Anna T Rexia and Craig Trolli have never been seen in the same room but say they are twins wherein one absorbed the other and then does drag to let the other one out. Which one is which, no one is certain, but both love performing and talking about performing!
Anna: Hellooooooo, Sweetie! It’s been a while…since you were on stage!
Craig: Ha ha, Anna. And didn’t I just see you on RuPaul’s Drag Race? Oh, right, I didn’t!
Anna: Let’s talk about the big show you’re doing at Pocket Theater on May 18 and 19! What is this mess and how did it come about?
Craig: Totally Solid Gold happened because I wanted to start a comedy dance troupe. It’s great exercise and about the only thing I hadn’t done. Then I met Jennifer Parker (you’ve seen her on the panel of Match Game at Re-Bar), who had always wanted to do a live version of Solid Gold.
Anna: For our younger readers, Solid Gold was the countdown show in the 80s where dancers in leotards got all sexy to elevator music!
Craig: And then with the Amanduh live shows, the 48-Hour Film Project competitions and the forthcoming Amanduh movie, our group of actors and crew has solidified over time. You’ll see the Busted Ankle Dancers in the Amanduh movie and one of them was in a recent Jackie Hell music video.
Anna: Oh, yeah, I play Barely Godmother in the Amanduh movie!
Craig: We’ve done a few live shows of Totally Solid Gold involving Olivia Newton-John, Diana Ross, pom-poms, medleys, leg warmers, Satanic shit, one dancer whose name no one ever knows and a sexy puppet action!
Anna: Ew.
The Final Confrontation!!! Craig Versus Anna!!!!!
Craig: Anyway, we’re taking the best of all those shows and then doing the worst stuff instead!
Anna: Um…
Craig: Kidding! Maybe. Anyway, we’re part of Sketch Month at Pocket Theater, and we’ll be paired with a couple other groups so that each night the audiences can see a full show. What have you got going on, Anna?
Anna: Thank you for asking, Sweetie! I have Framed and Dried: a Tori Amos Tribute Night on May 25th in Portland, Oregon! It’s a benefit for The Living Room: a queer/trans space for youth based out of Clackamas. I’ll be hostessing and doing a couple numbers, one with the mastermind behind it all, Marla Darling!
Craig: OMG! I love Tori Amos! That song about stuff being Ironic? Killer! Or the one about who will save your soul? Brilliant!
Anna: That’s not funny. Anyway, what else do you have going on?
Craig: I’m in the play, She Kills Monsters, directed by Brendan Mack/Butch Alice, in July. It’s my debut at Theater Schmeater!
Anna: Wow, that’s like a real play in a real theater!
Craig: In the Fall, we’ll be bringing back a play I commissioned a few years ago: Tulips of Fury, where I play a female super hero battling Nazis…in the 1940s!
Anna: I’m glad you specified the timeline there.
Craig: Then, we’re remounting The Judy Garland Christmas Special. It’ll be my debut at Theater Off Jackson!
Anna: So many debuts for someone clearly not an ingénue! Well, that takes us through the end of the year–
Craig: And then next year we’re developing remounts of Witch Prison and Exorcist: the Musical!
Anna: Wow, all these remounts, you’re like a one-man Netflix! Well, you have been around for quite a long while…
Craig: You would know, Anna T Rexia, I mean: talk about a dinosaur!
Anna: Mmmmm hmmmm. Anyway…
Craig: I’m also in a couple web series: Monstr App (monstrwebseries.com, first episode is up now), and Emerald Down and Out (currently being written by Dan Dembiczak). I’m also in the Amanduh movie playing three parts. And then…
Anna: zzzzzzzzzzzzzz– Huh? What?
Craig: You fell asleep!
(Editor: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..snort……..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)
Anna: Just like our readers! So, in summation, go see The Best of Totally Solid Gold at Pocket on May 18th and 19th!
Craig: And then go to Framed & Dried: a Tori Amos Tribute Night in Portland on May 25th! See below for all the details!
Anna: Now let’s go costume shopping!
Craig: You read our mind!
The Best of Totally Solid Gold
Featuring -Busted Ankle Dancers
(Aaron Allshouse, Craig Trolli, Jennifer Parker, Amanduh, Peter Farrah, JenRenee Paulson)
The word is out! Totally Solid Gold is back and bringing the best of the worst! Or is it the worst of the best? Come see us for a bite-sized 25-minute version hosted by Aaron Howard Ray Allshouse and take in all the zaniness of our almost-like-real-dancing hoorahs and hooplas.
Part of Sketch Comedy Month at The Pocket Theater, our shows are May 18th and 19th at 830pm. In addition to our show, you get to see another fantastic sketch for a full hour of full on sketchiness. It’s seriously sketchy y’all.
Keep it totally solid!
Ticket / info link: https://thepocket.vbotickets.com/event/Busted_Ankle_Dancers_Sketch_Comedy_Month/26937
[Performances at the Pocket are $10 online and $14 at the door. Online sales close 4pm day of show.]
Friday, May 18th @ 8:30pm – Best of Totally Solid Gold w/ Drop the Root Beer and Run
Saturday, May 19th @ 8:30pm – Best of Totally Solid Gold w/ Mad Gravity
FRAMED AND DRIED: A TORI AMOS TRIBUTE NIGHT
The second Framed and Dried: A Tori Amos Tribute Night will be on Friday, May 25th at Crush Bar in Portland, Oregon. The night is hosted by Anna T Rexia from Seattle, Washington. With local DJ Aurora and San Diego based DJ, Mateo Segade. The night will feature drag, burlesque, live singing, audio tarot, live singing, and pianist, Matt Insley closing out the show. Framed and Dried is a benefit for The Living Room: A queer youth safe space in Clackamas County.
A raffle featuring different Tori items and local art will occur at the end of the show.
Special giveaways donated by Drive All Night: Songs of Tori Amos podcast
Full line up of performers:
Marla Darling
Anna T Rexia
Shai
Sue E. Psydoll
Kat Van Dayum
Jasmine Rain
Tula Petals
Wolfgang X
Clare Apparently
Prince Peanutbutter
Alexandra Paris
Miss Aurora
Loxie Arcane
BeElzzabub Doll
Loretta Good Lordchild and Pepper Pepper
Matt Insley
About the Author: Craig Trolli
