About | LONE STAR CIRCUS

Executive Team

Fanny Kerwich
Founder, Creative Director and Producer

At the heart of every Lone Star Circus production is Fanny Kerwich’s simple mission, which is to make all who attend forget their cares and concerns for a few hours, take a journey to a mystical place and be transformed by what they find there. By giving each patron a chance to reconnect with the core of their being, with the soul of what it means to be human, Fanny helps all of us fulfill the basic human desire to not only be entertained, but also to be amazed and amused.

"Our productions are an expression of the human spirit – people overcoming incredible obstacles and fears. Our only limits are our imaginations, and I want our audiences to connect to that part of them that makes each one unique and powerful. They may even learn something about the many cultures in our world, the many creatures that live on it or something about themselves," states Fanny, the Founder and Artistic Director of Lone Star Circus. “My greatest joy is knowing that people will go home and talk about their experiences. We are creating a lifetime of memories.”

As an 8th generation performer of a well-known French circus family, Fanny knows the importance of creating memories, stimulating the imagination and touching the heart, which is the reason why she founded Lone Star Circus and started producing her own award-winning shows, performing to sold-out venues. She has aligned her talents and passion with the likes of Tony Award-winning director Jack O’Brien, director Raffaele De Ritis of Disney, Cirque du Soleil and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey fame and Dimitri Bogatirev, the creator of Aga-Boom. Fanny creates and directs shows for the stage, tent and special events.

Dominque Jando
Artistic Consultant

Dominique Jando began his involvement with the circus more than five decades ago in his native France, when he first stepped into a circus ring as a clown at the legendary Cirque Medrano in Paris. In 1974, as General Secretary of the Paris Cultural Center, he participated with Alexis Gruss in the creation of France’s first professional circus school, and of “Le Cirque à l’Ancienne,” which is considered the catalyst of the European “New Circus” movement. He came to New York in 1983 to join the Big Apple Circus and served as its Associate Artistic Director for twenty years. In 2007, he created Circopedia.org, a successful online international circus encyclopedia.

A circus and popular entertainment historian, Dominique has published several books on these subjects, both in Europe and the U.S. (His latest, “Philip Astley & The Horsemen Who Invented the Circus,” was published in 2018). He is the International Circus Consultant for Guinness World Records, Ltd., and a founding member of the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain, one of the world’s most important international circus competitions, which has been held each winter in Paris since 1977. He has been a judge at international circus festivals in France, Mexico, Italy, Israel, and Russia, and he is the recipient of the 2015 “Elevate Circus” Award.

Creative Team

Raffaele De Ritis
Consultant Director

Raffaele De Ritis is an Italian-born writer and director, active in the USA and Europe.
He wrote and directed for the world’s leading companies in the performing arts industry: Disney,
Cirque du Soleil, Dragone, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Big Apple Circus, and Europe’s oldest theatres.
Beside his creative work, he directed major performing arts festivals and consulted for hundreds TV specials.
“A fine director who is also a student of circus history. Helping infuse an experience with a strong sense of past. Thanks for contributing to making a dream come true.” Kenneth Feld, CEO Feld Entertainment (Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Disney Live!)
“I risk repeating myself, I’m happy to have you as my collaborator.” Franco Dragone, artistic co-founder Cirque du Soleil
“Fresh eye, immersion in European milieu and depth of knowledge about circus.” Paul Binder, founder, Big Apple Circus
“Raffaele De Ritis, at the leading edge of a new wave of European circus directors.” The New York Times

Jeff Colangelo
Assistant Director

Jeffrey is a writer, director, production manager, fight director, co-founder of Prism Movement Theater. He has been working in the DFW area for the last 8 years for performance companies like Cara Mía Theatre Co., Lone Star Circus, Theater Three, Teatro Dallas, and the Dallas Theater Center. Jeffrey graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2013 with a degree in Theater Studies.

Scott Osborne
Set Designer

Scott Osborne’s theatrical design work has been seen at Ohio Theater NYC, York Theatre NYC, The Prague Quadrennial, Theater of the Berkshires, Dallas Children’s Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Theater Three, Cara Mia Theater Company, Shakespeare Dallas, Undermain Theater, Kitchen Dog Theater, Watertower Theatre, Lyric Stage, The Dallas Museum of Art, Our Endeavors Theater, Magnolia Lounge, and The MAC. His film and television credits include set designer for PBS’s Barney & Friends, TNT’s Dallas (2012) and 20th Century Fox’s Second Chance, and art direction for NBC’s Salvation as well as production design for several independent features. He has been recognized for his creative contributions with five Dallas Theater Critics Forum Awards for Best Set Design, two Dallas Theatre League Awards for Best Direction and Best Production of a Musical, three Dallas Observer Awards for Best Theatrical Debut and Best Production(s) and three Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival awards for Excellence in Scenic Design. Scott is a member of U.S.I.T.T. and I.A.T.S.E. Local 484 stage designers & technicians union. He has been a guest director, designer, and lecturer at The University of Texas at Dallas and UNT and taught design and technical theater at Dallas College. He is currently a Visiting Associate Professor of Design and Technology at The University of Texas at Arlington. Scott holds a B.F.A in Performance and Directing from University of North Texas and an M.F.A. in Theatrical Design from Southern Methodist University Meadows School of the Arts.

Odette Bouglione
Artist

Born in Paris, Odette is the daughter of Christiane Bouglione and the Écuyère Émilien Bouglione, patriarch of the Bouglione family. She spends her childhood between the big top family and the Cirque d'Hiver in Paris. From the age of 16, she practiced in various acts on major international stages: the Cirkus Scott, Circo Chen, Le Paradis Latin... In 1992, she joined Cirque Florilegio by Darix Togni and tours around the world whole: from Algeria to Iran via Turkey and Scotland, she traveled the roads as an artist and co-director. After 20 years of touring, she definitely returns to Cirque d'Hiver in 2006 with her two children Valentino and Alessandro Togni-Bouglione. Odette Bouglione assists her brothers and sister Joseph, Régina and Louis-Sampion as artistic directors of Cirque d'Hiver Bouglione and other family productions. We have it found on the track on the occasion in particular of equestrian performance in the Virtuoso, Géant or Surprise shows. Also present at the creation and design of costumes through organization of rehearsal schedules, responsibility for editorial line of a show and tours, management, ticketing, human resources, budgeting, etc. In June 2021, Odette Bouglione was appointed as President of the family business, the Cirque d'Hiver Bouglione. Her personal history, skills and internationally recognized experience gives her the legitimacy to assume her new functions.

Ryan Matthieu Smith
Costume Designer

Ryan Matthieu Smith (Artistic Associate) is excited to be a part of the Lone Star Circus family! Ryan is a Director, Designer, Producer, and Performer working in film, theater, drag, and circus. A native of Oak Cliff, Ryan has successfully created for projects throughout DFW and far beyond. Ryan is the Production Designer and the Costume Designer for the Hurricane Bianca films starring Bianca Del Rio, Rachel Dratch, Alan Cumming, Cheyenne Jackson, and Rupaul. Ryan most recently performed on the Shakespeare Dallas stage in last summer's Complete Works. Ryan is an accomplished and award winning Costume Designer, Hair and Makeup Designer, Photographer, Stylist, Writer, Set Designer, Prop Designer, Choreographer, and Performance Artist. Ryan also serves on the Diversity and Inclusion Board for Shakespeare Dallas and NTPA Repertory Theatre. As an Indigenous Two-Spirit artist, Ryan is very excited to bring his passion home to Texas where he believes visibility and representation are vitally important.

John De Los Santos
Choreographer

John De Los Santos has been called a “brilliant combination of literary insight and choreographic creativity.” He has staged a range of productions that include opera, musicals, plays, concerts, and ballet. His productions include the world premiere of The Astronaut Love Show at the Kraine Theater (NYC), The Rose and the Knife, Otello, and Le Comte Ory (called “a perfect fusion” by The New York Times) for LoftOpera (NYC), La Cage Aux Folles for Skylight Music Theatre, La Fille du Regiment for Arizona Opera, South Pacific for Ashlawn Opera, María de Buenos Aires for San Diego and Fort Worth Opera, and Lexington Philharmonic, and Green Sneakers for Opera Birmingham and the Southside Theatre at San Francisco’s historic Fort Mason Center. He choreographed the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s Great Scott, directed by Jack O’Brien, for the Dallas Opera. His choreography has also been seen at the Washington National, Florida Grand, Philadelphia, Des Moines Metro, Utah Festival, and Austin Lyric Opera Companies.

From 2003 to 2010, he served as resident choreographer for the Fort Worth Opera, creating dances for Rigoletto, Salome, La Traviata, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and the world premieres of Frau Margot and Before Night Falls. John made his directing debut there with Carmen, followed by The Mikado and The Pearl Fishers. In 2010 he made his choreographic debut for the Dallas Opera with Don Giovanni. John has served on the directing faculty of the Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, NY, where his productions have included Anything Goes, Crazy for You, The Medium, The Fantasticks, The Mikado, La Boheme, Guys & Dolls, Brigadoon and L’Italiana in Algeri. John has also coached young artists with the Washington National, Arizona, Fort Worth, and Des Moines Metro Opera Companies.

Other productions include Italienisches Liederbuch for Voces Intimae, The Golden Apple and the world Carousel for Ashlawn Opera. For the Dallas-based theatre company Uptown Players, John choreographed the American premiere of the Pet Shop Boys musical Closer to Heaven, the regional premiere of Altar Boyz (for which John was awarded the DFW Critics Forum Award for Best Choreography), and directed and choreographed the regional premiere of Hello Again and the American premiere of Soho Cinders. John is originally from San Antonio, Texas, where he performed as a principal member of the Alamo City Dance Company. He received his BFA in Theatre/Film Performance & Direction from Texas Christian University.

Regina Bouglione
Artist

Regina is fifth generation of France’s premier circus dynasty, the Bougliones, owners of Paris’s legendary Cirque d’Hiver - the world’s oldest and most beautiful circus building, which was built in 1852 and is still active to this day. A very versatile, beautiful and talented artist, Regina has presented (and still does) a wide variety of acts during her brilliant career, both in her family’s circuses and abroad. (In the United States, she was featured in the Feld Entertainment’s production of “Barnum’s Kaleidoscape”.) She is also the creator of the magnificent costumes that grace every year the Cirque d’Hiver productions, a remarkable talent that she brings today to Lone Star Circus.

Our Board

Fanny Kerwich
Lone Star Circus Arts Founder and Artistic Director

Mark Doyle
President

Zan Keith
Chairman

Sheila Kelly
Secretary

Dominique Jando

Louise Daubois

Mike McFadden

Xarxe Rust-Stanton

Shawn Storey

Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Policy

At Lone Star Circus, a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace is one where all contractors, employees, and volunteers, whatever their gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, sexual orientation or identity, education, or disability, feel valued and respected. We are committed to a nondiscriminatory approach and provide equal opportunity for employment and advancement in all our productions, shows, classes, programs, and worksites. We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages and ensure that all voices are valued and heard.

We are committed to modeling diversity and inclusion for the entire arts industry of the nonprofit sector, and to maintaining an inclusive environment with equitable treatment for all.

To provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity, Lone Star Circus strives to:

See diversity, inclusion, and equity as connected to our mission and critical to ensure the well-being of our staff and the arts communities we serve.
Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and continually update and report organization progress.
Explore potential underlying, unquestioned assumptions that interfere with inclusiveness.
Advocate for and support board-level thinking about how systemic inequities impact our organization’s work, and how best to address that in a way that is consistent with our mission.
Help to challenge assumptions about what it takes to be a strong leader at our organization, and who is well-positioned to provide leadership.
Practice and encourage transparent communication in all interactions.
Commit time and resources to expand more diverse leadership within our board, staff, committee, and advisory bodies.
Lead with respect and tolerance. We expect all employees to embrace this notion and to express it in workplace interactions and through everyday practices.

Lone Star Circus abides by the following action items to help promote diversity and inclusion in our workplace:

Pursue cultural competency throughout our organization by creating substantive learning opportunities and formal, transparent policies.
Generate and aggregate quantitative and qualitative research related to equity
to make incremental, measurable progress toward the visibility of our diversity, inclusion, and equity efforts. Once the content is curated it will be added to our website so others can access it.
Improve our cultural leadership pipeline by creating and supporting programs and policies that foster leadership that reflects the diversity of American society.
Pool resources and expand offerings for underrepresented constituents by connecting with other arts organizations committed to diversity and inclusion efforts.
Develop and present sessions on diversity, inclusion, and equity to provide information and resources internally, and to members, the community, and the arts industry.
Develop a system for being more intentional and conscious of bias during the hiring, promoting, or evaluating process. Train our hiring team on equitable practices.
Include a salary range commensurate with national circus averages.
Advocate for public and private-sector policy that promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity. Challenge systems and policies that create inequity, oppression, and disparity.

Diversity
Diversity is the presence of differences within a given setting. In this case, the workplace is the setting, and the differences typically refer to identity like race and gender, and sometimes ethnicity, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. A person is not diverse. They are unique. They can bring diversity to a group though. You are not looking for a diverse candidate. Diversity is about a collective or a group.

Inclusion
Inclusion has to do with people with different identities feeling and/or being valued, leveraged and welcomed within a given setting (whether that is a team, workplace, or industry). Longtime Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion educator, Verna Myers, said: “Diversity is being asked to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.” Inclusion is not a natural consequence of diversity. You can have a diverse team of talent, but that does not mean they feel welcomed or valued or are given opportunities to grow.

Equity
Equity is an approach that ensures everyone has access to the same opportunities. Equity recognizes that we do not all start from the same place because advantages and barriers exist. It is a process that acknowledges uneven starting places and seeks to correct the imbalance. Diversity and inclusion are both outcomes. Equity is not. It refers to the process an organization engages in to ensure that people with marginalized identities can grow, contribute, and develop.

Productions

Cirque: Spirit of Christmas (2023)

Cirque La Dolce Vita! (2023)

Cirque Carré McKinney, A Lone Star Circus Production (2023)

Summer of Cirque: A Pirate’s Adventure (2022)

Spring Variety Show (2022)

A Merry Cirque (2021)

Cirque Winter Wonderland (2021)

Summer of Cirque: Pirates & Princesses (2021)

Summer of Cirque: Pirates & Princesses (2021)

Circus Aura (2020 - Virtual)

Big & Bright (2020 - Virtual)

Cirque Kerwich (2019 · 2021)

Cirque Holidays (2019)

Forever (2018

Cirque Joyeux (2017 · 2018 · 2019 · 2021)

Cirque Joyeux Noel (2016 · 2017)

Le Petit Lone Star Circus,
Out of the Loop Fringe Festival (2016)

La Fete (2016)

Zingari (2015)

Oh La La! (2014)

Charivari (2013)

Cirque Banquisté (2011 · 2012)

Cirque Banquista! (2009)

Celebration Le Cirque (2007 · 2008)

Extravaganza · Le Cirque (2005)

Lone Star Circus Reviews

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