What do you do when are a popular stage duo and you need to raise money to buy a van for an upcoming Fringe tour? Well, you host a cabaret show, of course.
As we reported in December, the Victoria production of Kitt & Jane was chosen in the Canadian Fringe Festival lottery and organizers plan to tour the show in select Canadian cities this summer. The show tells the story of two 14-year-old kids training the audience to survive the apocalypse.
In an effort to help raise funds, they’ve come up with a new cabaret show called Spirit Week based on the characters from Kitt & Jane, which is being billed as a “mad-cap evening of competitive fun” by the show’s star and co-creator Ingrid Hansen.
Again featuring the characters of Kitt Pedersen (Hansen) and Lucas “Jane” Jameson (Rod Peter Jr.), the cabaret-style Spirit Week introduces another character who only made a brief cameo in Kitt & Jane: “self-appointed coolest substitute teacher in town, Chase Breyer,” explains Hansen.
“He’s a hilarious, try-hard substitute teacher, self-appointed as everybody’s new best friend,” elaborates Hansen. “He appears as a voice-over shadow puppet character in Kitt & Jane, and then at our Christmas Cabaret he was brought to life by local comedian Rich Gauthier. Gauthier will host the show and he’s absolutely fascinating to watch as Chase; tragically awkward and hilarious.”
Due to its cabaret style, Spirit Week isn’t a proper third installment of the Kitt Pedersen trilogy. (Kitt & Jane’s prequel, Little Orange Man, telling the story of Kitt’s early years, was also a Fringe favourite.) But the Spirit Week fundraising show does beg the question of whether the Kitt plays will someday become a full-fledged trilogy?
“We have talked about what a third show would look like, but have not confirmed it at this time,” says Hansen. “Would it be two years in the future, or 50? Send us your ideas!”
In the meantime, Hansen, Peter, and co-creator and director Kathleen Greenfield are preparing their main show for the Fringe tour, raising money along the way with shows like Spirit Week, a recent encore performance of Little Orange Man, and an upcoming presentation of The Adventures of Superman (April 18-19), all taking place at the Intrepid Theatre Club.
And as for this summer’s Fringe tour, Hansen says the trio is stoked on what lays ahead, although they’ll be even more stoked once they have a van to tour in.
“We’re revved. Raring to go,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with our audiences and friends across the country… Fringe is the stomping grounds for innovation in live performance in Canada, and a very passionate community of weirdos. I am proud to be one of them.”
Kitt & Jane present Spirit Week
April 2-3 3-4, 8 pm
Intrepid Theatre Club (1609 Blanshard St.), $15
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