By: Osiris Indriya

Every Wednesday starting April 4th, Sinner Saint Productions and Seattle Foundry present a contemporary take on the classic vaudeville, cabaret and follies shows that have wowed audiences for decades in the Showroom at Capitol Hill Arts Center. Follies di Notte will be a distinclty European, smart and sexy theatrical revue as well as a cozy place for cocktails and clandestine rendezvous.

Live Wire sat down with Sinner Saint producer, performer, playboy and host of SCAN TV’s SexLife Live Dane Ballard for a revealing interview about CHAC’s hottest new late night offering.

Live Wire: Follies di Notte is a great concept and title. Tell me how it came about.

Dane Ballard (D.B.): It seems like there’s never enough to do in this town on weeknights. Seattle has its fair share of 9 to 5-ers who go out early and are in bed by 11pm, but there is a huge portion of us who don’t go out to play until way after the sun has gone down. We put together Follies di Notte--which is Italian for “Night Follies”--for them.

Live Wire: What kind of entertainment can we expect from week to week?

D.B.: Our show will feature a wide range of performance: song, dance, aerial acts, acrobatics and comedy are liberally mixed into both solo and group numbers. Every six weeks we’ll present an all-new show. With a rotating cast and improvisational segments, each night promises to be a little different than the last.

Live Wire: What kind of people usually come out to your cabaret shows?

D.B.: Our audiences always include an amazing cross-section of people. I mean, of course everyone likes scantily-clad women and everyone likes to be teased, but I’m often surprised at how quickly a woman removing a corset on stage can cause the rowdiest of crowds to immediately focus their attention. It’s also really great to see different generations of people at shows talking about a common interest; burlesque and cabaret were big back in the ‘30s, 40s and ‘50’s, and most of our parents and grandparents can share a story or two about seeing an old strip act, getting tickets to a follies show, or having a drink in a smoky cabaret.

Live Wire: Is this your first time working at CHAC?

D.B.: Actually, SexLife Live was first taped in the CHAC Lower Level space, so I was part of one of the earlier projects to happen there. Since then, I’ve seen CHAC grow and develop into an amazing nexus of performance. CHAC is rapidly becoming THE place to hang out on Capitol Hill, and that sounded to us like a great venue to launch our new show from.