SGS-TV Interview: Nick Garrison switches hats to direct Strawshop’s “Cloud 9”.

We have a category on Seattle Gay Scene labeled, “The Nick Garrison Fan Club” because we make no bones that we are ardent fans of the Seattle actor/chanteuse/host whether he’s en travesti in a Brown Derby parody, or rocking the world doing Hedwig & the Angry Inch, or trodding the boards at Seattle Rep or the 5th Avenue, or singing in his Weimaresque cabaret troupe, The Love Markets or just bopping around town doing whatever his little heart desires. We’re big, ole donkey school girl fans of Mr. G and we make no bones about it.

And, this big ole donkey school girl fan is very excited that Mr. Garrison’s artistic heart is switching its desire from acting and singing to directing actors and singers in Strawberry Theatre Workshop’s upcoming production of Caryl Churchill’s beautifully written farce, Cloud Nine, which runs July 7 through August 6 at the Erickson Theatre Off Broadway, behind the Egyptian Cinema on Capitol Hill. Cloud Nine examines sexuality, gender, race, colonialism, patriarchy, love, sex and various acts of perversion and still manages to be both poignant and hysterically funny. It also doesn’t hurt that this production has an astonishingly talented cast that includes Sarah Rudinoff, Ian Bell, Basil Harris, James Cowan, Imogen Love, Gretchen Krich and Scott Shoemaker. It’s a Dream Team of talent and you can get your tickets HERE via Brown Paper Tickets.

We were determined to talk with Mr. Garrison about this production, and his switch from Actor to Director and theatrical life in Seattle in general, so we nagged them enough that he and Strawshop agreed to let us film an interview on the stage at the Erickson Theatre. The interview was ridiculous amounts of fun, and we talked for over an hour, but edited it down to focus on Cloud 9, with a couple diversions to discuss The Love Markets, and a big show coming up for Nick next February at Seattle Rep, I Am My Own Wife. And, the half hour we didn’t use, might get spun off into its own series…you get gay theater boys yakkin’ about theater and Marlene Dietrich, we just don’t shut up…

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