It’s Summer: Go Do Stuff…Here…Tacoma…Somewhere…

The theater collective LE FRENCHWORD will be hunting “wabbits” tonight through Saturday at Theatre Off Jackson in their deliciously odd little show, FANCY MUD.
Photo: Jim Hamerlinck

OMG.

It’s too nice to be trapped in the house and chained to a computer to write about all your dumb events.

Go do stuff.

Here’s some options:

1) Tacoma Pride Weekend gets going tonight at some place called “Malarkey’s Pool & Brew”…it sounds divine! Like the kind of boîte where you’d be gang banged on a pool table while covered in cheap beer! You can check out Seattle’s own VELO performing his new song, “Twink”, plus some Tacoma queens doing their “thang”. FUN!

2) All the usual suspects are around tonight…HollaBack at Neighbours; Revolution at Baltic Room; Lily Armani doing her “Hashtag” show at Lobby; etc….

3) Seattle’s favorite Piano Man, Victor Janusz is starring in his own one man show at ACT for the next two weeks, in their Bullitt Cabaret Theatre. More about “HANDS SOLO: PIANO MAN”:

ACT/Central Heating Lab proudly presents an exclusive two-week engagement of the acclaimed one-man show–“hilarious & heartfelt stories about a Life at the Keys” Written & Performed by Victor Janusz, Directed by Lori Larsen Opening Thursday July 10, running for two weeks until Sunday July 20, 2014 in the Bullitt Cabaret Theatre! TICKETS ON SALE NOW!: http://bit.ly/HandsSoloACT

ACT is air conditioned! Theater in summer cannot survive without it! GO!

4) For the artier crowd there’s the return of “Le Frenchword in Fancy Mud” down at Theatre Off Jackson in the International District. Le Frenchword is the artistic collective consisting of Sachie Mikawa, Ben Burris, and Carter Rodriquez and “Fancy Mud” is…well, I wrote about them a couple years ago, so let us allow a younger/wiser Strangeways to fill you in…

…the theater collective Le Frenchword is presenting the latest version of their piece, “Fancy Mud” a collection of interconnected sketches reflecting on…all sorts of interesting things including their thoughts on space, time, black holes, bunny rabbits, three legged cows, the creation of the world and yes, even some “Fancy Mud” (as opposed to regular old mud). And, it’s a charmingly odd and beguiling hour or so of entertainment best suited for the arty theater crowd. But, if you’re looking for fart jokes, parodies of “Footloose” and men dressed as women wearing giant turkey costumes, then this might not be the show for you.

Le Frenchword is currently a trio consisting of characters identified by their color coordinated clothing: “Pink” (Japanese petite female); “Blue” (cherubic blond, male) and “Yellow” (tall bushy haired male) who interact and connect in various permutations, sometimes two ganging up against one in a variety of settings and events and all punctuated by a lot of clowning and inventive acrobatics both physical and verbal. It’s a cacophony of words, sounds, and ideas frequently frenetic to the point of being a Looney Tunes cartoon but it’s also a bit…arty. Sachie Mikawa (Pink), Ben Burris (Blue) and Carter Rodriquez (Yellow) are all trained actors with a background in clowning (think commedia del arte type clowns, and not necessarily Ringling Brothers scary clowns with make up and tiny cars…) The three work well as a unit, and individually with each character nicely shaded and individualized. Pink is both sweet yet slightly skeptical; Yellow is the buffoonish authority figure and Blue the middle child who bounces between the two and prone to being the victim of the others. All three actors do excellent work, but I have a bit of a soft spot for Ms Mikawa’s Pink and her gleefully joyful periodic cries of “Bunny Rabbits!” She’s ridiculously adorable.

You can check out her cuteness Thurs/Fri/Sat at Theatre Off Jackson.

5) “RuPaul’s Drag Race Season Six” runner-up COURTNEY ACT is at R Place this Friday/Saturday…the Friday show seems to be sold out but lots of tickets remain for the Saturday night performance.

6) Tacoma Pride is happening all weekend…there’s outdoor fun for the whole family at their official OUT IN THE PARK festival which doesn’t really seem to be in a park…it’s downtown. Then there are the two big bar parties at Tacoma’s rather sorry excuses for gay bars, The Mix and The Silverstone who are CONSTANTLY bickering with each other over which bar is the lamest….sad.

The Mix has the better poster and title. It also has a contestant from The Voice as a headliner; Aleksa Manila as host; DJ Bret Law as the DJ (duh); a bunch of local queens and our own crazyass HEATHER HYSTERICAL and her Big Ass as entertainment. Hopefully, they got rid of the $5 photo booth which consisted of a tent with xeroxed logos taped to the walls…sheesh.

Club Silverstone also has a contestant from The Voice, plus AB Soto (who performed at Seattle Pride) plus Ongina from the first season of “RPDR” and Double Duchess. Plus DJ Skiddle and DJ Tony Burns. At one point, we heard Mama Tits was supposed to host, then it was just a guest spot and now we don’t know WHAT the fuck is going on.

We’re also confused as hell by the awful poster and the truly odd name for the event: “COCONIZE: A GAY STRIDE CONCERT ON ST. HELENS.”

WHAT. THE. FUCK. DOES. THAT. MEAN?

“Coconize”….it’s not a word. Is it code for something? Are they only serving…coke products?

“Gay Stride”….why is the non-word “STRIDE” in the title of a Gay Pride event? “Stride” is short for “Straight Pride” which is a stupid concept.

So odd.

Really. $500k for the buildout, a decent location with a smart management team, and someone could take over the queer nightlife scene in Tacoma within six months.

Seriously.

What does this mean?