The year is 1810 and the place is London, where a young African woman dubbed the “Venus Hottentot” is creating a sensation and a scandal on the freak-show circuit with her abundant derriere.

The Bowdoin College Department of Theater and Dance stages Venus by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks this weekend at Wish Theater, Memorial Hall. Parks visited Bowdoin in 2007 as part of her “365 Days / 365 Plays” project, with which the College collaborated.

According to The Bowdoin Orient, the “controversial and provocative” Venus is a first for Bowdoin theater.