Agnes Under the Big Top, a tall tale

by Aditi Kapil

Explores the intersecting lives of immigrants in a US city. It is a magical tale of hope and disappointment, identity and reinvention, narrated by an itinerant subway busker. Against the subterranean rhythms of a subway train, an itinerant subway busker, a Liberian home care worker, a former Bulgarian ringmaster and his wife, and an Indian call center escapee find and redefine themselves in today’s America.

Explores the intersecting lives of immigrants in a US city. It is a magical tale of hope and disappointment, identity and reinvention, narrated by an itinerant subway busker. Against the subterranean rhythms of a subway train, an itinerant subway busker, a Liberian home care worker, a former Bulgarian ringmaster and his wife, and an Indian call center escapee find and redefine themselves in today’s America.

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Agnes Under the Big Top, a tall tale

Recommended by

  • Emma Goldman-Sherman: Agnes Under the Big Top, a tall tale by Aditi Kapil
    “

    Fabulous! I love the purposefully disconnected fragmentation as a metaphor for the immigrant experience. The characters and their tall tales - the tales we have to tell to manage our lives - how even the American woman who is cared for by Agnes and Roza is disconnected in much the same way that they are and paralyzed too, but the transformation for Agnes is breathtaking. In contrast to its dark subject matter, the play has great humor and heart!

    Fabulous! I love the purposefully disconnected fragmentation as a metaphor for the immigrant experience. The characters and their tall tales - the tales we have to tell to manage our lives - how even the American woman who is cared for by Agnes and Roza is disconnected in much the same way that they are and paralyzed too, but the transformation for Agnes is breathtaking. In contrast to its dark subject matter, the play has great humor and heart!

    ”
  • dianne k. webb: Agnes Under the Big Top, a tall tale by Aditi Kapil
    “

    Loved this play, am thinking about how to bring it to a small stage in a new theater co. So adeptly approaches the complex issues and disillusionment of the immigrant in the US and of the dream. Well written.

    Loved this play, am thinking about how to bring it to a small stage in a new theater co. So adeptly approaches the complex issues and disillusionment of the immigrant in the US and of the dream. Well written.

    ”
  • Jamil Jude: Agnes Under the Big Top, a tall tale by Aditi Kapil
    “

    I've loved this show for a very long time. I got a chance to see its development over the years, from arena Stage to Mixed Blood. Quite a moving piece of theatre

    I've loved this show for a very long time. I got a chance to see its development over the years, from arena Stage to Mixed Blood. Quite a moving piece of theatre

    ”

Development History

  • Workshop, Arena Stage, 2010
  • Workshop, Playwrights' Center, 2009
  • Workshop, Interact Theatre, 2009
  • Workshop, Rhodopi International Theatre Laboratory, Bulgaria, 2009
  • Commission, Mixed Blood Theatre, 2008
  • Reading, Lark Play Development Center, 2008

Production History

  • Professional, Forum Theatre, 2013
  • Professional, Borderlands Theatre, 2012
  • Professional, Long Wharf Theatre, 2011
  • Professional, Mixed Blood Theatre, 2011