Shadow & Canvas is accepting applications for new characters. We’ve lost a few players over the holidays and I would love to round out the story a bit more to keep it going. We are only into the second scene and it would be more than easy to integrate new characters.
“Step on up, folks. Gather ‘round, gather ‘round. We’re about to start this show so come on over here and get up close, folks. Have we got a show for you! We’ve got the fire eater, the snake charmer, the fat lady, Siamese twins, giants, midgets, and Girls. Oh, boy! Have we got girls! We’re even gonna give you a little preview. Come on out, sweethearts! Here she is, the Princess of Fire. She’s gonna swallow a little fire for you. Won’t you look at that! Keep your eye on that door, here comes Stanis the legendary strong man from Russia. Would you look at those rippling muscles. He can lift four times his own weight. That’s almost 800 pounds, folks. Eight. Hundred. Pounds. All for free folks. All for free. Here comes Simon. Shortest man alive! Can you believe it? Even with those stubby, chubby legs o’ his, he can tumble and somersault with the best of ‘em. Alright, folks! This is just the beginning. Our show has it all! A little bit of everything. Step on up and head inside. One dollar gets you into the whole show. We’ve got a full ten acts of magic, mysticism, freaks, and wonders the likes you’ve never seen.
“See it to believe it! I want you to take a look from way down here to way down here, you’ll see one hundred feet of banners, you’ll see the electric girl, the seal boy, the Ethiopian glass eater, you’re going to see everything on my right, and everything on my left, every one of them alive as they’re depicted. If you fail to see every feature I’ve promised, all alive and close enough to touch, see me after the show and I’ll refund your money as gladly as I’ve taken it.”
Carnies have always been an odd sort. They have to be. Living on the road, from jump to jump. Setting up and tearing down is hard work with long hours and little to no sleep. You don’t put down roots. Not in places. Not with people. But, it is freedom in its best form. You sleep in a new place almost every night with new people. There are no preconceived notions on who you’re supposed to be. With a little makeup and a fresh costume, you can transform yourself into anyone or anything you want to be.
Maybe that’s why it attracts the strange, the freaks, the weirdos, and outcasts. People that society can’t stand to look at or be around. They flock to the show. Here they are loved and revered. Their oddity is their biggest and best asset. And, surrounded by other freaks, it is home. There is acceptance and sometimes love.
And, after the black blizzards swept across the American plains in the 1930s wiping out the majority of the farmlands between Oklahoma and Texas, it is no wonder that it also swept the spoiled and dirty underbellies of society straight into the carnival. Transients. Vagrants. Felons and crooks. Swindlers. Con men. And, at times, even darker nightmares slunk through the dark into the folds of the show. It is all too easy to slip unnoticed between the shadows and canvas when you are accustomed to hiding your true nature.
The world of carnivals, circuses and its ilk is a strange one. I hope to explore the mystery and macabre of what exists behind the canvas tents.
Elements to Explore: Supernatural, Mysticism, Mystery
Influences include: Carnivale, American Horror Story, The Night Circus, Magicians
Hosted and narrated by:
Syndl (she/her) (Syndl)
Started 11/15/22.
Scenes played: 2
License: Community License
18+
