Jackie Dempsey News

Following a 30th anniversary tour, Squonk premieres its newest show: Brouhaha, an immersive outdoor spectacle bursting with rollicking music, dazzling imagery, and the thrill of audience participation.

​​​​​​​Squonk performs Hand to Hand, a participatory event propelled by Squonk's rollicking live music, as part of NC State LIVE's 50th Anniversary Block Party on September 18, 2022.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Squonk continues a multi-city tour of its free outdoor spectacle Hand to Hand, traveling to cities in both the U.S. and Canada. Led by Co-Artistic Directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn, Squonk is a group of musicians and artists producing boisterous outdoor spectacles that fuse fantastical visual design, playful staging, and high-energy original music. 

Today Squonk, a performing arts troupe known for whimsical music spectacles presented in public spaces, announced it's taking its acclaimed show, Hand to Hand, out on the road in 2021 for a national tour, which will include more than 35 performances in eight cities across the nation.

What happens when you mix the atmosphere and originality of a Blue Man Group performance with the dynamics of a recent Sarah Brightman concert, giving Zooey Deschanel (the 500 Days of Summer version) a chance at lead vocals to top it all off? A little show called Mayhem and Majesty fits the bill quite well, and with its exhibition of different styles, sounds and talents does this show encapsulate a little bit of everything mentioned above, and then some. As the most recent show to grace the stage at 59E59 Theaters on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Mayhem and Majesty is an eclectic mix of styles, sounds and talents that, when combined, cannot do anything but amaze those who bear witness to one of the most unique shows New York has ever seen. Essentially, audiences watch as this assortment of "stuff," seemingly random at first, is magnificently transformed into a show that creators Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn should be very proud of indeed.

59E59 Theaters will welcome Squonk with the NYC premiere of MAYHEM AND MAJESTY, created by Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn with Squonk. MAYHEM AND MAJESTY begins performances on Tuesday, December 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, December 29. Press opening is Wednesday, December 18 at 7 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7 PM; Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM and 8 PM; and Sunday at 3 PM and 7 PM. There is no performance on December 25. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Single tickets are $50 ($35 for 59E59 Members); and $20 for 17 and younger. To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) is proud to announce the line-up of shows for the Fall 2013 Season. All performances take place at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Ticket prices and performance schedules vary. For tickets, call Ticket Central at 212-279-4200 or online at www.59e59.org.

In celebration of 20 years of creating and performing original multimedia works in and from Pittsburgh, Squonk Opera will be doing 20 free shows all around Pittsburgh this summer, more local shows than they've ever done in a season. They will premiere this next creation - GO Roadshow- at the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival with shows on June 8, 9 and 10.