Steven Satyricon Interview

On September 9^th, Joe’s Pub will be the place to be!  The Cockettes will be bringing their unique brand of theatrical flair to Manhattan.  The Cockettes were an avant garde psychedelic hippie theater group founded by Hibiscus (George Edgerly Harris III) in 1969. Their brand of theater was influenced by The Living Theater, John Vaccaro’s PlayHouse of the Ridiculous, the films of Jack Smith and the LSD ethos of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters. The troupe performed all original material, staging musicals with original songs inspired by classic Hollywood movie musicals. They gained an underground cult following that led to mainstream exposure with JOHN WATERS and DIVINE that continues today.  Meet one of the current Cockettes, Steven Saytricon.

Steven Satyricon took a wonderful artistic journey that led him to be a member of The Cockettes.  “David Weissman and Bill Weber’s documentary on The Cockettes was released just a couple months before I moved to San Francisco, in summer of 2002; I vividly remember my first roommates in the City telling me about the history, and it immediately felt like further proof that I’d come here to become a part of some important legacy. Little more than a year later, Scrumbly had taken me on as a student for voice coaching. I fell in (love) with The Thrillpeddlers and The Hypnodrome right around the same time Scrumbly did, and I’ve been a part of every new Cockettes show and revival from their beginnings, in 2008. Sometimes it feels unreal to me; yet at the same time, it’s like nothing else in the world could ever have made more sense for my life–I was doing bearded queen/genderfuck drag before I even knew there were words like those to describe it, much less that The Cockettes basically invented it!”

Steven has performed in New York before.  For him Joe’s Pub is a big deal.  “I’ve spent a fairly substantial amount of time in NYC over the last several decades, although thanks to the timing of the pandemic, this will be my first time back in 5-6 years, I believe. The Thrillpeddlers actually were invited twice to perform in the HOWL East Village Theatre Festival; in 2008, to do the very first Cockettes revival of Pearls Over Shanghai at the Bleeker Street Theater (RIP) as an addition to our existing Ridiculous Revival bill of shows from that summer–I’ve been Captain Eddy ever since!–and again in 2011 at Theatre 80 Saint Mark’s, with Vice Palace (one of my all-time favorite runs of show). So, this will be my third time performing in NYC (all with The Cockettes), but the level of celebrity surrounding Joe’s Pub feels much bigger to me than these prior shows–I mean, it seems like every musical and performance idol I can think of has been on that stage!–so this long-awaited return is new and exciting in a lot of ways.”

Steven anticipates that the Joe’s Pub performance will be a fun night to remember for all.  “Even though this is comparatively a much smaller cast than our prior NYC outings, I expect that we’re going to have a lot of fun as a company; and as nervous as I may feel in certain ways around the performance, we’ve really been working hard. I think we’re going to deliver a really memorable experience to that audience.”

Steven will be giving up the ghost this season in order to pursue endeavors, artistic and otherwise.   Soon he’ll be happy to say, come to the cabaret!  “Typically, my October would be full with performances in the local Halloween attraction Terror Vault, but I’ve chosen to take this year’s season off in order to focus on some more personal matters. I’ll be doing a fair amount of traveling this autumn and hope to begin working seriously on my first solo cabaret show with Scrumbly, which might manage to see the its debut sometime in 2024.”                                                                                                                                    . 

You might be upset if you don’t see The Cockettes!

COCKETTES: THE SECOND CUMMING
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater
Saturday Sept. 9 @ 9:30pm
 425 Lafayette St, New York City.

Returning to NYC after a 50-year absence, San Francisco’s legendary,  underground-breaking, gender-bending theatrical troupe, The Cockettes, are bringing their bawdy, colorful, cabaret show to Joe’s Pub celebrating the music of original Cockette Scrumbly Koldewyn. Event produced by Dan Karkoska featuring Matt Bratko, Noah Haydon, Kitten on the Keys, Steven Satyricon, Ellie Stokes, Bonni Suval, Birdie Bob Watt and the “original Cockette,” composer and performance artist Scrumbly Koldewyn.

 TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW
LEARN the history of this Underground-breaking troupe!
Visit them on FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM and here’s a SNEAK PEEK