Circus Home

by Joanna Halpert Kraus

Drama in two acts. 6 men, 3 women, 2 children. 1 set. One hour 20 minutes. $ 6.50

Against the backdrop of the Daniel B. Dodd Travelling Tent Circus, in front of faded blue and white striped sidewall canvas, a band of circus troupers play out a drama of family strife and the struggle for acceptance. It is the story of an outsize young man, Benjie, who tries to find among the clowns and the sideshow freaks the home that has eluded him elsewhere.

Joanna Kraus has won national recognition for her ability to deal with serious themes for young people with rich theatricality.
Recently a junior high teacher who allows her students to select their own material told me how they picked Circus Home, choosing it over other "name-brand" material, because they identified so intensely with the leading character. They, and young adolescents everywhere, share Benjie's sense of being a "freak," out of step with the rest of society, and join in his nightmares and dreams, his hunger for belonging.

Circus Home is exciting for several reasons. First, it is a lovely story. Second, it is well staged, well cast and well performed. The drama opens at midnight at the circus--a magic time, when dreams can come true By means of a flashback, we see Benjie's unhappy childhood.. . . but at the circus he finds a home and friends. While the setting is the circus, the lessons transform that setting. The play is about being different, about being cruel to those who are different, and about wanting only to be "normal" and "like everyone else."
Barbara Ulfsparre, The Brockport, NY Post