all photos: Bradley Portnoy
A throng of Crack addicts swarmed the nightclub Town on Saturday to scratch their way into viewing the most recent installment of the quarterly comedy cabaret CRACK. Once again playing to a standing-room only crowd, the show featured filthy Hip-hop beat poets, deliciously bad Dolly Parton drag and Native Americans clad in only jockstaps.
A non-profit theater group, Crack seeks to motivate amateur Washingtonians to try their hand at sketch comedy and performance. The result is heavy on laughter and light on clothing (a staple of the show is somehow convincing audience members to join the troup on stage and strip off portions of their clothes for prizes).
Crack: Heels Up, Hoe Down! provided a country-western theme for the night’s performances. The organizers – Karl Jones, Chris Farris and Shea Van Horn – created a barnyard stage set, complete with a barn whose doors opened to transform into a movie screen for short films. Van Horn, who hosts the show in his persona Summer Camp, was joned on stage by Jones and Farris who portrayed scantily clad ranch hands in performances that kept the audience laughing and engaged between acts (A side note: the abdominal muscles of Jones, Farris and Van Horn have only seemed to grow along with their audience as evidenced in Bradley’s photos. A Crack diet seems to be paying off for the hosts, much to the delight of the crowd.).
The evening began with three beat poets reciting the lyrics to the hip-hop song “Put It In My Mouth” by Akinyele (Just imagine Allen Ginsberg dryly reading “I said your muthafuckin mouth…and you could just eat me out…what do ya choose to lick…you could eat me out…pussy or dick?” while slowly snapping his fingers.) The act was made complete with bongo drums and dramatic pauses.
The night’s first performance was followed by Jones portraying “Polly Darton” who replaced the lyrics to Jolene with references to Kashi’s “Go Lean” bars and its effects on the dietary system. Summer Camp did her part to shock the audience as well, pulling out a butchered hogs head and sitting on its face in delight. However, the scene was so funny that even the staunchest of vegetarians had to laugh.
The night was not without its glitches – in every performance of Crack at least one entry insists on simply performing an every-day drag routine, much to the boredom of many in the audience. However, that is one of the points of Crack, which would rather see a participant try than not try at all. Its one of the reasons that the show describes itself as a “low budget mess of stage and screen.” For the organizers of Crack, the focus doesn’t center on pulling off a polished and professional production (although the production quality of the organizers is as professional as it gets). Instead, the true art of Crack is in bringing talent to stage who would have never considered performing in public. Indeed, most of Crack’s acts are composed of former audience members who have decided to take the step and try performance for themselves.
Check out Crack’s website for videos of “Heels Up, Hoe Down!” to be posted in the near future. And, check out these additional photos by Bradley of the debauchery on Saturday night.
For more information, visit: www.CrackDC.com
