Hot Corn! The Longest Cabaret of the Year

Back in September 2010, when the performance-art innovators at Bedlam Theatre lost the lease on their revered West Bank location, a good deal of consternation arose over the group's uncertain future. After all, since moving into the Cedar-Riverside space four years earlier, the community-minded group had become so closely associated with the neighborhood that their forced exit couldn't help but suggest a social deportation. Over a year later, however, Bedlam continues to exist, nomadic perhaps, but still bringing their reliably intrepid spirit of artistic experimentation and stylistic eclecticism to host venues throughout the Twin Cities. Compelling evidence of Bedlam's enduring vitality will be on display at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Hot Corn: The Longest Cabaret of the Year. Picking up where The Turducken (a demented send-up of holiday cabarets fused with Chekhov's The Seagull) left off, Hot Corn will be served as a winking sequel of sorts, resurrecting characters from the earlier work to incite a fresh round of Yuletide mayhem. Narrative aside, the play is essentially an excuse to celebrate their undeterred mission of imaginative audacity with a wildly diverse group of actors, musicians, visual artists, and other talents that defy characterization. Such capricious creativity should leave no doubt that Bedlam Theatre still hasn't lost their playfully provocative edge. December 28 performance is abridged. (Photo by Brad Dahlgaard)
Wed., Dec. 21, 6 p.m.; Wed., Dec. 28, 9 p.m., 2011