Forty years ago, Aileen Moffitt taught at Prescott Elementary in Oakland. Moffitt, an Oakland native, was white, teaching in a predominantly Black school. Her background also included juggling and clowning and, mentored by African American teachers, she created a program first known as “Prescott Clowns” and today known as the Prescott Circus Theatre (PCT).
The PCT program succeeded because from the beginning it was sensitive to and respectful of the students it serves, said Executive/Artistic Director David Hunt. “It was always a grassroots approach, and caught the attention of people and organizations, such as the East Bay Community Foundation, who care about the wellbeing of children,” he said.
Skills taught include clowning, juggling, acrobatics, stilt dancing, hip-hop dance and balancing acts. But the lessons learned are so much more, Hunt said. “To see an eight-year-old step onstage and present themselves with poise and pride … building confidence is the main thing,” he said. Other benefits include the ability to work in groups “in ways they’ve never been asked to before,” he said, “working on behalf of a bigger vision.”
Participants also learn that their talent is uniquely their own, as well as how to accept the value of the others’ talents. A smaller child, one who may have been teased about their size, learns that they and only they can be at the top of a human pyramid.
Practical skills include time management, accountability and the ability to feel confident in spaces they have never been in. For example, Hunt said, the kids are tasked with loading and unloading the van for performances outside school grounds.
Over the years, other schools have requested the program. Currently, it serves eight schools besides Prescott Elementary: Bella Vista Elementary, East Oakland Pride Elementary, Esperanza Elementary, Horace Mann Elementary, La Escuelita Elementary, Montera Middle and Piedmont Avenue. A K-2 program also operates in some schools, as well as Circus Pathways for Older Youth, which serves kids in sixth grade and up.
The Oakland Unified School District salutes the PCT program with the words: “Students from 3rd to 5th grade meet for 9 hours a week after-school. Students learn circus skills such as stilts and dancing. They also receive after-school tutoring and academic support. Students perform in various events in the community, including Oakland’s Black Joy Parade…The goal is for students to expand their creativity and sense of self. The Prescott Circus has used a culturally inclusive curriculum to educate generations.”
Alumni of the program sometimes go on to careers in the arts, Hunt said. Through Prescott Circus Theatre, “they meet other artists of color, and discover a world beyond West Oakland,” he said. Many more go into education, some becoming teaching artists.
The program returns this summer for free performances. The 60-minute show, themed True Colors, Let Your True Light Shine! has three performances at the Malonga Casquelourd Theatre, July 15 and 16, and one outdoor performance at Lil’ Bobby Hutton Park on July 19.
The summer shows are a “culmination of the six-week academic program,” Hunt said. They include 32 kids, ages 8-17, “of which 80% are returning students.”
Group reservations are welcome from childcare centers, senior centers, camps and community groups for the Malonga shows. Reservations are not necessary for the outdoor show.
Wrote the PCT on Instagram: “Since 1985, Prescott Circus Theatre, its students, schools, and communities have been carrying on cultural traditions that date back [thousands] of years while reshaping and creating how circus is expressed in the United States today. We are proud to say, “WE ARE BLACK HISTORY AND WE ARE BLACK FUTURES.”
PCT shows: July 15, 11am, 1:30pm and July 16, 11am. Malonga Casquelourd Theatre, 1428 Alice St., Oakland. Reservations: 510.350.7207 or prescottcircus.org/2025/05/2025summershows or in**@************us.org; July 19, 2pm, Lil’ Bobby Hutton Park at DeFremery Rec Center, 1651 Adeline St., Oakland. Reservations not necessary.
