Patricia Graham (she,they) conceived and directed nbRs in collaboration with video artist Sally Linnett(she, her) who shot & edited the video along with creating the sound design.

Content advisory: Some mature content. 

Glenn Potter Takata – “All this and almost empty”
A contemporary butoh solo performance that integrates the Buddhist concept of emptiness within a commodity culture that packages racial difference. This is part of Potter-Takata’s ongoing research practice loosely based on his childhood experiences, when he would squeeze in as much Nintendo time as possible before having to go to Buddhist Sunday School every weekend.

Jim Julien – “The Swallow Artist”
A shadow puppet performance of an entertainer who devours objects to delight, amaze and horrify audiences. What will he swallow next? Will it be his last meal? 

Patrick Burke and Sarah Owens – “Buddy Buddie”
Codependency is such a social stigma nowadays. What if we cherished everything about it fully, and loved it as we love a partner? Surely nothing could go wrong, right? So long as you’re with me, it can’t be too bad, buckaroo. Buddy Buddie is a ball of laughs held together in warm embrace. A comedic variety show of silly acts that show off the depth of a relationship in a way that will make you want to call your childhood best friend and cackle at an old inside joke.

Sebastian Cummings –  “Art Hoe: A New Era”
Preview: Art Hoe is a tour de force of live performance, where an auteurist approach to music video style storytelling meets the bravado of a skilled, experienced performer with a tendency to entertain. Heaven explores the relationship between the conscious mind and the pure, unbiased power of the subconscious mind to bring about a New Era of Heaven on Earth. Upcoming Miniball full-length performance is on Sunday 3/31 at 4pm.

Samantha Rise (they/them) is a black, gender-expansive performer, teaching artist, activist and human-amplifier based in Lenapehoking, known widely as Philadelphia. Samantha’s passion for music and community building are the heart of their work, feeding spaces that are inquiry-driven, participant led, and abundant in joy!

Rise’s artistry and songwriting is a trans-genre practice, drawing on a wide root system of traditional Black American music– jazz, folk, country and avant-garde, and the music of social justice movements in America.. Reminding audiences that “Music is our Birthright,” Rise leverages their own creative practice to encourage listeners to engage with their own creative capacities and collaborate with the band in real time.

In addition to their work as a songwriter, arranger and performer, Rise aspires to facilitate creative direct action with community organizers and leaders shaping change from the socio-political margins. They are dedicated to social justice interventions that address the lethal lack of imagination we face, embracing the challenge and the opportunity of reimagining our world.

Visit the Cast Off Soirée during happy hour on Thursday, March 28 at Fringe Bar from 6–7pm. This is a great time to enjoy drinks and appetizers before Scratch Night at 7pm and Samantha Rise at 8:30pm. Join us again for an extra-special After-Hours Soirée Cabaret at 9:30pm until late!

• your fave clown Alex Tatarsky
• “after hours” remix of the Bad Pirate Rock Show
• new solo from Kathleen Taylor
• dance from Vyette Tiya of 3 PONY SHOW
• high-flying hair suspension circus act from Nicole Burgio

Content Advisory: Strobe Lights & Adult Themes

Cast Off Soirée Benefit Packages 

FULL MOON PACKAGE: $250 includes 2 tickets to Scratch Night and Samantha Rise + 2 drinks + 2 appetizers

HALF MOON PACKAGE: $150 includes 1 ticket to Scratch Night and Samantha Rise + 1 drink + 1 appetizer 

STARRY NIGHT PACKAGE: $75 includes 1 ticket to Scratch Night and Samantha Rise 

Everyone is welcome at the After-Hours Cast Off Cabaret!

WHY SUPPORT CANNONBALL NOW?
Purchasing a Cast Off Benefit Package is the best way to support Cannonball’s rapid growth and see an evening of back-to-back shows!

In 2023, Cannonball Festival represented 60% of the total offerings during the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. 2024 is a milestone year as we formally transition into a non-profit arts presenter with a revised organizational structure, updated programming, strengthened Special Presentation Tracks, the addition of Christ Church Neighborhood House, and increased audience reach. We invite you to support Cannonball’s development of artists and audiences in Philadelphia and beyond as we establish a revolutionary model of arts presentation. 

Shop the store yourself or donate your own dream in this intimate experience about our relationship to the uncontrollable stories that come through us every night. For the antique addicts, mystically moved, even the dubious doubtful, Dora’s Gently Used Dream Store offers a sense of awe and enigma for the unconscious phenomenon shared by us all.

Morgan McKenzie Kauffman is a theatre-maker, performer and movement practitioner working in the Philadelphia area. She aims to give her own and others’ “bodies of work” BODY, working across the disciplines of performance and somatics. Recently, she toured Romeo and Juliet with The Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival and premiered her original devised solo show Dora’s Gently Used Dreams Store at the 2023 Philly Fringe to a sold out run. A graduate of The Feldenkrais Institute of New York and Frantic Assembly’s International Summer Theatre Program, Morgan has enjoyed teaching movement and devising for performers and community members at Almanac Dance Circus Theatre, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, and Farm Arts Collective. She’s so excited to be bringing Dora back for Miniball!

Offering change and motion as a constant dynamic to visualize the unfamiliarity, instability, disruption that is experienced when in exile, and the act of searching, being on the move is associated with the exilic identity within a space claimed, built, celebrated, deconstructed, lost. Our narratives can offer different journeys from different points of initiation, but when do we feel we are in exile? What keeps us moving towards a home when every construction of a space shapeshifts?  

When every moment can transform into a disruptive event, when the ground is rattling, when will you decide to move on? How can this awareness of constant motion offer a field of agency for the one on the move who is displaced, exiled, reoriented, and give them back the option of decision in the most uncertain times?

When the ground is rattling, how can you not move?

How can the self in exile offer a negotiation around connection, conversation, when everything can break apart, be rebuilt, destroyed, ruined? 

What does immerse when we collectively stay in motion, or when we acknowledge that everything is in motion; can this metaphysical view offer a political strategy for sovereignty?

Content advisory: Haze, strobe light, nudity.

su guzey and jack sterling are an artist duo based in Philadelphia.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, she is working from home. Since Kadeem is an essential worker, he has been working longer hours. Then, in the aftermath of the assassination of George Floyd, he has been working almost around the clock. Recently, they have been arguing a lot. Malia is attending more Zoom meetings. Sometimes her meetings run for hours past dinner.  They both work some holidays. They are often tired and inattentive at home.  Kadeem believes that he is a great husband, the Best Dad, and the hardest working man on the planet. He is a True Alpha Male. Malia believes that she is a wonderful, loving wife and mother. They BOTH feel that they are Doing what’s RIGHT! Their attitudes are impacting their relationship, their self-esteem, and their children. Kadeem’s mother tries to help out, but the stress is overwhelming for everyone. The home is becoming a pressure cooker. Can this family resolve their problems/ save their relationships?

Content advisory: Possible strobe light and haze.

About the Artist
Since retiring from the Phila School District after teaching for 36 years, I have embraced every opportunity to create stage plays and perform. This past year, I wrote and directed the stage play, “Who’s Listening,” for the Cannonball Philly Fringe Festival, 2023. I did three shows that included an audience interactive section. I am also a freelance writer of dramatic fiction. I write poetry and perform spoken word. I am a published author of a dramatic novel, “A Small CandleLight.” My pen name is Betty Jean Nobles. Recently, I completed a nonfiction memoir with several members of my family. As a playwright, I have written, produced, and directed several stage-plays over the years. I am an actor, and I have performed in some principal and background roles in some local stage plays. I performed in a background role in a feature film, “The North Star.” Some of the stars in the film are Clifton Powell, Jeremiah Trotter, and Lynn Whitfield. I performed in a background role in a limited TV sports series. I have performed as a lead and background vocalist in R&B, Gospel and Jazz groups. I created three educational films. When I can, I facilitate workshops that promote literacy and healing discussions around decreasing community violence at community forums, schools, juvenile facilities and prisons. I present workshops focused on the need to close the achievement gaps for males in the African American and Latino communities.

Veronica MJ aka DJ Vspice has been active in the Latin music scene for over a decade, performing as a violinist with various Latin musicians and salsa orquestas in Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Her Ecuadorian roots have also instilled in her a passion for dance, and she began her salsa dancing journey in Philadelphia taking classes primarily with Laurel Card Latin Dance, as well as Controla Dance Academy and George Dennis, while also attending rumbas and socials throughout the city. Her love of the music and passion for dance + the dance community quickly lead to her career as a DJ. She spins a vast range of Latin music all over Philadelphia and beyond, with her heart belonging to all types of Música Cubana. She is thrilled to be able to bring the DJ Vspice experience to the Miniball Festival at FringeArts!

Table seats require a $25 food/bev minimum.
Table seating options include: 
2-Top|
4-Top
Or a seat at a Community Table. 

Bar Stool Seating and Standing Room Only does not require a food/bev minimum. They are first-come-first serve. 

Content advisory: Partial nudity. Content is recommended for ages 21+.

Wet Betty is a campy cabaret clown who lives on a cotton candy cloud. Her work lives at the intersection of drag, burlesque, and clown. She is best known as the current titleholder of Snatcherella 3000 All Stars. As a resident artist at Franky Bradley’s, you can see her host “Wet Betty’s Wet Dream” a monthly cabaret showcasing Philadelphia’s up and coming drag and burlesque artists. You can also see Wet Betty regularly as a resident cast member of Fabrika Drag Brunch. She has worked with The Bearded Ladies, The Berserker Residents, Pig Iron Theater Company, Nichole Canuso Dance Company and has been a working artist in Philadelphia for the last 12 years.

Adam Kerbel cofounded Almanac Dance Circus Theatre in Philadelphia who have received a Rocky Award, Barrymore Award, and engagements with the famed Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. He served as an educator and puppeteer at the acclaimed Noah’s Ark at the Skirball in Los Angeles and is a mentoring producer at explosively attended Cannonball Festival. Adam’s work has received support from CalCreative, Terra Nova, Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles Dept. of Cultural Affairs, New York Live Arts, Directors Lab West, Festival Internacional de Danza Contemporánea, and Breaking Walls Festival in Cairo, Egypt.

Content advisory: Loud drums.

Casual Fifth is a dance and taiko ensemble based in Philadelphia, aiming to create new and innovative work while being rooted in the fundamentals and history of Japanese ensemble drumming and modern dance.

Sarah Sanford (she/her) is a director, performer, and teacher.  An early member of Pig Iron Theatre, Sarah co-created and performed in “Shut Eye,” “Hell Meets Henry Halfway,” and “Twelfth Night” among others. Regional acting credits include the Arden, Wilma, Theatre Exile, Lantern Theatre, Montgomery Theatre, Mauckingbird, and BRAT Productions. International credits include Jo Stromgren Kompani, Volcano, and The Riot Group. Sanford also directed the Philadelphia premiere of Lightning Rod Special’s “Underground Railroad Game” (Obie Award for Best New American Theatre Work), and InFlux Theatre’s “The Choice.”  She is an Assistant Professor in the UArts/Pig Iron Devised Performance program, a graduate of École Jacques Lecoq, a certified yoga teacher, winner of the 2010 Haas award for Best Emerging Theatre Artist, and proud mother of an 8-year-old natural clown.  

LINNEA BOND is a performance artist, activist, and teacher exploring apocalypse on a personal, interpersonal, and global scale. With her undergraduate degree in Sociology and an MFA in Acting and New Works Creation, she creates along a spectrum of traditional and non-traditional live performance, and direct/street and artistic activism related to the climate crisis.

JOHN JARBOE/JARBEAUX is a director, performer, curator, and writer. As the founder of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret company and its Artistic Director, Jarboe has produced original works for Opera Philadelphia, Eastern State Penitentiary, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Theatre. Last year, she created Beards on Ice, a camp comedy about climate change, made in Partnership with the Delaware River Waterfront and the Independence Blue Cross River Rink.

BETTY SMITHSONIAN is a comic, creator, performer, entertainer and award winning goof. Named Best of Philly Up and Coming Comedian 2019, she can be found telling jokes, parading in the streets, confidently speaking on topics she barely understands, and creating stages and spaces for lots of people all over the land. She was once named in the New York Times as a ‘freelance clown.’ She’s on stage regularly at Punchline and throughout the Philadelphia area. She is the co-founder of Free Fringe Philly and a cast member of The N Crowd, which creates award winning short form improv comedy.

SAM RISE is a non-binary songcatcher and performer based in Philadelphia. As a self described ‘pollinator’ performer, their songs collect and evoke their myriad influences, across labels of genres and medium. An award-winning songcatcher, Samantha’s passion for music and community building are the heart of their work; a student of jazz, improvisation, social justice movements and the music that drives them, Samantha encourages a unique vulnerability with their audiences, reminding us all that music is our birthright, and a technology of healing, transformative justice and self-determination. Rise’s debut release, Brighter Days, landed in four installments over the solstice and equinox in 2019. Their music is available on Apple Music, Spotify, BandCamp and Soundcloud.

COOKIE DIORIO is a Philadelphia-based drag performer, a classically trained vocalist, a songwriter, an activist, a husband, music teacher and lover of all things sparkly. She mastered walking in 5 inch stilettos in the night clubs of Boston, achieved her hair fantasy by studying vintage videos of Grace Bumbry and founded the giving project Art of the Heel. Cookie grew up in historic Auburn, NY with gospel in her ears, civil rights in her blood and many songs in her heart. She began performing regularly in the Philadelphia area as host of the Art Song Repertory Theater Company’s salon series “Saturday Afternoon Drinking Songs” in 2013. Since, she has produced the shows Fire In My Bones: A Gospel Jubilee, Beauty From Our Sorrows, Telling Herstories, Forces of Nature, Music: The Food of Love and I, Too, Sing America. She has also been soloist for events, galas, concerts and on the cabaret stage.

JESS CONDA is a Philadelphia based performer, producer, teaching artist and cultural connector. From 2003-2013, Jess performed with BRAT Productions, a former non profit theater company known for their influence on Philadelphia’s early “Fringe” performance scene. From 2013-2017, she worked as Artistic Director, serving a mission to produce original rock-theater performance while providing creative opportunities for emerging Philadelphia artists. She has performed at Arden Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, Pig Iron Theatre, Shakespeare in Clark Park. Cabaret Performance credits: Get Pegged!, Bearded Ladies, Martha Graham Cracker, Red 40 & the Last Groovement. Touring backing vocals: Peter Matthew Bauer; opener for The War on Drugs and Delta Spirit. Jess is a three-time Barrymore nominee for Outstanding Ensemble in a Play. In 2019, she received a Barrymore Nomination for Outstanding New Play for A Hard Time, co-written by Conda, Mel Krodman and OBIE Award winner Jenn Kidwell for Pig Iron Theatre Company. Jess was one of Philadelphia Magazine’s Best Stage Talents to See This Season, 2013. Jess is currently Learning and Unlearning while working as both an artist and a K-8 Arts Educator. She lives on the unceded Lenni Lenape land currently known as Philadelphia.

HEATH ALLEN (Music Director) is a composer, jazz pianist, lyricist and theater creator based in Philadelphia. He has recorded seven records/CD’s of his original jazz and has served a music director and/or composer for many theater and dance productions. Highlights include three full-length scores for choreographer Karen Bamonte and multiple scores for the bunraku puppet troupe Figures of Speech Theater. As music director of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, he composed and arranged the drag opera Mommie Queerest, the Civil War cabaret Wide Awake, a German Expressionist cabaret/opera Marlene and the Machine, and the comedic James Bond opera/cabaret Beards are for Shaving. In 2014/15, Heath served as music director and lead composer for Andy: A Popera, commissioned and produced by Opera Philadelphia. Other shows include Bitter Homes and Gardens; Contradict This, an exploration of the complicated legacy of Walt Whitman; and You Can Never Go Down the Drain, a cabaret of Mr. Rogers’ music. With Heath as MD/composer/pianist, the Bearded Ladies have been performed everywhere from NYC’s Lincoln Center and La Mama Theater to Boston’s ART; Miami, Seattle and Wellington, New Zealand.

Dylan Gilbert is an American songwriter, producer, and sound artist from Charlotte, NC, currently based in Philadelphia, PA. In the early 2000s, Gilbert began his career by self-releasing a string of solo albums and touring extensively before founding genre-bending punk band Hectorina in 2012. In addition to his own work, Gilbert has been a prolific collaborator. He has written original scores for film, theater, podcasts, video games, and live dance. Since 2020, Gilbert has released two solo albums, blending elements of Ambient Pop, Psychedelic Folk, Electronica, and Drone music into his own eclectic sound.

The teacher leads this 60ish minute class in a series of movement cues, accompanied by a curated playlist of multi-genre pop music. The format is open but guided throughout. No previous training is required, but open-mindedness is a prerequisite.

Natalie Gotter is a dancer, maker, performer, nomad, choreographer, collaborator, filmmaker, laugher, friend, and cat mom. After dancing and presenting freelance projects across the country in Minneapolis, Chicago, and New Orleans, she received her MFA in Dance at the University of Utah, and has found herself settled in the gritty, creative community of Philly! When not at Dance Church, she can be found on dance faculty at Muhlenberg College or in any number of ongoing collaborative projects.

Then we move into guided clown explorations, light-hearted play, and laughter yoga. Deep relaxation and meditation will round out each session, leaving you feeling refreshed, uplifted, and more connected to your inner child. This practice is open to everyone – from beginner yogis looking to try something new, to advanced practitioners wanting to rediscover joy and levity in their practice. And if you’re a clown/physical theater artist, you’ll have a chance to move your body in refreshing ways.

The Fool’s Yoga is created and taught by clown, writer and educator Danielle Levsky (she/they), who recently moved to Philly. As the child of Soviet Jewish refugees, issues of diaspora, tradition, resilience, and humor have deeply shaped their work and art. Danielle received her clown teaching certification through The Clown School in Los Angeles and received her 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification through a Vinayasa Flow program conducted through the Lab Yoga Studio in Chicago. They have taught clown and movement workshops in San Diego, Chicago, and Philly.

She sends a monthly motivational newsletter to an ever growing list of recipients across the globe signed from God. Bridging the gap between authenticity and self acceptance, Sebastian becomes Heaven On Earth — a sultry and unapologetic presence come to life.

Content advisory: For mature audience. Strobe light, haze, nudity.

Heaven on Earth (S. Cummings) is an undeniable creative force. After studying Theatre in University and working as an actor in Philadelphia, the performer began producing original work under the mononym “Sebastian,” with much success, being listed in Billy Penn’s “Who’s Next: Arts” list, a write up in Huffington Post, and being featured in every. single. Philadelphia. paper. Heaven then moved to Mexico City for two years, expanded by the culture and international art scene. Then, off to Berlin, experiencing the nightlife firsthand, adding more to the creative palette. And finally, to San Francisco, where their talents got them the first ever Artist Residency at Oasis Arts, the new nonprofit of the famous night club Oasis, in downtown San Francisco. It was there, Art Hoe was conceived. Audiences were left in awe at such unadulterated talent. And now, to Philadelphia.

Kat Siciliano is a composer/lyricist and singer-songwriter based in South Philadelphia. An avid reader, her love of stories and folktales greatly influences her writing. She has had the incredible opportunity to write music for popular Philadelphia-area entertainment attractions, as well as numerous jazz and musical theater artists. Her original song “Falling” can be heard on the Write Out Loud Vol. 3 EP. Her latest solo single, “From the Trees, ” tells the tale of an invented mythological love story through the eyes of a sentient forest. Eve is Kat’s first musical, and she is very grateful and excited to be able to reprise it at Miniball!

This work premiered as part of Cannonball’s Miniball festival in April 2023, came back to Cannonball in the fall as a BIPOC New Work Track recipient, and now returns a year after its inception to reflect on rest, rejuvenation, and reflection. Gardeners playfully (re)imagines what remains of Eden after its more popular residents (Adam & Eve) have moved on and stands as a reminder that paradise cannot be destroyed – only lost. During this iteration, Lying Fallow, the titular characters explore their own stories as gardens to be tended to, revered, and intentionally not “harvested” for consumption. Through an intentional physical embodiment of these stories detached from the burden of self-(over)explanation, Lying Fallow liberates us from the myth that others must know our pasts in order to hold us in the present. The Other Gardeners is a Black queering of our origin stories, both a prequel and a sequel, and in this iteration acts as live co-authoring of the auto-biographies we’re crafting together.

Content advisory: For mature audience. Contains nudity and mentions of anti-Blackness and transphobia.

Very Good Dance Theatre is a queer led, BIPOC centered, collaborative collective of artists that play with the ideas of what is dance, what is theatre, and what is “good”. We work collaboratively, devising movement and text with each other, to create work somewhere in-between the scope of dance, theatre, and performance art to explore, experiment with, and expand what performance can be and do, while questioning what gives it value and why. Very Good Dance Theatre was founded by Colby Calhoun in the summer of 2018, appearing on stage for the very first time at FIT Underground with Elephant Antonyms. Afterwards, we returned to the Festival of Independent Theatres (FIT) as a part of the 2020 festival on the mainstage with The 1st Annual Gay Show which featured 5 queer performers of color and devised their personal stories into a beauty pageant of sorts which revealed the failures, the dangers, the pain, the beauty, the triumphs, and the diverse truths of living as a queer person of color in America. F.A.G.S. went on to be featured as “Best Physical Theatre of 2019” by Frank Garrett at TheaterJones, showing the power of pushing boundaries and affirming our passion for the work we had just begun to make. Our work has always featured voices from the margins of our society while telling stories that are meant to uplift these communities, ask questions about why our world is the way it is, and start conversations about what we can do and must do for one another.

Since 2018 Very Good Dance Theatre has been asked to return to a virtual version of FIT in 2019, selected to participate in AT&T PAC’s 2020/21 Elevator Project Season, was chosen amongst the first cohort of Artists In Residence at Arts Mission Oak Cliff in 2021, was selected as a Cannonball 2023 BIPOC New Work Track recipient, and was recently awarded a residency at The Painted Bride. Very Good Dance Theatre continues to make work as an independent theatre group through festivals, residencies, and other opportunities like this.