Pinch Cabaret #36

The Pinch Cabaret is KW’s monthly variety show, performance laboratory, and community arts party. An unexpected mix of Comedy, Poetry, Bengali Folk Songs, Photography, Erotica Reading, Harmonica and who knows what else!

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

Featuring:

• Bangishimo (they/them), is an IndigiQueer Anishinaabe originally from Couchiching First Nation. They are the co-founder of Ose:Kenhionhata (Land Back Camp) and Co-director of Willow River Centre. Recently, they served as the City of Kitchener’s inaugural Indigenous Artist-in-Residence (2022-23) and are currently the first Artist in Residence for Longhouse Labs at the University of Waterloo (2024-2025). For the first time in their decade-long photography career, Bangishimo is offering a limited collection of prints for sale. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to own a piece of their powerful and evocative work—each print is a testament to ten years of storytelling through an Indigenous lens.
  
  
• Nahleen Antika (she/her) is a classically trained Bengali singer from Waterloo. She will be performing traditional Tagore and Bengali folk songs as an homage to her guru and mother who gifted her tremendous love of music before her passing this year.
  
  
• Jack Meldrum (they/any pronouns) is a recent UW graduate and a KW-based multi-disciplinary artist who's been writing bad poetry since childhood, and has been making less bad technical theatre work and block printed art since not-childhood. For Pinch, they'll be reading a selection of prose/poems, most melancholic and some hopeful. They promise they're much more chipper than their poems imply.
  
  
• Gary Bond began in-person workshops for business/government/education in the US & Canada in 1987 - since 2020 he’s delivered webinars worldwide. He has 10 years’ experience as a career counsellor, and 50+ years as a meditation instructor. He will share a playful, interactive 10-minute seminar using PowerPoint?! Oh yes.
  
  
• Raven Sky is a polyamorous queer femme who hails from KW and is fueled by wanderlust, tea, books, and insatiable curiosity. She writes award-winning feminist, queer erotica. She will read from her upcoming anthology "Mommy Queerest”.
  
  
• Matthew Pendleton started playing the harmonica 18 years ago because his piano couldn't fit in his pocket. Since then, he has composed unique motifs in a classical musical style that competes with the progressions popularized in blues music. For Pinch, Matthew will perform solo improvisations on the diatonic and chromatic harmonicas.

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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 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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NEW VENUE:

We're now at Hepcat Swing Studio!
Located at 42 Erb St, Waterloo
Enter from grey door on the far right-hand side of the building

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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. 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