Kadijah Wingo hasn’t just created a comedy show, she’s creating “a show of revolutionary joy.”
That’s how the Cleveland comedian, known on stage as Kwingo, describes her namesake comedy revue. It runs Friday at Cleveland Public Theatre.
“I wanted to do a hodgepodge of all different types of comedy to exist under a queer umbrella,” she said. “It's a mixture of classic stand-up, drag, music, improv, poetry, burlesque and sketch comedy.”
Kwingo has worked with CPT for several years and is currently its National New Play Network producer in residence.
“I really feel like there's a pocket missing in the Cleveland comedy scene for queer individuals,” she said. “There is no specific queer open mic necessarily. I’m not saying that there has to be one, but … if not me, then who else will do it?”
Other performers include comedians D’Jaay Brown Johnson and Cam Godfrey, plus burlesque performer Shrimp Cocktail.
“For the most part, everybody's independently working on their own things and then bringing it all together,” she said. “We have one tech rehearsal, and then we're going to do the show.”
The Cleveland School of the Arts grad hopes the revue eventually becomes a regular part of CPT’s programming, and she’s also planning a sketch festival for later this year. Doors open for "Kwingo's Comedy Revue" at 9:30 p.m. Friday.
Golden Flame Invitation
From June 12-29, CPT’s executive artistic director, Raymond Bobgan, presents another genre-bending production with “Golden Flame Invitation.”
“Although there are many different stories that are seemingly unconnected, hopefully the whole thing has this undercurrent,” he said. “It's really an undercurrent that is partially my personal reflection on my own life. It's a very personal piece.”
The three-act play combines monologue, poetry, unscripted moments, music and audience participation. Bobgan wants visitors to question how they receive art in a theater setting. As his piece moves through the building, the action shifts backstage, downstage and sometimes into the audience itself.
“I don't know if other people experience life the way I do,” he said. “For me, there is both a hunger that is inside… this yearning, but also this flame that I'm trying to play around with. How do we talk about these things that really words fail us?”
Bobgan acknowledged that the piece is difficult to describe, but he hopes audiences come see for themselves.
“I hope people will be talking afterwards, ‘What was this about?’” he said. “I think what I really want to touch is something that's deeper than words.”
