Living Curiosities or What You Will

by Mary Vingoe

tagged: canadian, women authors

Description

A look at the story of Anna Swan, a giantess from Nova Scotia who is sent to P.T. Barnum's famed American Museum in New York City.

Anna soon realizes that she is out of her element in the city, and longs to return home. Determined to make the best of her situation, Anna goes against the wishes of Barnum and befriends the other "living curiosities," developing a strong friendship with Alphonsia di Lugar. Together, they attempt to create a stronger sense of community by staging an unusual version of Twelfth Night with the rest of inhabitants of the museum. Old alliances and bitter feelings threaten to tear the company apart, yet they must all work together to escape the past and find their own identities.

About the Author

Mary Vingoe is a director, artistic director, festival director, playwright, teacher, and actor who has worked across the country. Vingoe is celebrated for co-founding four major theatre companies in Canada: Toronto's Nightwood Theatre, Ship's Company Theatre in Parrsboro, NS, The Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax and the Magnetic North Theatre Festival at Canada's National Arts Centre. Vingoe's 2011 play Living Curiosities, about PT Barnum and the Nova Scotia giantess, Anna Swan, is published by Playwrights Canada Press. Her 2013 play Refuge, which deals with the tragic fate of a failed refugee claimant to Canada, has received productions in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Refuge is published by Scirocco Drama and was short listed for the 2016 Governor General's Award for Drama.Some Blow Flutes was nominated for best new play at the 2019 Nova Merritt Awards.

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Living Curiosities or What You Will

by Mary Vingoe

Out of print