For Release: May 3, 2004
As ringmistress, organist and roustabout, Kentuckian Liz Bussey Fentress lived the life of a traveling circus performer, learning to pitch tents, promote shows and captivate an audience alongside Paulo the Magnificent, Buck the horse, Okha the elephant and the "largest aggregation of trained goats in the world."Fentress recounts her experiences in Liz's Circus Story , a one-woman play about life lessons learned under the big top and the value of following one's dreams. Fentress adapted her play--which was originally produced by Kentucky's Horse Cave Theatre--for TV and also stars in the production.
Liz's Circus Story spans 23 years, beginning in 1974 when 21-year-old Liz joins the circus and meets Wayne Franzen, a former shop teacher in Wisconsin. When Franzen revealed his childhood dream of running his own circus, his teacher told him "You should do that." Over time, Liz adopts these words as her own mantra. At the play's end, Liz realizes that her circus experience has taught her humorous, tragic and life-changing lessons about what an individual can achieve if she believes in her dreams.
" Liz's Circus Story is not really about the circus," said Vince Spoelker, who directed and produced the program for KET. "It is about pursuing your dreams and growing as a person. Liz learned how to put on a circus and how to promote a circus, but what she was really learning was the self-confidence to pursue her own dreams."
For more information about Liz's Circus Story , including interviews with Liz Fentress as well as KET and Horse Cave Theatre staff members, photos from Fentress's real-life stint with the circus and suggested activities for using the production with students, visit www.ket.org/circusstory .
A native of Wisconsin, Liz Fentress has worked as a stage manager for the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, as a founding member of the Irondale Ensemble Project in New York City, as executive director of Playhouse in the Park, a community theater in Murray, Ky., and as associate producer at Horse Cave Theatre, a professional theater company.
Her latest play, The Honey Harvest , will open at Kentucky Repertory Theatre at Horse Cave (formerly Horse Cave Theatre) in 2004. She resides in Jefferson County, Ky., with her husband.
Liz's Circus Story is a production of KET, Kentucky's statewide public television network. Vince Spoelker is producer/director. Nancy Carpenter is executive producer. The program is closed-captioned for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.