Agnes Under the Big Top

Related Content

• Mixed Blood Theatre announces 2010-11 season
  June 9, 2010
• Mischke Show Notes: Nov. 24, 2009
  November 24, 2009
• Jason the bear cub dies, DNR confiscates body from researcher Lynn Rogers
  April 14, 2011
• '9 Parts of Desire' depicts personal costs of Iraq conflict
  March 12, 2008
• Best in Shows: Top plays from Minneapolis theater in '08
  December 24, 2008

More About

• Aditi Brennan Kapil
• Ely (Minnesota)
• Government and Politics
• Immigration

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

As much as the United States trumpets our country's multiethnic makeup, even a cursory glance through history shows that each era has singled out certain immigrant groups as less than worthy of sharing the American dream. Even today, hyperventilating arguments over the supposed scourge of "illegals" are unavoidable. All but ignored are the contributions that incoming cultures make to our evolving national identity. This contemporary immigrant experience forms the thematic core of local playwright and director Aditi Brennan Kapil's latest work, Agnes Under the Big Top. Raised by immigrant parents, Kapil has an appreciation for an outsider's perspective that lends an incisive personal view to the work. World premiering at Mixed Blood Theatre, following a series of developmental workshops in places as close as Ely, Minnesota, and as far away as Bulgaria, Agnes Under the Big Top examines the intersecting lives of several new immigrants, each striving to reconcile their native culture with the diversity of their adopted homeland. Navigating the convoluted process of immigration, Kapil's characters tell a modern American tale, one of myriad cultures bonding together to form a community. Disregard the shameless braying of xenophobic fear-mongers; Kapil's work serves as an encouraging reminder that America's finest ideals continue to belong to all. (Photo by Rich Ryan)
Wednesdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Starts: Feb. 18. Continues through March 6, 2011