When you see flashing lights in the rear view mirror, do you pull over or punch it? That was the decision that faced the Hiss on the night of December 21, 2019. Awakened from a restless sleep, I was called to the Fremont Psychiatric Hospital with a request for extraction. Winding my way up the long dark road, I came to the gate and then to the parking lot, and then to the door like quick cuts in a YouTube Short. I showed my ID at the front desk. I was asked to, “Please have a seat.” in the waiting room. I waited impatiently. The walls and ceiling were puss white and the cold linoleum floors were scuffed by struggling shoes who ultimately lost the fight. Medical staff moved between the hall and a large double door framed with warning lights. Passing through the security door, they left bursts of noise in their wake that sounded like a carnival. My new show is called a Carnival of Psychos. It was inspired by a trip to the psych ward.
Carnival of Psychos is a circus opera, play, theatre music brain melt. The synopsis? Patient 51 escapes an insane asylum, falls headfirst into a traveling carnival and flees across the desert from the authorities—a wake of vultures. Carnival of Psychos isn’t a place, but a theatrical escape hatch into terror and lunacy.
In 2022, we performed One-Handed Witch to two sold out crowds in Oakland, CA and then shook the knickers off the country from here to Salem, MA. Now we are back, three years later, with madness, with Carnival of Psychos.
Driving away from the Fremont Psych Ward felt like a getaway. Feelings of jealousy, anger and contempt fogged up the windows as we careened down the highway. I could barely make out the road ahead and the radio kept cutting out. Then flashing lights appeared in the rearview mirror. And I punched it.
Carnival of Psychos runs September 25-26 at the California Ballroom in Oakland CA. Early Bird tickets go on sale today for a limited time and for a limited amount. Someone commit the Hiss.
Sssssee you at the show.
-Samson
