He watched the Ringling Bros. circus as a kid in South Jersey. This year, he wrote the script for the latest tour.

South Jersey native Jordan Gershowitz is no stranger to the bright lights.

In fifth grade, he wrote, cast, and directed his first musical at Westampton Middle School. Named Trial of Treason, the play was a “loose” retelling of the Revolutionary War, with the kind of sci-fi elements only true ’90s kids will appreciate.

Gershowitz’s story starred two characters who build a machine to travel back to the time American traitor Benedict Arnold was court-martialed for abusing military power. Gershowitz gave his actors ketchup packets to smear on their shirts to act out battle scenes.

“I don’t remember how we split up the viewing audience, but it was definitely a one-day-only production,” he joked.

Years later, Gershowitz became the bassist for the neon pop-rock band Rushmore. They opened for the likes of the Plain White-Ts and Justin Bieber, and were nominated for best breakout artist at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

These days, Gershowitz, 38, is busy working on another production with historical ties: the new Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

The iconic traveling circus, billed as “The Greatest Show on Earth,” opens at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday. All eight shows will feature dancing acrobats, nimble trapeze artists, and Skylar “the human rocket” Miser, among other performers.

Gershowitz, who has previously written for Netflix’s Hot Wheels Let’s Race, Sharkdog, The Snoopy Show, and other shows, penned the script for the 148th edition of the longest-running circus in American history.

Gershowitz has written all the dialogue for the show guides and characters, including the robo-puppy named Bailey Circuit, and sequenced all the performing acts to establish the overall vibe of the show.

“Ringling Bros. is like the gold standard of family entertainment,” he said. “It was a fantastic opportunity to be a part of it.”

None of his previous writing credits transported him back to childhood in the same way as Ringling Bros., he said.

“Ringling is just one of those rare American institutions that I think everyone has a personal memory of,” Gershowitz said. “And for me, it wasn’t just an opportunity to write a circus. It was a really compelling opportunity, and something the entire team was mindful of as we went into this.”

Before starting the writing process a year ago, he remembered the days he attended Ringling Bros. circuses growing up in Westampton. With his parents, he marveled at the gravity-defying stunts and masterful crowd interactions performed by artists from all corners of the world.

“I really loved the spectacle of it. Being a kid in the early ’90s, at least in South Jersey, you had to make a lot of your own fun,” Gershowitz said. “So, getting to go to a really big communal experience like Ringling Bros. was just eye-opening.”

With a project as historic as Ringling Bros., Gershowitz said the challenge was reimagining the circus for modern audiences.

“I didn’t approach it necessarily trying to replace what came before,” he said. “I tried to look at what made it meaningful in the first place to so many people, and then worked with director Michael Schwandt to look at what does that mean for a new generation with social media and TikTok clips."

Gershowitz lined up a series of electrifying acts back-to-back, making audiences question which direction the show would go next. He also incorporated more audience engagement, ensuring it felt more like the “Greatest Party on Earth” than a standard circus act.

The goal, he said, is to keep people off their cellphones and to fully immerse them into the music, the movements, and visual art illuminating the show’s 60-foot screen.

“You’re weaving all these amazing acts together, so you’re always thinking about pacing, emotion, and how each moment flows into the next,” he said. “It’s a really unique puzzle that you don’t get in other formats, so hopefully the audience is coming away feeling energized and connected.”

Gershowitz’s script has transformed the circus into a more-interactive and “fun-filled” experience for generations of crowd-goers to enjoy, said Ringling Bros. DJ Lucky Malatsi.

“He made sure that we were able to connect with the audience, not only with the slang, but with all the conversation pieces,“ Malatsi said. ”It’s not your traditional, ‘Welcome to the circus.’ It’s more, ‘Come vibe with us. We’re having a party.’”

Since the tour opened Jan. 2, Gershowitz has enjoyed seeing audiences react to his work in real-time. He still loves writing for TV, but he said there’s nothing like seeing an arena filled with families cheering and dancing to a show like the Ringling Bros.

“When you’re writing for television, it takes a really long time for the audience to watch. Watching TV is also very solitary,” he said. “But the cool thing about Ringling, you’re watching the show along with the audience, and you can feel the energy.”

Their reactions remind him of his own as a young circus fan, which later inspired his own performances in school plays and at music venues as one-fifth of Rushmore.

With the production’s Philly tour stop, he hopes to forge similar memories for young crowd-goers, and remind longtime circus fans of the magic that first struck them in their youth.

“Ideally, everyone is going to leave post-show talking to each other about what they saw and how it made them feel,” he said. “[Ringling] opened my eyes to larger possibilities, so hopefully it does the same for kids in the area. Whether they’re a future performer, or they start to see the world is much larger than their neighborhood.”

The Ringling Bros. tour stop runs through Feb. 16, Xfinity Mobile Arena, 3601 S. Broad St., Phila. Tickets at ringling.com.