FREEPORT

J ason and Matt Tardy have been juggling for 19 years.

It’s the only job they’ve ever had.

The Buckfield brothers caught the attention in middle school of Michael Miclon, a variety theater performer who used to run Oddfellow Theater in the boys’ hometown.

“He thought we had a future as performers,” Jason Tardy told The Times Record during the naptime of his 14- month-old son and 3-and-a-half-yearold daughter.

Guess what? They did. The only time clock Jason, 34, and Matt, 32, have ever punched has been the one their dreams inspired.

“The more successful we got, the more on the road we became. At first we thought it’d just be a couple of nights, but we were playing colleges and all over the country. Once we had families we wanted to have a place where we could be closer to Maine,” Tardy said.

In March, the Tardys created The Freeport Theater of Awesome in what used to be Freeport Factory Stage on Depot Street.

Awesome? Really?

Tardy said he gets such raised-eyebrow questions all the time.

“We don’t take ourselves that seriously,” he said. “At first we thought we would call it Freeport Variety Theater. We told our mom and she said, ‘that’s not very exciting.’ Our joke was that it should be Freeport Theater of Awesome. And we are presenting stuff that we feel is awesome. So we decided to own the word awesome.”

In addition to performing closer to home on a more family-friendly schedule, the brothers also wanted a place where they could create the feeling Oddfellow Theater used to inspire in audiences.

“Most plays you just sit and watch, but especially in a ‘black box’ theater like this, the audience is practically on stage. Some nights you get a full house of really rambunctious people and the show is one thing. Another night the audience might be smaller and more subdued. What makes variety theater special is that the audience is always part of the show,” Tardy said.

This weekend, the Freeport

Theater of Awesome will feature The Yo-Yo People, a world record holding husband and wife duo on Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, at 2 p.m. The Yo-Yo People will also be teaching a yo-yo workshop following the performance for a small additional fee.

“The biggest thing that guides us in choosing what shows to bring in is those 19 years of performing ourselves,” Tardy said.

John and Rebecca Higby have performed their unique high-energy comedy yo-yo, hula hoop, and unicycle show in 26 countries from Turkey to Japan and hold a world yoyo champion title and three

Guinness World Records.

They have been featured on

David Letterman, the Discovery Channel’s “Time Warp,”

Comedy Central, and “The Guinness World Record Show.

Tickets for Yo-Yo People are $14 in advance and $16 at the door.

Next Saturday, June 1, Ball in the House, an award-winning five person a capella group, will perform at 7:30 p.m. They will perform hit songs from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and today … and they will do it without any instruments.

“These guys do it all. Even when you watch them perform it’s still hard to believe they are simulating the drums, bass, lead, rhythm, vocals, everything; with just their five voices,” Tardy said. “It’s not like going to see a band at all — it’s really a showcase of their amazing talents and vocal acrobatics.”

Ball in the House has appeared on The TODAY Show, America’s Got Talent, The Daily Buzz, and for six years were the voices behind the Kraft Cool Whip commercials. They have opened for and performed with such artists as The Beach Boys, Fantasia, The Jonas Brothers, Gladys Knight, Lionel Richie, Jessica Simpson, Blondie, The Temptations, Smoky Robinson, KC & The Sunshine Band, and numerous others.

Tickets for Ball in the House are $19 in advance and $21 at the door.

It’s like the Tardy brothers have been curating for The Theater of Awesome for the last 19 years.

“These are our friends. We know they are of a certain quality and that the shows are family friendly,” Tardy said.

For tickets and more information about upcoming Theater of Awesome shows, visit www.awesometheater.com.