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Unabashed laughter and fragments of conversations escaped lips parted in excitement. Undercurrents of anticipation filled the space of the Greenhouse Theater Center. The audience, composed of individuals ranging from elderly women to men in their mid-twenties, were connected by one common interest – Beast Women. And as Gwen Stefani’s Holla Back Girl pumped through the speakers, Jillian Erickson, co-producer and emcee of the evening, announced her presence in the form of a stomp and a twist of the hips: “this is cabaret my friends, anything goes.”
A cabaret-style variety show, Beast Women performances consist of an array of genres, all of which showcase the primal feelings of strength, sexuality and oddities found in women.
“Beast Women is taking all those aspects of a woman and giving her a place to showcase it,” said Michelle Power, co-producer and monologue performance artist, highlighted.
Kristina Cottone and Kim Kozel, two-thirds of a folks and blues band titled Snow on Sunday, were the first to perform. The two began strumming their respective instruments, guitar and violin. With breath-taking harmonizations of both voices and instruments.
Following this was a monologue performed by Power. Written by Erickson, the narrative verse revolved around the parole of a woman who was imprisoned after murdering her father as a teenager, due to years of sexual abuse. Dressed in a blue jumpsuit, hands cuffed and placed both pleadingly and defensively in front of her, Power exposed the multiple layers of her character through inflections in her speech.
Sonia, an R&B/pop songstress and drummer, debuted next with a mixture of pop and traditional Kenyan vocals. She played the djembe, a skin-covered hand drum. Singing about beauty and the questionable nature of it – “do you think you’re true?” she asked.
Also in her Beast Women debut, Caitie Cruel shot the audience a smirk before launching into Billie Holiday’s Lady Sings the Blues. Cruel’s performance was marked with sensual shoulder shimmies.
Then came Red Hot Annie, a veteran burlesque performer. Wearing a bra, corset and skirt bedazzled in glitters and vivid colors, Annie said her performance was a celebration of the female body.
“It’s not about messages for me, it’s more about something I think the audience can relate to in some random-ass way,” Annie said. She performed again later in the evening, dressed as a penguin.
Jackie Flint, a singer and dance artist, and Sarah Stroup, a hip hip/contemporary dance artist, were the other two debut performers for the Fall Series. Flint did a single of the musical Chicago’s I Can’t Do It Alone.. Stroup did a routine to Lady Gaga’s Monster, executing pirouettes and splits.
Ali Clayton, a comedic performer, humoured the crowd with a swimming lesson, demonstrating the breast stroke and back stroke on a small coffee table placed onstage. Stomach perched on the table surface, Clayton began demonstrating while narrating that “you do your arms like this and if you were in water you’d do it like this and then you probably wouldn’t drown.” Wearing a one-piece and blinking through swimming goggles, Clayton left the audience roaring with laughter and shedding tears as she left the stage.
Finally, Donna Barnett, a songstress, belted a heart-wrenching song about finding love and how expectations can lead to falling even harder. Perhaps even more melancholic was the announcement made before the act that this would be Barnett’s last performance with Beast Women, as she was moving away.
There is no denying that it is worth the trip to North Lincoln to see Beast Women. It’s a show that highlights women in the arts and provides a full, interactive evening of entertainment.
The Beast Women Fall Series takes place Greenhouse Theater Center, located at 2257 North Lincoln Avenue, this Saturday at 10:30 p.m., just in time to celebrate with them their 100th show.