An “Artrageous” night in the Hart Auditorium

Lights filled the stage and audience members cheered as performers began the show.

On Nov. 6, in the John W. Hart Auditorium, the troupe known as Artrageous performed their art-inspired show.

According to their website, Artrageous, a troupe of 12 performers from New Mexico, incorporates pop culture, rock music, audience interaction, neon paint and black lights into each performance. Artrageous has garnered popularity throughout the country and has performed at a variety of public and private venues.

The group first started as clowns, jugglers and street artists in the 1980s. Five years ago, the same group of friends began to perform as Artrageous.

“We wanted to take everything we learned and put it into entertainment,” said Lauri Francis, an Artrageous performer and co-founder. “Artrageous is a combination of everything we’ve learned in our entertainment lives. We wanted to put all the arts on one stage.”

The group sang different songs, including “Feeling Good” by Michael Buble, “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars, “Dream On” by Aerosmith, and some of their own pieces.

During the show, performers invited the audience to participate. Spectators were invited to the stage to dance, including Troy Spratling, an automotive professor.

One audience member that danced on the stage was Kayli Sims, a sophomore studying automotive engineering.

“It was exciting,” Sims said. “I do dance for fun as my electives. It’s fun to share with other people.”

As some performers sang, others painted in the background. At one point in the show, the artists painted as the canvas moved.

“It’s an interesting experience to get to see artwork done while it’s being made,” Sims said.

The group brought in a puppet named Howard and told a story about a magic crayon. Howard is a puppet from Japanese puppetry known as Bunraku. Bunraku is one of the arts the group mastered before Artrageous.

The show continued on with comedy, music, dancing and art.

Several art pieces illustrated the late musicians Prince, Bob Marley, a spin-off of the Mona Lisa and one with the Statue of Liberty.

“Everything has an Artrageous spin on it,” Francis said.

The performers gave away one of their pieces to an audience member through a Facebook challenge at the end of the show.

After the show, some of the audience met with the troupe and got a closer look at the artwork, as well as the chance to splatter paint their own pieces of clothing.

“Our main goal is to connect with people,” Francis said. “On whatever level people can have a joyful experience and know that the arts can be fun.”