THE ART OF BUSINESS - Trego takes blend of passions center stage By Andrew Donohue Call Sam Trego an artist of fusion. As president of Imagination Entertainment, he melds art and business, putting together business-themed theater and song shows for corporate events and conventions. While business and art may seem polar opposites, Trego
doesn't see it that way. Mixing these two worlds means Trego's performers become
singing gas pumps at a gas company's convention or dancing inkjet cartridges
at a corporate special event. The company takes its iL CiRCo show around the world, from Malaysia to Australia to Las Vegas. They also perform the Cirque de la Mer show at Sea World and will bring the iL CiRCo show to Harrah's Rincon Resort & Casino in North County beginning Thursday. For iL CiRCo , Trego said he took cirque back to its Shakespearian roots, using classic characters and masks. He couldn't help but add a contemporary touch, using modern costumes. "I love having extremely contemporary, cutting edge, wonderful brushed aluminums and metals combined with classic Greek columns," Trego said of his sets. "To me, that's very interesting, to take something historic and bring it with something that is extremely new." So, it's not surprising that Trego's favorite places
to eat are fusion restaurants. Juggling clashing worlds comes easy for Trego, who
grew up in a small town in northern Michigan but toured with The Young
Americans variety show as a teenager and later moved to Los Angeles the
day after graduating from high school as a 17-year-old. He came to Los Angeles with dreams of stardom, already experienced in performing song, dance and theater in front of large crowds. Trego even tagged along as some of his fellow Young American troupe members, such as Nia Peeples, become household names. "I felt very much at home, I felt it was my new family," he said. "... It made me believe, kind of naively at that age, that (stardom) is certainly possible." Trego earned a music degree and made plenty of music, singing in vocal jazz groups and recording background music on a variety of projects. But he found no matter what project he was involved with, he wanted to take it over and be in control. "I somehow felt the instinct of how it should be done," he said. "I kind of got controlling in a situation where it wasn't my position to control ... I had a good sense of direction and the way things should be." So in 1987, Trego joined a colleague who was beginning a business theater company that would incorporate singing and dancing with a corporate message, going from performing artist to director and writer. Three years later, he moved down to San Diego and founded Imagination Entertainment and Sam Trego Productions. Today, they perform around the world, from headlining their own shows to highlighting corporate events. For corporate events, Imagination Entertainment competes with the traditional event entertainments, such as four piece bands and the like. Madelyn Marusa, vice president of industry relations for PRA Destination Management, said Trego's services appeal to many businesses. "Generally, these people have been to different cities with conventions or meetings, so as an industry we always have a challenge of what's next," she said. "By having something that's unique, not only does he make a name for himself, but when it's a local company, it serves to build a little national theme for San Diego." She credited Trego with the "vision and ability to organize a company as an artist." Trego continues to write the troupe's cirque shows, but gave up performing on stage in 1994. That juggling act was too much, he said. "Here I am worried about lighting cues and costume changes and, oh yeah, now it's my solo and I've got to get up on stage," Trego said. "It was a bit schizophrenic for me." His next act: A three-year plan to seek federal funding to bring a cirque-style training school to San Diego. |