Cypherbird Projects Presents

CABARET OF THE UNEXPECTED

Mercury Cafe - June 6 & 8

Concept & Curation

Lisa Wagner Erickson 

Emcee 

Brice Maiurro

Featured Colorado Creatives

Israel Avila   Cristina A. Bejan 

James Brunt   Lisa Wagner Erickson  Corrina Espinosa

Cara Leoni   Brice Maiurro   Weird Al Spankabitch

About the show…

Catch an evening of wonder and surprise at the Denver Fringe Festival in a genre-bending fusion of comedy, storytelling, and interactive art, taking audiences on a journey through The Unexpected.

Experience a captivating mashup of disparate arts on a common theme, a Poetry Slam/ Moth Story Hour/ Absurd Comedy kind of show, melding original performances and art by nine Colorado creatives in one intriguing evening.

Performer & audience photos by Kalen Jesse Photography - https://www.kalenjesse.com/

digital program

ARTS Of the unexpected

*Immersive Art by Corrina Espinosa

Experience Corrina Espinosa’s intriguing interactive art before and after the performance.

Poetry & Storytelling - Brice Maiurro

Brice Maiurro is an obnoxiously wholesome, bleeding heart, tree-hugging hippie of a poet. In 2020, his partner and him going outside to howl each night turned into a nationwide movement, with people howling in all 50 states and over 100 countries. He is the author of four books of poetry and the host of Snap Crackle Poetry, a monthly morning open mic at Mutiny Info Cafe.

Stand-Up Comedy - Israel Avila

Comedy about the Mexican experience in the United States.

The Chicken Man - Sean Michael Cummings

Sean’s grandfather was fixated on the first season of Big Brother… but not for the reason you’d think. “The Chicken Man” is a true story about a dark family secret, a sweeping cover-up, Sicilian honor… and one of the most iconic reality shows in American history.  

Kappa Bear by Lisa Wagner Erickson,

Performed by Sean Michael Cummings

 A stuffed fraternity mascot has an odd attachment to the fraternity president.

Extinct Chest Piece - James Brunt

  Storytelling, poetry, and movement exploring the way the heart works for the people who have learned to stop caring.

Spoken-Word Poetry - Cristina A. Bejan

Cristina's poems explore themes of identity, belonging, trauma, and resistance. You can find them published in her poetry book 'Green Horses on the Walls' and her forthcoming collection 'And the caravan rolls on ...'

*Stand-Up Comedy - Cara Leoni

Humorous insights by a self-described rascal, up-and-coming comedian, and OG queer. 

*Drag & Performance Art - Weird Al Spankabitch

Campy cutie, queer icon and oddly unsettling Weird Al Spankabitch is here to make all your weirdest dreams come true.

*Corrina Espinosa’s art will be featured on Thursday only. Cara Leoni will perform on Thursday, and Weird Al Spankabitch will perform on Saturday. All other creatives will be featured both nights.

Meet The Creative Artists

ARTIST Bios

Israel Avila

Israel Avila is a bilingual/queer comic. Opened for one of the latin kings of comedy, part of the first bilingual comedy festival in Colorado, hosts a show at Highbrau Taphouse in Greeley. His comedy is about the Mexican experience in the US.

Cristina A. Bejan

Cristina A. Bejan- Ph.D, is an award-winning Romanian- American historian, theatre artist, and poet. A Rhodes and Fulbright scholar, she currently teaches history and theatre at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Bejan received her Masters and DPhil (PhD) in Modern History from the University of Oxford and her BA in Philosophy (Honors) from Northwestern, where she also studied in the renowned Theatre program. A playwright, she has written 19 plays and her dramatic work has been produced in the US, UK, Romania, and Vanuatu. She has published a poetry book (Green Horses on the Walls, now available in Romanian with Editura Tracus Arte), a history book (Intellectuals and Fascism in Interwar Romania, published in Romanian by Editura Litera), the play J'y suis j'y reste [Here I am, here I stay] (in the anthology Voices on the Move, eds. Domnica Radulescu and Roxana Cazan), 64 articles (and coauthored the African continent introduction) for The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945: Vol. 3 and countless essays, poems, and poetry translations. Most recently her play BUCHENWALD appeared with Next Stage Press. A spoken word poet, Bejan performs under her stage-name Lady Godiva. She writes creatively in five languages and has been published internationally in every genre she writes in. Bejan is the only Rhodes Scholar who is a Romanian citizen: she is a proud dual citizen of the USA and Romania (EU). Inspired by the fearless spirit of artists in Bucharest, Bejan co-founded the arts platform Bucharest Inside the Beltway in 2014 and has served as BiB's Executive Director ever since. Please visit cristinaabejan.com for more info!

James Brunt

James Brunt is an actor/director born and raised in Denver, Colorado most known for pushing the boundaries of what we know about theater with immersive productions in obscure settings and hard hitting concepts that make his audience truly reflect on their views of the world. Playing roles from a cleaver wielding beet butcher, to a zany detective on the hunt for answers, he loves to create anything that will make his heartbeat faster and blood boil up. He received the 2019 True West award for breakout actors for his challenging portrayal of taxi driver, Bobby, in Mosque with The Black Actors Guild. Other works recognized were his productions with The Band of Toughs and Control Group Productions. When Brunt isn't taking the stage, he still finds ways to enlighten his audiences by performing original slam poetry or creating magical moments as the beloved Santa Claus. He is also an educator of the arts, teaching as a professor in Devising Theater at MSU Denver.

Sean Michael Cummings

Sean Michael Cummings  is a writer and performer from Denver, Colorado. His plays and one man shows have been seen across the U.S., with productions at the Northwest Playwrights Alliance (WA), The Orchard Project Cabaret (NY), Phamaly Theatre Company, and the Denver Center for Performing Arts ("Best Exploratory Theatre," Westword Magazine, 2019).

Lisa Wagner Erickson

Lisa Wagner Erickson (she/ her) is a playwright, theatre artist, and occasional performer & singer whose varied experience includes singing at Red Rocks, performing sketch comedy at Boulder Theater, and plays that have been developed and produced across the United States. A True West Award winner, she has also been a finalist for the Gary Garrison Award for 10-Minute Plays, a regional finalist for the KCACTF 10-Minute Play Award, a PlayPenn semi-finalist, and a Landing Theatre’s New American Voices semi-finalist. Her plays have been developed and presented by Primary Stages, Stickball Productions, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, No Strings Theatre Company, And Toto too, Edge Theatre, Theater 29, and BETC, among others. Her work has been published in Literature Today and Mini Plays Review. She is the founder of Cypherbird Projects and the former owner and Creative Director of Theater 29.

Corrina Espinosa

Corrina Espinosa is a Denver based new media artist & curator interested in all things art & tech. She teaches digital art at CU, Boulder & has exhibited her art locally at the Denver Art Museum, Meow Wolf & BMOCA as well as internationally at venues in Barcelona & Bosnia. Along with a list of friends and collaborators she spent the last decade throwing Denver art shows with a zeal for community and inclusivity. She is a co-founder of Denver Digital Land Grab with her creative partner David Hanan. Together, they are on a mission to help create space, opportunity & equity for all Colorado artists.

Cara Leoni

Cara Leoni (she/her) is an up-and-coming comedian and an OG queer. A self described rascal, you can find her performing at local bars, comedy clubs and teacher lounges. When Cara is not turning up the laughter you can find her knee deep in a project she’ll never finish or getting roasted by her students.

Brice Maiurro

Brice Maiurro (he/they) is a poet, storyteller, artist, and community organizer from Lakewood, Colorado. He is a cofounder of the nationwide howling movement, where in early 2020, thousands of people in all fifty states and over one-hundred countries went outside every night at 8pm to howl. For this, he was featured by the BBC and NPR. He is the author of four collections of poetry: The Heart is an Undertaker Bee, Clown Singing Opera, Stupid Flowers and Hero Victim Villain. He has released two EPs: Cheesman Park Session with musician Logan Chan (2023) and Everything is on Fire with musician Chadzilla Johnson (2019). He has told stories with Liminal, The Narrators, Ignite Denver and Unsent. He is the Editor-in-Chief of South Broadway Press, and worked formerly as the Founding Editor of Punch Drunk Press and the Poetry Editor for Suspect Press. His poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.

Weird Alnite

Weird Al Spankabitch (he/they) is a director, producer, and the resident drag king at Junkyard Social Club. He was voted one of Colorado’s Freshest Faces in Drag 2022.