn) and drinks” if you dare from the pop out clowns.
The main room of CarnEvil Circus featured clowns swinging on a trapeze and skeletons launching through a cannon and threatening to blow up the audience with TNT explosives. It all came to a head when visitors saw the giant beast perform.
CarnEvil Circus proved to be a hit and earned the No. 1 prize in the Bordentown Halloween House Decorating Contest.
“I thought we did a good job,” Gage said. “We wanted to make it bigger than last year, and it worked out well this year. We hope to make it bigger and better next year.”
The Currans say that over 500 people came by during Oct. 29-31 to check out the exhibit.
Over the last few years, Gage has developed more skills in the production industry with help from his uncle, Andrew Curran, who is the president of a full-service entertainment production company called Practical Imagination of Orlando.
Gage has recently begun creating his own production company that he intends to call Currant FX.
Gage has used his passion for creative design and entertainment to help him learn in school through an Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
Both his teachers and parents have helped Gage get through his challenges with subjects like math and language arts by tying it in with his artistic abilities.
“We try to tie in Gage’s passions into what he is learning every day,” said his parents. “It’s his superpower. It will give him the ability to build a career from it.”
Nothing is stopping Gage from his passion of creating art in many forms to entertain people. Being a creative director has always been his dream and Gage is currently living it through his own production company and sharing it with the Bordentown community.