Rob Mermin trained in classical mime with Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau and has performed in European circus, theater, TV and film for forty years.  He is an author, director, university lecturer, former Dean of Ringling Bros. Clown College, and founder of the award-winning international company Circus Smirkus (www.smirkus.org).

Rob's awards include Copenhagen's Gold Clown; the Bessie Award; Best Director Prize at the former Soviet Union's International Festival on the Black Sea; the Lund Family Center's "It Takes A Village Award";  the Vermont Arts Council Award of Merit, and the 2008 Governor's Award for Excellence, Vermont's highest honor in the arts.  Rob lives in central Vermont.