I have been surprised at how much I enjoy Seattle’s fringe cabarets. They aren’t just for theater dorks, but are genuinely more entertaining than the milquetoast crap on late-night television. Spin the Bottle, 12 Minutes Max, et al., are also steamy hothouses of experimentation and cross-pollination. They’re fun, but there sure are a lot of them–enough that they’re beginning to compete and trying to distinguish themselves.
“Sure, Neither/Nor is part of the Seattle cabaret Zeitgeist, but its focus on bravery and risk-taking sets it apart,” said Bald Faced Lie’s Peggy Gannon, talking about her company’s contribution to Seattle’s growing cabaret menu. “The bottom line is that Neither/Nor provides a welcoming artistic atmosphere and rewards the sheer balls to do something extraordinary,” she said. “There is respect for simply taking the risk.”
It sounds like what any cabaret organizer would say, but Neither/Nor does have a few distinguishing characteristics. First, it doesn’t happen in a theater, but in an unforgivingly well-lit art gallery, with every face in the audience perfectly illuminated to show its exact degree of boredom. Second, the handpicked artists don’t do promotional morsels from upcoming shows, but develop one-offs specifically for that evening. Third, they are encouraged to work outside their usual genres. And all the artists I talked to seemed genuinely excited by the Neither/Nor atmosphere.
“It’s goofy and wild and random as cabarets ought to be,” said Neither/Nor veteran Matt Fontaine, “but they seem to include more genuinely experimental work, and more work that is meant to be taken at least somewhat seriously.”
Neither/Nor’s next lineup will feature self-described “cabaret bitch” Mark Boeker in a one-man zombie drama. “I could no longer deny the zombie piece that has apparently always been inside me,” he said. “It includes full-on makeup, KFC barbecue chicken strips, and a record player with the Smiths all ready to go.” Gannon also predicts new work from ukulele songbird K. Brian Neel, body painting by actor Roy Stanton, and a pair of aestheticians performing a live, cringe-inducing wax-off.
“We are challenging artists that we already admire to show us their private parts, so to speak,” Gannon said. “Neither/Nor is a (more or less) meticulously chosen show. It’s just that we don’t choose the performances; we choose the performers.”
Neither/Nor happens the third Saturday of every other month at Consolidated Works. Their next cabaret will be June 19 at 11 pm.
