Sissy Fit Looks Into The Future With Second Queer Cabaret At Arts Commons

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On June 24, six artists gathered at Arts Commons to film Sissy Fit: The Future is Queer Cabaret for an online presentation in what was presumably a quiet and largely empty theater.

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It was “a bit of a transition” from the boisterous debut of the show’s predecessor in 2019, Sissy Fit Cabaret.

“My drag, genre illusion character, Sissy, animates the party and I really feed off that audience energy,” says Brett Dahl, who is also the curator of the cabaret. “We didn’t necessarily have that, but we tried to prepare it so that the audience felt like they were in a live event. The few of us who were allowed into this space would shower artists with love because they are so exciting. They would finish a really big number and there were only six of us to cheer. “

This is remarkable because, much like its predecessor, The Future is Queer Cabaret is meant to be a community building exercise as much as anything else. The show, which will be offered online on Sunday, July 25, will feature fun and irreverent performances by Dahl and fellow cabaret artists Robert Adam, Sarah Ord, Jamie Tognazzini, MelVeeX and Marshall Vielle who will perform music, comedy. , drag, speech. and burlesque. But it also has a serious mandate to provide a showcase for queer theater artists in a city where such opportunities are scarce. It is part of the TD Amplify Cabarets, a three-year series produced by Arts Commons that aims to raise “the voice of Calgary artists from communities seeking equity.”

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“A lot of acts, especially me as a Sissy, want to amplify the positivity, joy and love and some of the other performances go towards deeper, darker performances,” says Dahl, who uses the them / them pronouns. . “MelVeeX does some really powerful slapstick and spoken word stuff. Additionally, Mavis Vontrese (the drag character of Blackfoot artist Marshall Vielle) is also very political. It still packs some sort of oomph, but the message at the end also leaves audiences inspired and hopeful. I want them to leave with the community in mind as well, the voices we amplify, and the ways we can stay engaged. “

The first Sissy Fit cabaret honored the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, protests by the gay community of Greenwich Village in New York City that took place in response to a violent raid on the Stonewall Inn. The riots are now seen as the start of the modern gay rights movement and the impetus for the first pride parade.

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“Since the former looked to the past, we wanted to look to the future,” says Dahl. “So we chose ‘The Future is Queer’ as the theme. Of course, the pandemic has arrived and we put it on hold until this year. During the pandemic, I was really brooding about what the queer future meant. For me, the theme and the heart of this cabaret is to lay the bricks and stones for the next generation. For me, Sissy Fit is always about bringing in bodies, hearts, and minds that can inspire audiences. As a queer performer, I feel like I’ve been sort of marginalized at times in the shows I’ve done. I don’t see a lot of queer theater in Calgary either. There’s a big drag and we have a really good queer community, but we can’t showcase the diversity of our talents. This is the heart of Sissy Fit.

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Dahl is a Calgary-born playwright and performer whose first play, Like Orpheus, deals with sexual assault and queer club culture and was premiered in Lethbridge before traveling to Victoria and Dublin. They are graduates of the BFA Acting program at the University of Alberta and received the Stephen Hair Emerging Actor Award from Theater Calgary in 2015, the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award in 2018 and the RBC Emerging Artist Cultural Leader Award in Calgary. in 2020. Nonetheless, they say they have often been frustrated by the opportunities available to them as an actor.

“Someone told me about a conversation that happened where this director (said) ‘Oh, Brett is very talented but not masculine enough for this role,’” Dahl said. “While my writing started out as a way to create opportunities for myself, it turned into this way of letting queer voices and stories that aren’t often told or told through a straight lens (be told). It’s letting authentic queer voices take the lead, told by queer people. We can be subversive and we don’t really appeal to a larger, straight audience. I think straight guys will appreciate it, but there’s something so rewarding about seeing queer people be their real queer selves on stage. “

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The character of Sissy Fit “had been bubbling in my heart and soul for a while,” they say. A few years ago they started doing drag performances and Sissy finally made her mark.

“I felt like I wasn’t being chosen for roles that showcased the breadth of my experience or showcased the things I wanted to do as a performer,” Dahl said. “So it has become an outlet for me where I not only have more agency in my voice as an artist, but I can also create an opportunity for other people.”

They say queer art and the experience are increasingly accepted and mainstream, a testament to the fact that “our stories are always relatable.” Yet over the past two months, Dahl says they have been yelled at homophobic slurs in Calgary while on the streets. Queer performers don’t always feel safe at larger public events, which is why they consider it important to create safe spaces for performers to perform.

“We are creating it for queer people, but straight people will also be able to identify themselves,” they say.

Sissy Fit: The Future is Queer Cabaret will have its virtual premiere on Sunday July 25. Tickets are free and the show is best suited for people 16 and older. Call 403-294-9494 or visit artscommons.ca to reserve.

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