Sam Trego is the troupe's founder and creative director. Sam started his career when he was chosen at the age of 16 to be a member of the international touring performance troupe of The Young Americans. After traveling extensively throughout the United States and performing in this and other Broadway musicals, Sam received a bachelor of music degree from Oakland University's School of Performing Arts in Rochester, Michigan. Sam's major in commercial music and composition with a minor in business proved to be an ideal background for someone who then moved to the West Coast to pursue the "business of art," as he puts it. Sam made the transition from performer to producer and was hired by Joe Esposito in 1987 to extend the business theater concept that Esposito had founded at the MGM Grand/Bally's Hotel in Las Vegas.
Since then, Sam has produced more than 5,000 corporate general sessions, product reveals, awards banquets, and theatrical productions for clients such as IBM, Honeywell, Samsung, the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Firestone, Continental Casualty Companies, MCI, McDonald's, Pontiac, and many, many more. In 1996, Sam started the troupe now known throughout the world as iL CiRCo. Also featured in Sam's hit show Cirque de la Mer, now in its 11th year at SeaWorld San Diego, the troupe has played to more than 8 million people since its first show on May 31, 1996. This highly acclaimed production company has won awards throughout the world for its unique artistry.
Sam is the musical composer of the Viaggio and Cirque de la Mer audio soundtracks and won Event Solutions Magazine's coveted 2004 Spotlight Award for the Best Theatrical Producer.
Sam continues to be the creative engine that powers both iL CiRCo’s touring theatrical production and special event companies. Corporations and festivals around the world tap into the creative minds at Imagination Entertainment, iL CiRCo’s parent company, to design and implement entertainment concepts, events and attractions worldwide.
When away from his work, Sam likes to spend time with his other production, little Aleksandr Trego, age 4, and writes a weekly column in a local San Diego newspaper about single parenting, a subject about which he has become a proud expert.