In unprecedented times like these, Renegade Theater Co. artistic director Kyle Vasquez feels it is that much more important to remember and learn from the horrors of Nazi Germany, which among other personal reasons is why she decided to produce the critically acclaimed 1966 musical Cabaret as Renegade’s second-ever adult production.
“Unfortunately, shows like this are always kind of relevant in some way, and I think for me—and the cast and crew—it feels extra important and extra relevant right now, and we all feel this responsibility to do justice to it because it’s not just theoretical. It feels personal,” Vasquez says.
Taking the Vets Hall by storm for just two weeks, Cabaret is a tale of the dangers of ignorance and lack of action set in the Kit Kat Klub—a representation of the debaucherous cabarets that flourished in Berlin during the end of the Weimar Republic.
“What we watch happen throughout the show is the rise of the Nazi party and how this liberal, free, wild area becomes a target for conservative dogma. It takes you on a ride where in the beginning it’s fun and silly and lures you into a false sense of security where you’re like, ‘Wow this show’s fun, hooray,’ and then it’s not so fun anymore,” says Vasquez, whose favorite character is the “amorphous” Emcee.
This production includes stellar veterans of the Santa Cruz theater scene. Including, but not limited to, Anna Bogren as Sally Bowles, Scotty Kravitz as Herr Schultz, Laney Correra as Fräulein Kost, and a lavishly dolled-up Gage Herendeen as “Texas.” In the pivotal Emcee role—a sexy, dark and thrilling metaphor for the political climate of Germany during the wild and free “twilight of the jazz age”—is Chris Salem, who charmed audiences last November as Patchy the Pirate in Cabrillo College’s production of SpongeBob Squarepants.
As entertainer Sally Bowles sings in the musical’s second-to-last number, “Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret.”
With anti-LGBTQ rhetoric on the rise, Vasquez and Renegade Theater are committed to pushing back through art activism and providing opportunities to show unity, acceptance and hope for a better tomorrow in the continued fight against bigotry and hate by telling the hard stories.
Officially the beginning of Renegade’s second year as a theater company, this divinely decadent offering of hedonism, social commentary and brutal remembrance opens Valentine’s Day.
Says Vasquez, who is looking forward to Renegade Theater’s next queer youth benefit after the success of 2024’s Nex Benedict Benefit, “Times are dark and scary both in the show and in our country right now. But hope exists—sometimes the job of art as activism is to tell stories that people don’t want to tell, and sometimes the job is to make us look at uncomfortable things that we don’t want to see. I think sometimes the job is to get us thinking about how we can make things better. I’m not going to say, ‘See this show and we’ll know how to solve all the problems in our country,’ but I hope that we can at least get people on their drive home knowing there are reasons to fight for what we believe in and not just lay down and let things happen.”
Opens Feb. 14 and runs two weekends at the Santa Cruz Veterans Hall, 846 Front St, Santa Cruz. General admission is $30. Find information about community and understudy nights at onthestage.tickets/renegade-theater-co.
