Artist Reflection Series: Bond Street Theatre Creates Joy Through Performance Art

Bond Street Theatre is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting peace and cultural understanding through theatre arts. Since 1976, they've been to various conflict areas, bringing their theatre-based programs for education, healing, and empowerment to people experiencing poverty and oppression.

The Theatre for Social Development project helps arts organizations use their creativity for social improvement by partnering with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to help bring their services to the public. Bond Street has been working in Afghanistan since 2002, partnering with local theatre groups to create peace building projects for youth and adults. They have been to over 40 countries worldwide, including Pakistan, India, Kosovo, Bosnia, Albania, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, Indonesia, China, Myanmar, Turkey, Israel and Palestine.

We are excited to have them here in Seattle as part of our Moisture Festival Artist Reflection Series. On Monday, April 4, they will be here to present about the work they do to bring joy and happiness through theatre to countries experiencing poverty, war, and conflict. This informative presentation will be free, with donations suggested. Please join us to learn more about this amazing group!
Important Details:
WHEN: Monday, April 4, 7:30 PM
WHERE: Hale's Palladium
Free, donations suggested, all ages.

ASL Interpreted Show

We are excited to once again offer ASL interpretation at Moisture Festival! Many thanks to Paula for helping us organize interpreted shows over the years, and thanks to Deaf Spotlight and TADA (Theaters, Allies, & Deaf Audiences) for helping us make shows accessible!

The variete show at 7:30 on Thursday, April 7 at Hale's Palladium will have an ASL interpreter. We are working hard to add more interpreted shows, and will let you know if we are able to add more to the Moisture Festival lineup.

At these shows we will have a reserved section for our deaf patrons and their parties. When you arrive at the theater for the show, let the Box Office manager know your party should be seated in the ASL section. Our House Manager will show you to your seats.

Hangin' Tough

Every year, Moisture Festival brings high-quality aerial acts to the stage, showcasing physical strength along with beauty and charm. There are many different types of acts that fall under the "aerial" umbrella, such as trapeze, tissu, hoop, and swing. With so many different options, it is likely that even the most stoic of audience members will submit an "Ooooh" or "Aaaah" at one of the acts! Here are a couple new aerialist additions to this year's lineup that we think you might enjoy.

Eve Diamond Warren Zelman Photograpy

Eve Diamond was introduced to the circus arts through Circus Smirkus at the age of 13, and found herself mesmerized enough to keep it up through high school and college. Combining beauty and brawn, Eve has been all over the country as a student, performer, and teacher. She has performed and taught classes with Circus Smirkus and Emerald City Trapeze, trained at SANCA, and also trained at Ecole Leotard in Montreal with Victor Fomin. Her specialty is in aerial rope and cloud swing (both static and dynamic), but is also well-versed in trapeze, hoop, tissu, and partner acrobatics. Eve recently moved to Seattle, and we are happy to welcome her to our local Moisture Festival family. Her festival performance dates are available here.



Cassie Cutler also started performing at a young age, practicing and competing in the gymnastics world until the age of 16. After that, she found circus arts and discovered that she loved being upside down! With her specialties of aerial, hand to hand, and tumbling, Cassie has bounced all over the place, including Great America Theme Park, Knotts Berry Farm, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Alice, her trapeze, has gone on these adventures with her. Like Eve, Cassie has also taught classes at Emerald City Trapeze and trained at Ecole Leotard! We are so glad that she will be joining us for Moisture Festival this year. You can see her on the Broadway Performance Hall stage for burlesque and variete performances.

If aerial is your interest, make sure to also check dates and times for Camille Swift (especially if you missed her stunning performance last year!), Duo Rose, Nikole Gramm, and Duo Revê to name a few!

Time Travel With Us! Return to Le Chat Noir at Nordo's Culinarium

This year, we have an exciting new collaboration in our Moisture Festival lineup! For three nights only, we will "Return to Le Chat Noir", bringing you a wild cabaret experience reminiscent of turn-of-the-century Paris. The show will feature the talent of Moisture Festival variete artists combined with the innovation, creativity, and culinary skill of Chef Nordo and Nordo's Culinarium. Belle epoquè fashion highly encouraged for this enchanting evening.

Seating is limited each evening, so buy your tickets before they sell out! We will "Return to Le Chat Noir" on Friday March 18, Saturday March 19, and Sunday March 20 at Nordo's Culinarium, located at 109 South Main Street in Pioneer Square. 

Featuring Armitage Shanks as MC, Miles and Karina as the show band, with performances by Charly Castors, Dream Frohe, Patrick McGuire, Saffi Watson, Shoehorn, The One The Only INGA, and Tom Noddy.

There are two ticket levels available: General Theater Admission and Premium Table Seating. The General Theater Admission tickets are $40 each, and you will have the option to purchase beverages and a limited menu.

Premium Table Seating is $75 and will include the following mouthwatering menu:

Appetizer

Salade Lyonnaise: Frisée with Carleton Farms Lardon and a Poached Egg

-or-

Purple Potato Leek Soup topped with Creme Fraiche and Fennel Pollen

Entreee

Cassoulet: White Bean Stew with Duck Confit and Garlic Pork Sausage

-or-

Vegetarian Cassoulet: White Bean Stew with Roasted Vegetables and Tomatoes

 Dessert

Petits Pots à l’Absinthe: Classic French Custard with a touch of Absinthe, served with cranberry  compote

Acrobatic Conundrum Presents Love & Gravity

Seattle is a well-known incubator of new artists, especially in the world of performance and circus arts. We have some amazing homegrown talent, and many artists have flocked here knowing they will have the love and support of this wonderful community.

This cohesion among performers allows for much collaboration, and we are excited to tell you about a wonderful new show that was originally developed as part of the SANCA (School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts) Artists-In-Residence program. Acrobatic Conundrum will be presenting their new full-length show, Love & Gravity, at Broadway Performance Hall April 8-10. Tickets are available now, with four different show times to choose from.

Fluent in the language of acrobatics, this cast risks all on a quest to tell honest accounts from an uncharted territory. Real life romances are portrayed through mesmerizing juggling acts, breathtaking aerial and partner acrobatics -- all while balancing on a bar 20 feet in the air! This show will upend everything you thought you knew about these two laws of attraction: Love & Gravity.

Tap Into This!

Tap dancing is a uniquely American art form, born of the fusion of West African drumming and dancing with the clogging and step dancing of Scottish, Irish, and English settlers. There is a rich history in this art form, including a time when tap dancers were in heavy rotation on vaudeville stages across the country. This year, we have a few different acts ready to tap into your sense of joy and wonder! You'll want to have these performers on your radar.

Founded in 2012, Alchemy Tap Project to inspire teens and young adults to further the evolution of tap dancing. This group brings the fun, percussive tap style to a wide range of music, from jazz to classical, electro-swing to hip-hop, and everything in between! Director and Choreographer Josh Scribner grew up in Seattle and began tap dancing at the age of eight as part of the Tap Squad with Cheryl Johnson. He spent years tapping in various venues, including on the television show Showtime at the Apollo and Cirque du Soleil’s first Broadway production, Banana Shpeel. Josh also helped with the creation of a Cirque du Soliel show, Zaia. We’re very excited to have this group on stage to illustrate the amazing innovation happening in tap today! Click here to find out when they'll be on the Moisture Festival stage.

Photo by Michelle Bates

Shoehorn is a performance artist like no other. He can make music with his feet while dancing with his saxophone, creating a whirlwind performance that you’ll have to see to believe! Shoehorn can also play a number of other instruments, including the Tapercussion e-tap instrument of his own creation. Songs range from classic to original, and Shoehorn plays both solo and as a member of various groups, including Fools in Paradise, Baby Gramps Time Warp, and Evening Star Orchestra. Shoehorn is also a recording artist, with both a CD and DVD under his belt! In addition to his extensive range of music abilities, he is an internationally recognized tap soloist. Shoehorn's tap skills have been featured in the Emmy-nominated PBS TV documentary JUBA: Masters of Tap & Percussive Dance. We are so excited to bring him back to Moisture Festival! You can see which shows he'll be performing in by clicking here.

Brian Jones credits his eleventh grade English teacher with introducing him to the rich tradition of tap, and as of 2015, he has spent 43 years of his life as a tap dancer and choreographer. In those years, he has shared the stage with Ethel Merman, Robert Goulet, The Persuasions, and The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Known for his tap company, The All-Tap Revue, Brian has toured from Hawaii to Europe, delighting audiences with his feets of fancy. Beyond performing, Brian shares his love of tap dance through teaching classes in Rhode Island, and his website even contains notations for tap dances he has choreographed. We'll be scheduling him into shows very soon, and you'll be able to see what dates and times he'll be performing right here!

Tickets Going Fast for Hilary Chaplain Workshop, Plus Part Two Added!

Were you thinking of taking Hilary Chaplain's workshop, Physical Comedy from a Clown POV? It's selling so fast that we added two more spots, for a total of 14 participants! However, of the 14 total spots, there are ONLY THREE TICKETS LEFT!! Act fast if you want to join in on the fun... buy your ticket today!

There has been so much interest generated by this workshop that Hilary decided to add a PART TWO! What does that mean, you ask? If you take the first workshop on Saturday, March 26, we are offering tickets to a next level workshop on Monday, March 28 from 6-10 PM (also at West of Lenin). This second workshop will add on to what you learned in the first session, helping you further explore physical comedy! Tickets will only be available to those who have attended Part One of the workshop, so if you haven't already, grab one of the last four spots available for Part One, and check out Part Two here.