Tickets for Daddy Bear & Man P*ssy are on sale now, taking place at Performance Works from Sept 10 – 20. Book your spot today for just $16 per person!
Hi, I’m Steve, I play Daddy Bear. I work for a non-profit, and growing up, I did a lot of plays and stage work, but I haven’t done it in a while, so this is a comeback for me.
Hi, I’m Jeff, and I play Man P*ssy. I’m a professional gardener. Compared to Steve, I don’t have any theatre experience, but I’ve definitely played around with stand-up. I’m very excited for my theatre debut.
What is the plot of your show?
Steve: The show is about our lives before we meet, meeting, and building a relationship amidst the many labels life and people give. And how at the end, we are just humans like everybody else and living a normal life.
What inspired you to create this show?
Steve: We’ve attended a few of the past Fringe Festivals and last year we were coming back from the last night walking under the Granville Bridge. We were just chatting, and I’ve always wanted to do a show and Jeff was surprisingly also really interested doing one as well.
Jeff: It sounded fun and exciting, and our lives are so ridiculous, and we definitely had lots of fun stories to tell.
Steve: Also, knowing how many questions people have about our lives we thought this was a fun opportunity to show them, at the end of the day, we’re just like everybody else: humans trying to make a connection, and the barriers that come with it and curiosities. Regardless of labels, we are people.
What are you hoping audiences will experience or take away from your show?
Steve: I hope they experience an authentic glimpse of our queer world and look beyond labels and expectations. There is a lot of hope about life and the world, and that we should continue to move through life through tragedy and trauma without feeling limited.
This is also an opportunity to answer people’s questions and hopefully the audience will learn to live beyond labels while laughing a lot.
How did the Fringe Mentorship Program help you create your show and shape your Fringe experience?
Jeff: The experience was so helpful and integral. It’s hard to describe how valuable it really was. Devon More was amazing and literally went far and beyond for us.
We don’t know how you guys do the pairing, but Fringe did fantastic as learning from Devon and their experience, the ability to bounce ideas off them, and even getting from rough draft to this amazing production. Devon was such an instrumental part of the process, really easing our nerves, especially with joining the Fringe community and universe.
Why should people come see your show?
Steve: People should come to see our show and witness an authentic story that will make them think, feel, cry, laugh, and see the hope. Even though Jeff and I come from different backgrounds and experiences, when we met each other, regardless and because of our differences, we were able to form an amazing human connection.
So, I’m hoping people will come to see human connection and learn that meeting people with different experiences is wonderful and that we are all ultimately the same.
Theatre edition: what is a hill you’re willing to die on?
Steve: Any performance is worth seeing. If it’s bad, there’s so much you can learn and experience from shows. There’s no such thing as bad theatre.
Jeff: I think the 1996 Romeo + Juliet by Baz Luhrmann is one of the best contemporary Shakespeare adaptations. It’s so beautiful and Baz does a great job modernizing it. I also love a modernized period piece.
