Tags: Danner Storm

The Escape Act (formerly Run Away, Join the Circus) is a one-woman theater show combining circus and puppets, based on true events in the life of Irene, a young Jewish acrobat in Nazi Germany, and on its intersections with the performer's present-day life. ​Irene, a descendent of the legendary Lorch circus family, survived the Holocaust hiding and working at the German Althoff Circus. She and her family were embraced by the circus owner Adolf Althoff and his wife Maria, and passed the years of World War II performing on its stage, running to hide whenever the Nazis came for inspections. ​The show goes back and forth between past and present, between character and performer, and combines the historical events of Irene's life with the experiences of the performer as a third generation of Holocaust survivors and with memories from her own family. As the performer “travels” through Irene's life, it triggers her own memories of family stories, of past traumas and struggles, and as the past grows closer to her she is forced to invite it in.