74b7b33c 
 From: walter@iamnotafreakshow.com 
  
 THEATRE COMPANY REVEALS PUBLICITY STUNT AFTER APPEARING IN THE PAGES OF 
 THE NY POST. THE I AM NOT A FREAK SHOW CONTINUES THROUGH OCTOBER 26TH. 
  
 New York, NY € September 22, 2003; After sparking furious debate and 
 controversy on internet bulletin boards across NYC€s arts communities, The 
 John Brown Theatre Company -the producers of The I AM NOT A FREAK Show - 
 revealed on September 18th that the advance ballyhoo for the show was a 
 media stunt designed to draw attention to their production. 
  
 The elaborate hoax -in which it was announced that The I AM NOT A FREAK 
 Show was a €real live freak show€ that had begun in St. Louis, Missouri 
 and produced by fictional philanthropist R. James Miller- included the 
 creation of a radical opposition group (CARE € Citizens Against Rampant 
 Exploitation) with actors staging protests in Union Square.  It also 
 involved collaborators across the country, all set up to confirm details 
 of the story. 
  
 €We wanted to play with the definition of theatrical space, both in and 
 out of the theatre itself.€, says Nick Jumara, performer and co-producer. 
  
 But everything was blown wide open with a feature by Michael Rovner in 
 September 18th€s NY Post.  Rovner was skeptical of the story from the 
 beginning, and was determined to uncover the truth.  3 days before the 
 story went to press, he dug up a minor inconsistency, forcing the 
 producers of the show to admit the prank. 
  
 In fact, The I AM NOT A FREAK Show is a 75-minute bouffon (the French word 
 for €buffoon€) show in which the seven performers € all trained clowns € 
 portray a dark cadre of terrifyingly hilarious €freaks€, all with physical 
 deformities, who emerge from their odd world to put on a show. The bouffon 
 work together in a collective pack, out of which emerge various solos and 
 scenes where they play on elements of the contemporary American cultural 
 landscape € and with the audience members themselves. 
  
 Kevin O€Keefe, founder of the American Youth Circus Organization, says of 
 the show, €It€s very powerful and moving and deeply, disturbingly funny to 
 see the parts of ourselves that are split off, broken and fragmented, 
 reflected so strongly back to us. 10,000 more nights like that might heal 
 us forever.€ 
  
 €THIS is not a show for the politically correct.€ € NY POST 
  
 €Daringly hilarious€this group goes where no comedy group has gone 
 before.€ - BACKSTAGE 
  
 The I AM NOT A FREAK Show 
 Sundays at 8:00 PM through October 26 
 The PIT Theatre, 154 W. 29th Street, NYC 
 $15    212.563.7488  €  www.iamnotafreakshow.com € www.stopexploitation.com 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)