The Freaks Come Out at convergence-continuum

Here's a Cleveland riddle: What do a freak show and convergence-continuum theatre have in common? The answer? Way more than you bargained for. Clyde Simon’s merry band of pranksters are turning their Tremont in-your-face space into a 1900 carnival tent full of human oddities for Carson Kreitzer’s outrageous comedy/drama Freakshow. The play seems an apt metaphor for the taboo-busting company itself: a risk-taking 48-seat venture where actors are willing to strip themselves bare – spiritually and physically - four inches from the audience in order to illuminate the human condition.

"We like putting the show right in the audience’s lap, where there is no safe place," says actor Lucy Bredeson-Smith, who is celebrating her 13th role since the company started. Watching the shape-shifting comedienne inhabit the panoply of endearingly oddball characters she’s been given is always one of the chief pleasures of attending a con-con show. From last month’s sex-obsessed fashion editor in In the Garden to a roller-skating diner waitress to a television in Poona the F**kdog, Bredeson-Smith is always a delight. This month she plays "The Dog-Faced Girl", the caretaker-mother of the carnival – a backstage role she also seems to relish.

It’s a tribute to the energy and commitment of the Tremont company that so many have stayed with it from its inception. As I went around the room, the tally was awe-inspiring. Artistic Director Clyde Simon (playing, of course, The Ringmaster) has been involved with all 27 shows. Director Geoff Hoffman has acted in 19 of them, and directed 2. Set designer Wes Shofner has been in 9 and behind the scenes in 2. Sound designer Sade Wolfkitten has worked on 11, plus one where she played on-stage accordion.

"I love working in this place," says Bredeson-Smith. "There’s a familial feeling, one of comfort – I can do all kinds of crazy things on stage and know that there’s a safety net from working with performers I know and trust." Although the group is tight – with weekly meals and parties together - newcomers are welcome, too. Blonde Laurel Johnson, fresh from playing Donnie Wahlberg’s wife in a TV miniseries and the put-upon fiancée of In the Garden, is back to play Amalia "no arms, no legs". There are three con-con newbies: Kelly McIvor (Pinhead), Shawn Galligan (Aquaboy), and Sarah Kunchik (The Girl). Bredeson-Smith shows me the straw-filled cage Pinhead will live in at the foot of an audience platform. "I told her, sure, you can touch the audience here," laughs Bredeson-Smith, "they’re in the carnival tent with us."

"Yes, we’ve been called equal opportunity offenders," says Simon. "The comedy here is raw," says light designer Colleen Albrecht, "where you laugh, then you cry, then you laugh again."

"You guys always remind me of Cleveland’s theatrical version of the Jim Rose Circus Side Show," I tell them to much actor laughter. Then Shofner tells me that he used to design jewelry for piercings, and freak-geek maestro Rose was one of his biggest customers. "That’s not all," he says. "Sade used to work in a real freak show (Carnival Kaotika), and she’s going to do an authentic freak-show act as part of the pre-show performance." Wolfkitten asks me not to reveal what it will be – you’ll have to come and see for yourself. "But it won’t be tarantula wrangling," she promises, "no matter how much fun that can be."

Freakshow opened Friday July 25 at The Liminis on Scranton in Tremont. Get details, showtimes et.al @ http://www.convergence-continuum.org.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein lindaATcoolcleveland.com
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