A word from the playwright:
The world of Cirque Exotique
du Monde is a confluence of two historic occurrences; the story of an
ethnographer who collected morbid curiosities for his museum and the story of
Circus Sarrasani, a prominent circus that began in Germany in 1901. Ethnographer,
Dr Gonzalez de Velasco’s story tells of a complex individual flawed by his
dehumanizing pursuit of “oddities”; a pursuit which had a devastating impact on
the lives it touched. Circus Sarrasani is the story of a community and
the changes forced upon it to survive. ircus Sarrasani, weathered two
world wars but at a significant cost. Most tragically, in WWII it was required
to hand over performers to the Nazis if they did not meet the Nuremberg
criteria of pure Aryan descent or if they displayed non-conforming traits or
characteristics.
The play begins in 1936 Berlin, a time of rising gross and blatant
intolerance. We know now that this time foreshadows a tragic historic turn.
Though this is a story inspired by historic events, it’s truly the story of
family, community, and the individuals both within and without. It is a
story of acceptance and not accepting. It is the story of collective identity,
personal identity and the constant struggle of finding one’s place.
Kathy Boussina
Playwright
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