COMEDY/VARIETÈ

The festival's Comedy/Varietè shows are at Hale's Palladium, in the Hale's Brewery warehouse located between Fremont and Ballard at 4301 Leary Way NW

Moisture Festival Burlesque Shows

At the 2005 Moisture Festival we thought it would be fun to have a Burlesque show as a late night attraction. Several variety artists were also part of the booming Seattle burlesque scene and they invited other burlesque artists to perform for these special late night shows. The energy sparked by their talent began a wonderful relationship and a festival tradition. It is interesting to note that there was a time in American vaudeville houses when burlesque was an element in the Varietè shows, but it was decided that a larger audience could be had if the shows were "cleaned up" and made respectable for the general public. That is history. We thought it was high time that burlesque artists were welcomed back for some adult oriented Comedy/Varietè infused Burlesque shows. The festival's shows take place in The Moisture Festival's Traveling Liberty Theatre. In 2006, The Liberty was in Fremont Studios for two late night shows. In 2007, The Liberty found its new home downtown at ACT: A Contemporary Theatre. This collaboration led to four sold out Burlesque shows. In 2008, The Liberty will come alive once again at ACT Theatre.

Moisture Festival Producers and Sacred Staff

The festival is produced by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, whose board of directors are Tim Furst, Ron W. Bailey, Sandy Palmer, Maque DaVis, and Katherine Bragdon.

The loyal staff - essential to the success of the festival: Megan Newman (Volunteer coordinator), Rhonda Sable (Burlesque coordinator), and Cathy Sutherland (Burlesque and Aerial coordinator), Mik Kulman and Christina Bruce (Artist Liaisons), Heather Mead (communications).

The Moisture Festival's web site for 2008 was created by The Medium, www.the-medium.net


Moisture Festival Benefit Shows

We are very dedicated to giving back to the generous community we are a part of in Seattle. Every year at the festival we do several shows that benefit very worthy organizations. The artists donate their performances, and all of the profits go directly to the designated nonprofit organizations. We proudly donate to The New Old Time Chautauqua, a nonprofit group which brings vaudeville shows and educational workshops to underserved communities. We also donate to the B. F. Day School Foundation, doing a fantastic job in the community teaching kids in a meaningful and creative way.

This year on Wednesday evening, April 9th we've added "Aerlift" an aerial show presented by The Aerial Army of Love. The proceeds go to Safe Passage, a group which provides education and services to children whose families subsist off the Guatemala City Landfill.


The Moisture Festival Financial Philosophy

The financial structure of the Moisture Festival reflects the philosophy of its producers, and differs in many ways from other festivals around the world.

The purpose of the festival is to present live Comedy/Varietè performance in the upper left hand corner of the USA, to give performers a chance to interact with each other, and to educate audiences and performers about the history of Comedy/Varietè from its roots in Europe through American Vaudeville to its present day resurgence.

The festival is organized by performers - for performers and their audiences. One of the things which makes the festival's financial structure unique is the "share" system, wherein all the performers receive the same amount of money per show. For each show in which someone performs, they accumulate one share. Likewise, the festival's producers also get one share for each show in which they participate, and do not draw a salary.

The festival finances are dealt with as a whole, and not on a show-by-show basis. Thus the total income of the festival is pooled, and after the expenses have been paid and some money is put aside to pay the bills for the coming year, the balance is divided among all the performers on a per-share basis. One result of this system is that the amount of each share is determined by the overall financial success of the festival, and each performer receives the same size share whether they perform in a sold-out Saturday night show or a casual Wednesday show. Because one purpose of the festival is to bring together performers from different regions, over 200 performers were invited to participate in the festival in 2007. Every show had a live band and around 10 acts, so there were usually around 30 performers in each of the shows. There were 29 shows in the 2007 Moisture Festival; 27 used the share system (23 Comedy/Varietè Shows & 4 Burlesque Shows), and 2 were benefits for which the performers donated their time and talent. This added up to over 750 shares, and over $30,000 was paid to the performers. In addition, since many of the performers came from outside the Seattle area, another $20,000 was spent on travel, food and housing for the performers.

The festival is incorporated in Seattle, Washington, as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. As a community-based organization, it depends on the generosity of volunteers and seeks sponsorship from local businesses to help defray the production costs. It also dedicates some shows to raise money for others groups; in 2007, the Moisture Festival produced two benefit shows and donated over $7,500 to other local nonprofits.

The festival receives most of its income from the sale of tickets. However, this is limited by three factors:

1) the desire to keep ticket prices affordable (tickets ranged from $5 to $20)

2) the size of the theaters - 250 seats at Hale's Palladium, 360 seats at ACT

3) the desire to let performers receive comps


History of The Moisture Festival:

The seeds for the festival were planted at the Oregon Country Fair, and the Moisture was added by the vaudeville/circus/music scene in Seattle. In 1996 Tom Noddy the Bubble Guy, a regular at the Oregon Country Fair, surprised Ron W. Bailey with an invitation to attend a Comedy/Varietè Festival in Berlin. The event was created by Hacki Ginda, a notorious German clown. The trip was thrilling because it was a great time for the creative performers in Berlin and it was a festival that inspired everyone involved. Every day and night there was unique and wonderful entertainment in two tents, one large theater "The Chameleon" and several smaller venues in mid-town Berlin. Tom Noddy, Ron and Hacki dreamed about someday bringing a festival like that to the people in Seattle.

Enter Maque Davis of Cirque de Flambe, The Fremont Players and ex-President for Life of the Fremont Arts Council. Maque helped organize the Fremont Solstice Parade and created "Trolloween." Maque and Ron had often talked about bringing some of the acts from the Oregon Country Fair to Seattle, so in 2003 they joined ideas.

Realizing the grand scope of a festival they brought in Tim Furst, aka Fyodor Karamazov of The Flying Karamazov Brothers, along with Sandy Palmer and Simon Neale of the Fremont Players to help organize the event. In 2004, with the help of Fremonstor Theatrical and Du Caniveaux and the contributions of many artists and sponsors, they created "The Moisture Festival" to bring Comedy/Varietè to the center of the universe and the greater Seattle area.

The first festival was only five days long and held in a tent in Fremont, rented at a discount from His Reverend Chumleigh. Fortune was on the festival's side when many of our favorite artists responded to the request to perform in the tent and help us create and christen the first shows. Braving a wonderful rain, the tent shivered and shook, and we all basked in the limelight of inspired performance. It has continued to be the generosity and willingness of the comedy/varietè artists that keeps the festival alive. Also, it should be mentioned that there is much more to a festival than performing in it. There have always been many volunteers who work hard and share in the fun of making it happen. Megan Newman has been the invaluable volunteer coordinator.

There were key sponsors who came on board with early enthusiasm. One was the Utilikilts company, Megan Hass and Steven Villegas. Another sponsor, an unassuming guy delivering the kegs to the tent for Hale's Brewery, turned out to be Mike Hale. He would end up bringing his wife Kathleen to an evening show and later they would offer to help in any way they could. This led to the Hale's Brewery warehouse space being converted to The Palladium for the two week 2005 festival, at which 13 of 19 shows sold out. The Palladium served as the heart of the 2006 festival, and it worked so well that the festival occupied the Palladium again in 2007, and the same heart keeps beating.

Due to the 2005 festival's extremely popular late night burlesque shows, we created a new traveling theater for the Moisture Festival Burlesque in '06, and Sandy Palmer named it the Liberty. In 2006, it traveled to Fremont Studios, one of the most spectacular under-used performance spaces in Seattle. The collision of Comedy/Varietè and Burlesque at the Liberty was a luscious delight for two packed nights!

In 2007 The Liberty traveled again, this time to ACT Theatre for four sold out shows due to another wonderful collaboration with the truly tantalizing Seattle Burlesque performers, organized by Rhonda Sable, Cathy Sutherland and Martha Enson.

As we prepare for the 5th anniversary in 2008, the Moisture Festival continues to evolve. We achieved our goal of becoming an official 501©(3) nonprofit organization, and we welcomed Katherine Bragdon as a producer and member of the Board of Directors.

We are determined to continue to bring comedy/varietè artists together each spring and to bring laughter and awe to audiences with this fantastic form of entertainment. Seattle is a city that appreciates the weird and wonderful. They enjoy eccentric skilled performance and community events.

We proudly carry the torch and continue the history of Comedy/Varietè here and now at The Moisture Festival. We soon will be five years old and we are prepared to act our age.