Pinch Cabaret #41

_The Pinch Cabaret is KW’s monthly variety show, performance laboratory, and community arts par ty. An unexpected mix of music, non-fiction writing, dance, storytelling, burlesque & who knows what else!

Hosted and curated by relentless riffer **Ben Gorodetsky****.** Get ready for a diverse bill that will surprise and delight audiences while bringing together disparate artistic communities!

Featuring:

• **Geoff Martin is an award-winning writer, whose place-based and environmental essays and poems have appeared in _The New Quarterly, Literary Review of Canada, _Boulevard, _Creative Nonfiction, and the local anthology _Poetry in Place (Guernica Editions, 2025), among others. He is also the co-founder of The Creek Collective, a group of interdisciplinary artists creating work in response to—and alongside—Schneider Creek in Kitchener.Geoff will be performing two sections from _CHANNEL MIGRATION, the Schneider Creek audiowalk that premiered at this year's Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound.
• **Sonic Uke Ensemble shreds the norm with an anarchic mash-up of tunes from the 1800s to now—delivered on ukuleles with raw energy, sharp wit, and zero respect for the status quo. It’s punk. It’s weird. It’s ridiculously fun.
• **Dance and Heart is a Ballet Illusion. Specializing in dance theatre, they are a group of dancers from all backgrounds. For Pinch they plan to tell whimsical stories through movement.
• **Lisa O'Connell's writing has appeared on stage at Harbourfront, Tarragon, Factory and Banff, and in print in the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail and Chatelaine among others. Most of the time she runs Pat the Dog Theatre Creation. O'Connell is anxiously delighted to make her PINCH CABARET debut with Blown Glass and Hidden Shoes, a set of comic musings on her Indigeneity, bureaucracy, and all the messy rest.
• **Making Woman is a transfemme multi-instrumentalist who writes mostly about society, her experience transitioning, and mental health. Her cats, the potato twins, are incredibly cute and aptly named Yam and Ube. She will be playing guitar and singing for you at Pinch Cabaret #41.
• **Ginny Radler wants to tease you with her freckled bod and playful mind - and she'll do it with googly eyes taped to her tatas. This campy kitten has been batting her lashes and shaking her tail feathers around the tri-cities since 2017 and specializes in stripping stupid, giving glam and character-centred boylesque. Are you ready for a shot of Ginny? For Pinch she’s serving a **drag-**burlesque act celebrating nature's party animal: the snail!

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Advance tickets are $5 / $10 / $20 / $30 - you choose the option that's right for you

Limited tickets will be available at the door

**Indigenous community members are welcomed to attend **for free. Just email PinchCabaret@gmail.com and let us know how many tickets you'd like.

Enormous thanks to Waterloo Region Community Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo, Uptown Waterloo BIA, and The Registry Theatre for their generous support, allowing for accessible ticket pricing!

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Doors: 7:45

Show: 8:00

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**VENUE:

We're now at Hepcat Swing Studio! Located at 42 Erb St E, Waterloo _Enter from _****g_ ****rey door on the far right-hand side** of the building, behind the dumpster

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About host **Ben Gorodetsky:

**Ben Gorodetsky (he/they)is a performance maker, filmmaker, writer, and producer based in Kitchener, Ontario. They are the creator and former host of experimental variety show Dirt Buffet Cabaret, and former technical director at NYC burlesque theatre Duane Park. His performance work has been presented by The Art Gallery of Ontario, CAFKA, Femme Folks Fest, LUMEN, Open Ears, Movement Research at Judson Church, The Tank NYC, Mile Zero Dance, Guelph Dance Festival, Hillside Fest, Brian Webb Dance Company, Expanse Festival of Movement Arts, Rubaboo Festival, SpringWorks, and the Gas Station Arts Centre. They are the former Associate Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre and have performed, taught, and directed improvisation in Atlanta, Detroit, Austin, Philadelphia, NYC, LA, Reunion Island, Vienna, Ljubljana, Montreal, Toronto, Yellowknife, Calgary, and Vancouver. He is co-creator of political satire comedy duo Folk Lordz (VICE). Ben is the winner of the 2016 Emerging Artist Award at the Mayor's Celebration for the Arts (Edmonton), the Anna Pidruchney Young Writers award, and a nominee for a Canadian Comedy Award and a Waterloo Region Arts Award. He is Creator and Executive Producer of CTV docuseries "MY PET ATE WHAT?", out now on Crave. They teach at UWaterloo, and hold an MFA from Brooklyn College-CUNY and a BFA from the University of Alberta.

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Show poster by Aaron Read