Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaq Seifert.
Jaq, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I began studying theatre in undergrad at Virginia Tech, and upon graduation I lived in New York City for five years. There I studied stage combat with the intent on becoming a fight director. A lover of comedy, I also spend time in Italy and Singapore studying and teaching Commedia dell’Arte. In 2012 I became a Certified Teacher with the Society of American Fight Directors, and moved to Chicago after grad school in 2013. I hit the ground running, stage managing, fight choreographing, acting, directing, and teaching. Fascinated by movement, in 2015 I graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a graduate degree in Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals. Now, I’ve worked all over Chicago with both Equity and non-Equity theatre companies. I adjuncted at Roosevelt University teaching physical comedy, teach at Vagabond School of the Arts, and currently adjunct at Aurora University in the theatre department. Recently I spend six months in Miami as a visiting assistant professor in movement and stage combat. Currently I’m working on a solo performance called Queero: Monomyth, which received a grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Queero is an investigation of the connections between fighting and queerness using the Hero’s Journey as a scaffold for storytelling, incorporating theatrical violence, projection mapping, text, and movement to physicalize, reenact, and travel through the oppression of queer folk, combatting systems of oppression and leading to acceptance and triumph.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Most of my obstacles have surfaced from within myself…doubt, fear, insecurities. Chicago is filled with so many amazing artists, that I find myself questioning whether what I have to say is meaningful or important. Financially I’ve faced hardships as well, bouncing back and forth from jobs in an attempt to keep my artistic field my focus, stressing until the end of the month hoping I make rent. By far my biggest challenge, however, was overcoming a mistake I’ve made that I feared was the end of my career in Chicago. There was an instance with a theatre company a few years back, before I understood my white privilege, where I unintentionally hurt some people of color with my words. This mistake caused me to lose my position with the company, and I agree with those consequences. What I said was wrong, and since then, I’ve worked to educate myself surrounding issues of racial diversity and intersectionality, and incorporate that personal education in the spaces I inhabit. I’m not perfect, but I recognize now more than ever the space I take up with both my whiteness and my masculinity, and try to step back for people of color and femmes to step forward.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about (sub)version productions – what should we know?
In 2015 I produced my first show under a fledgling production company called Acorn Button Productions. The show was a Commedia dell’Arte piece featuring myself and my longtime mentor and colleague Antonio Fava called “The Capitano Must Die.” Prior to this show, I produced a new work about sexual assault and its corresponding fundraiser. My most successful production, however, is my flagship burlesque parody, “The Buttcracker: A Nutcracker Burlesque.” It premiered in 2016 at to a sold out crowd at Uptown Underground under a new production company name, Tom Boi Theatricals. Last year we sold out again two of our four show run, and this year we’ll return for five shows. With a cast of 14 and a diverse company of queer artists, I’m proud to stay it’s become a holiday staple in the Chicago nightlife scene. In conjunction of Voice of the City, I also produce SWITCH: Chicago Queer Partner Dance night, whose focus is to create a safe space for all members of the LGBTQIA community to partner dance free from the traditional binary. In 2017 I came fully into my authentic self as trans/non-binary and realized that the work I gravitate towards also has a distinctly queer vibe. I recognized that both Acorn Button Productions and Tom Boi Theatricals don’t encompass fully the queer, multidisciplinary nature of the work I create, so I changed the name for a third (and last) time to (sub)version productions. (sub)version productions accurately reflects the art and activism I’m interested in pursuing. Its mission is to resist the normalization of performance, to reimagine the way the public views queer performance art, and redefine what cannot be defined. My hope as an artist is to make (sub)version productions a Chicago staple which can be a platform for artists to showcase their work in a diverse, intersectional, and supportive environment.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a multipotentialite, interested in many different paths and vocations. This passion for variety has really led the work I do as an artist, and is currently inspiring me to explore movement and conflict and how they connect to the larger practice of Social Movement. My dad worries that I don’t have a focus, that there’s no consistency or groundedness in my life because I’m always flying from one project to the next. But for me, this chaos is what fuels me, allowing me to investigate a multitude of stories and assist in their telling.
Pricing:
- Tickets to The Buttcracker will be available in October and start at $22 and go to $45 for VIP. Info can be found at www.thebuttcrackerburlesque.
com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.subversionproductions.com
- Email: jaqseifert@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebuttcrackerburlesque/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/subversionproductions/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-buttcracker-a-nutcracker-burlesque-chicago
- Other: http://www.thebuttcrackerburlesque.com
Image Credit:
Gretchen Kelley, Celia Calder, Eve Studnicka
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