Old World Traditions: Zoppé Family Circus rolls into town

For Giovanni Zoppé and his family, circus performance is about connecting with the audience. He and his fellow performers try to engage with the audience, from the time they enter to when they leave the tent.

The Zoppé Family Circus will return to Tucson to the Mercado District from Friday, Jan. 5, to Sunday, Jan. 21.

The circus isn’t meant to be overly flashy. It is done in a very traditional way, similarly to old world circuses in Italy. Its theme regularly changes to keep it fresh for returning audiences.

This year’s theme is Carnevale di Venezia.

Giovanni’s partner, Jeanette Prince, said the show’s theme changes based on his concerns or inspirations.

The 2022/2023 theme “Liberta” was influenced by the Russia-Ukraine War and was centered around the concept of “in pursuit and celebration of liberty for all people and nations.”

This year’s theme is tied to Giovanni’s family history.

“His father was born in a little town called Vittorio Veneto, which is just north of Venice,” she said.

“Their family is from that area… We planned a trip this year to Italy to visit Giovanni’s family, and we ended in Venice. We just happened to be there during Carnevale. We hadn’t intended it. When we were there, Giovanni reconnected because he spent many years working there as a clown. The oldest theater company in the world is based there, and he worked with them. We got to talking with the director of that theater company and decided to do the theme to bring something deeply historical,” Prince said.

“Carnevale, a lot of American audiences think of it as Mardi Gras, that it’s debauchery and drunkery…It’s absolutely different. It’s done with integrity, poise, intrigue, mystery and creativity. There are some really longstanding traditions. It’s something very valuable to the community, and we wanted to bring those things into the show, including the theater aspect of Carnevale. Carnevale is connected in Europe, and Italy in particular, with original commedia characters.”

They worked closely with the director from Compagnie della Calza to make the show as authentic as possible.

“He flew here to help us create to the best of our ability, within our resources, something authentically Venetian,” Prince said.

“We brought back masks and costumes from Venice. We’re trying our best to share our experience with everyone here who cannot go to Venice for Carnevale.”

The show incorporates different elements of Venice into the show, including music from Venetian composers, flags and a bridge. In the lyra act, the performers arrive in cloaks and masks.

Guests receive passports and stamps upon entering the show.

Their ringmaster, Mace Perlman, has a background as an actor and mime. He is trained in commedia dell’arte and teaches the art of the mask.

He does a commedia skit in front of the tent during the pre-show festivities.

The cast is made up of 35 to 40 people from different parts of the world. This includes a troupe from Kenya that blends dance, music and acrobatics into their performance and members of the Ramos and Portugal circus families out of Mexico.

A Chinese pole act developed specifically for the show incorporates Mexican, African and American performers.

The show features a bicycle act in which the performer rides around a constructed wooden frame while lifted in the air, as well as a flexible performer playing Pinocchio.

They also have animal acts, including liberty horse and a dog and pony performances.

Prince said the show’s theme and story as well as the family’s history are meant to be the focus of the circus.

click to enlarge

(Zoppé Family/Submitted)

The Zoppé Family Circus features the Zoppé family, including sixth-generation circus performer Giovanni Zoppé.

“We always say your shows is not a series of acts. It’s a story that we tell and an experience of family, history, culture and connectivity. That’s what’s really important about our show,” Prince said.

As his Auguste clown character Nino the Clown, Giovanni appears throughout the show. Last year, he did wire walking. This year, he is performing a fall.

Giovanni is a sixth-generation circus performer. His children also perform in the show.

Giovanni has two kids from previous relationships and Prince has three. They have one child together named Ilario Fabrizio Luigino Zoppé, who is 2 1/2 years old.

He has been in the show since he was a baby, and now is incorporated throughout.

“Because he is a toddler and toddlers just love to copy their family members and follow along, he has a miniature costume,” Prince said.

“He just follows along, adding his own flair wherever he goes. He does bits with Giovanni… Sometimes, he’ll come out with the African troupe. He has a little tiny drum like they have. We have a bike act this year, and he has a little tiny bike. He’ll sometimes come out with the bike… He just really likes to be involved in what we’re doing. He’ll hear the music start, and he’ll say, ‘showtime.’”

The couple’s older children are also involved in the circus. She said it helps when everyone can chip in in a way that fits with their talents and interests.

“People just settle into their roles,” Prince said.

“You start to see what their role is going to be as they get older… That’s what’s great about having a family. It’s very difficult for one person to manage everything. It does take separate skills sets, and it’s really great when people in the family develop those different skills sets because a circus is not just entertainment. It takes so many things behind the scenes.”

Prince doesn’t come from a circus background, but now she works with Giovanni on costumes, immigration paperwork and visas, trailer repaints, bookings, marketing and other logistics involved with running a circus.

Price, who has a degree in early childhood education, joined the circus about five years ago.

The circus dates back to 1842, when French clown Napoline Zoppé met equestrian ballerina Ermenegilda in Hungary. When her father didn’t approve of their relationship, they ran away to Venice and started a circus.

Around 100 years later, the couple’s great-grandson, Giovanni’s father, Alberto, inherited the circus. He moved his family and the circus to the United States.

Alberto’s three children, Giovanni, Tosca and Carla, along with their spouses and children, have all helped to keep their family’s circus tradition alive.

The circus has survived through multiple wars and two pandemics. It hasn’t been easy, but the family’s commitment has helped to ensure that it has continued.

During the height of COVID-19, the circus did a drive-in show in places such as Tucson.

As part of this show, they presented a documentary with historical and behind-the-scenes footage.

Prince said Giovanni found the drive-in shows difficult.

“He found it very challenging to be Nino in the pandemic because in our drive-in show, he was very removed from the audience,” she said.

“He did it, in my opinion, very successfully, though I do know he did it will a whole lot of hemming and hawing… That did encourage him to find new ways to connect. When we went back to the big top, he went back into the ring as normal. He never took a break.”

Prince said over the last few years, Tucson has become a really special place for her family.

“I was so proud that Tucson was one of the places that accepted and showed up for our drive-in circus,” she said.

“That was very historic. For Tucson to be included in that was special and important to us. We love Tucson. It’s a kind of home to us. We don’t have any real homes in the traditional sense like other people. We have certain places that are like homes to us, and Tucson is one of them.”

Prince said one of the biggest challenges recently to running a circus has been finding performers. The United States doesn’t have much of a circus culture, and they resort to looking for performers abroad.

“We have four troupes on visas this year. We have a hand balancer from Belarus,” Prince said.

“That’s where the circus culture is very deeply historic and traditional. Many people go into it with not just pride but with a lot of work ethic.”

Prince said as the world has changed, Giovanni’s commitment to keeping the circus going has stayed the same.

“For Giovanni, holding onto the tradition of circus through change is what’s important,” Prince said.

“All of these little fluctuations don’t change the heart of the art. The culture and the tradition can keep us connected between the past, the present and the future."