SIDESHOW Comes to Annex Theatre, Now thru 5/6

Imagine if the wonders of Oz came to sepia-toned Kansas. Imagine if the marginalized were endowed with fantastical abilities. Imagine a world made of imaginings.

Using dance and theater, Sideshow explores the thrill of catching sight of the seemingly impossible and the beauty that can emerge from our most broken places. Sideshow portrays the feats and longings of a group of circus sideshow performers: A girl with jaundice whose fantasies materialize, a magnetic bearded lady, and a hunchback who possesses superhuman strength but dreams of walking a delicate high wire.

Sideshow performs at the Annex Theatre, located at 1100 E. Pike Street, tonight, May 1st- May 16th, Tuesday-Wednesday at 8 pm. A preview will be held Monday April 30th at 8pm. Tickets are $5-$10. For more information, visit www.annextheatre.org.

Sideshow began when Jenna Bean Veatch was reading through old notebooks and came across a one-page stream-of-consciousness fairy tale she'd written years earlier. It was the story of Daffodil, the jaundiced girl whose thoughts came to life. Since then the story has expanded and deepened to include more characters and its circus setting. Through workshops, improvisation, writing exercises, and the final rehearsal process, Jenna has shepherded Sideshow through the years into its current incarnation at Annex.

In addition to melding dance and theater, Sideshow incorporates bits of puppetry and is supported by a chorus singing haunting Appalachian ballads. It tells a tale by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, whimsical and wounded, set in a world of pure imagination.

Annex Theatre is a democratic collective of theatre artists dedicated to creating bold new work in an environment of improbability, resourcefulness and risk. Annex Theatre produces new plays by living playwrights, radical reinterpretations of classic scripts, and ensemble-generated non-linear spectacles. Now in its new Capitol Hill venue, Annex originally opened its doors in 1987 in a former dance studio on 4th Avenue in downtown Seattle. Since then the theater has produced hundreds of world and Northwest premieres.

Cast features Wylin Daigle as The Bearded Lady, Steven Gomez as The Tree Man, Christine Longe as The Ringmaster, Naomi Russell as The Hunchback, Francesca Mondelli & Jillian Vashro as The Conjoined Twins, Jenna Bean Veatch as Daffodil, The Jaundiced Girl.

Written, directed, and choreographed by Jenna Bean Veatch, with assistant direction by Juliet Waller-Pruzan and set design by Devin Peterson, the show also features lighting design by Ian Johnston. Stage manager is Blair Feehan, production manager is Grant Knutson.