Sarah Griesbach 
On Tuesday, September 9th at 6PM, massive mutant fish will take over the Hoboken waterfront. The mutant fish is actually the stage of the Flotsam River Circus, a traveling troupe of musicians, aerialists, and other performers. The troupe is stopping in Hoboken as part of its summer 2025 tour alongside the Hudson River. Read on to find out about the Flotsam River Circus troupe’s free one-of-a-kind theatrical performance on the Hoboken riverbank, happening on September 9th, 2025 at Hoboken Cove.
Photo Credit: Flotsam River Circus
A Floating Stage of Fun
The Flotsam River Circus’ boat is a ramshackle multi-story stage and all comers are the audience. Pirates play accordions, fish their violins, flying aerialists hang from fishing poles, and wild creatures of all sorts perform feats of derring-do. The Flotsam performance blends circus artistry, puppetry, and storytelling to stage a show that is for everyone. The playful production lasts about an hour.
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Rivers Make Great Theater
Founded by accordion troubadour Jason Webley in 2019, Flotsam has become a summer adventure for musicians, jugglers, clowns, and puppeteers who come together to create something fresh, wonderful, and watery. The troupe has performed for tens of thousands of people across 13 states. They’ve traversed waterways from the Northwest down through the Midwest, floating their way from the Willamette River in Oregon to the mighty Mississippi. Last year, they made their way along the entirety of the Ohio River, all the way from Pittsburgh to Paducah.
Photo Credit: Flotsam River Circus
This summer, Flotsam performed at the bicentennial celebration of the Erie Canal. Lake Erie to the Hudson River created the first navigable waterway between the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, which led to massive shifts in goods and people and brought about the economic ascendancy of New York.
The floating theater troupe has been making its way south along the Hudson in the days since traversing the 363-mile Erie Canal. Between stops, they fix the bits of the boat in need of mending, repair costumes, and float away, downriver, for another day of theatrical revelries on the water. There are a few local performances to catch after the Hoboken show — in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and on Randall’s Island. You can find the full list of performances here.
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