Meet Doug Nolan:
Sippy Cups Star, Dad & Super Guy
He’s saving the planet, one smile at a time

By Melanie Heimburg

Amazed “Oohs” and thrilled “Aahs” fill Greer Elementary School’s multipurpose room as the man in front—the one wearing a slightly faded black T-shirt with a large white recycling symbol on it—rapidly juggles three red balls with the greatest of ease. But this isn’t your typical juggling act, and this isn’t just any juggler.

This is Doug Nolan, founding member of The Sippy Cups, the phenomenal kid’s rock band out of San Francisco renowned for their happy, hilarious, super-fun shows (and their appeal to every parent who has every dreamed of chucking a Wiggles CD in the microwave). Covering songs by bands like the Velvet Underground, The Beatles, the Kinks and Nirvana, and mixing in circus-style entertainment, ginormous puppets and comedy skits that get giggles from both parents and kids, Sippy shows are something like the kind of party that Max and The Wild Things might throw, complete with preschooler mosh pits and plenty of interactive moments.

While Nolan doesn’t play an instrument, he steals the show as The Sippy Cups’ entertainment front man, performing all kinds of circus tricks, including juggling, unicycling, stilt-walking, magic and leading conga lines of dancing children. Nolan also plays several comedic characters, including “Super Guy,” a super hero who derives his powers from getting kids to use their words.

Nolan’s day job involves more of the same fun, performing for Sacramento and Alameda county school kids while teaching them about his other passion: environmental conservation. In today’s show, “The Recycling Wizard,” (sponsored by the Sacramento Department of Waste Management and Recycling), Nolan weaves recycling education into his theatrical presentation with phenomenal comedic timing. The Greer students listen and watch, wide-eyed, as they munch on a late afternoon snack of individually portioned nachos, washed down with Kool-Aid juice boxes.

“This is what I do,” Nolan tells me after the show, “I entertain kids, and sometimes I feel like I have the greatest job in the world because I go into a sold-out show, I make a big splash, and I try to empower the kids to go home and make a difference.”

Nolan’s shows (his company is called Rock Steady Juggling), free to all of the schools, are funded by contracts with various recycling and water agencies and municipalities. The Sacramento Area Sewer District, for example, supports Nolan’s “Go With the Flow” show about proper disposal of fats, oils and grease—not exactly the stuff of playground conversation, but with Nolan’s performance skill it makes for gripping edutainment.

Kim Floyd, public outreach consultant to the Sacramento Area Sewer District, says Nolan was chosen to headline the program because of his talent for “translating” the information into language the students can understand and remember. “Ultimately,” she says, “the students have fun while they’re learning.”

Those three red balls, for example, are cleverly named “recycle,” “reduce” and “reuse.” He encourages the youngsters to keep an eye on “the Mr. Recycle ball” after discussing ways to effectively and easily perform all three eco-friendly tasks, such as using both sides of a piece of paper or using a refillable water bottle instead of the disposable plastic variety. His audience is practically on the edge of their seats when they learn he’s going to introduce a fourth ball, “rot,” into the mix. The fourth R is a quick and painless composting lesson, and then it’s back to the juggling excitement.

Eco Bound
Nolan now performs up to four “eco-tainment” shows per day, but life wasn’t always so green for Nolan. “Growing up in Queens [New York] during a time when recycling wasn’t even in anybody’s [consciousness], it never occurred to me that there was an environment out there,” says Nolan.

Upon entering college at the University of Vermont (which, at the time he felt was the farthest away from the Big Apple he could possibly get), Nolan fell so deeply in love with the natural world that he obtained his Bachelors in environmental studies and went on to work at Outward Bound, a non-profit, outdoor adventure-based educational program.

A fellow Outward Bound instructor and juggling enthusiast encouraged Nolan to move to San Francisco to perform educational juggling shows. Thinking the performances would last a year or so, Nolan agreed, with the intention of returning to Outward Bound to work as a guide.

Their first performances were at children’s birthday parties. Nolan, who had never been a theater enthusiast in his younger days, was hesitant. “At that point in my life,” he explains, “I hadn’t hung out with kids much. But I loved it and it was just sort of something that was like—” (Doug snaps his fingers and enthusiastically raises his light colored eyebrows) “this is why I’m here on this planet—to connect with the kids—and I can also having a message in there about making the world a better place.”

Nolan was so impassioned by his newfound calling that he opted to stay in San Francisco, honing his acting chops at the American Conservatory Theater while his friend returned to the East Coast for Outward Bound. Armed with an MFA in acting and environmental show know-how, Nolan got to work, and Rock Steady Juggling was born! Nolan's family was also born around the same time.

Nolan now lives with his wife and children, Jasper (age 7) and Sadie (age 4), in the quiet coastal town of Montara, south of San Francisco. Having a family has changed Nolan’s life, his vision and even the way he works. “I always knew I wanted to save the world but being a dad makes me want to make the world better in all ways, not just environmentally,” he says.

The Nolans, like many families, try to minimize their environmental impact. In addition to bamboo flooring in their home and composting in the backyard (just two of their many efforts), Nolan drives a biodiesel car fueled by recycled vegetable oil. During the first year he had an environmental show contract in Sacramento (a cool hundred miles away from Montara), Nolan would lump several show dates together, spending nights away from home and family. But even the Capitol City’s tree-lined corridors couldn’t distract Nolan from missing his children, children who love to participate in his shows, despite taking their Dad’s extraordinary skills for granted at times (doesn’t every dad juggle?).

Nolan is excited to see his eco-edutainment message reach more kids. After The Sippy Cups finish their next EP, due out in fall, they have plans to immediately follow up with an environmentally empowering version of their hottest melodies. Nolan even wants to take Super Guy in a more green direction, perhaps encouraging kids to both “use their words” and recycle their water bottles. “And that’s why I love playing this superhero character,” says Doug, “because I can save the world… at least on stage.”