Quince Productions brings both new and familiar faces to the stage for its fifth annual “Full House: A Series of Cabarets,” June 19-23 at Society Hill Playhouse.
The series has become a tradition for the theater company and features well-known and undiscovered cabaret singers who stretch the boundaries of the genre. More than 20 performers will sing in eight different cabaret shows over the five days, including “Full House” and Quince vets Deborah Billups, Derrick Baldwin, Sarah J. Gafgen and Ben Storey.
A new face on the cabaret series is out performer Sean Thompson, who will perform “I Need a Sunburn: A Solivagant’s Cabaret.”
Thompson said he caught the attention of Quince’s artistic director, Rich Rubin, while at a friend’s performance of the company’s recent production of the comedy “Eastern Standard.”
“I had met Rich that night and he heard me laughing a lot and he came up and thanked me for laughing so much,” Thompson said. “We got to talking. I’m part of the Actor’s Equity so I couldn’t really do any of their plays, but I could do their cabaret series.”
When asked about the subject matter of his cabaret, Thompson said his probably won’t be as comedic as the other performers’ shows.
“The general theme is travel, particularly traveling through America,” he said. “A lot of the songs talk about or deal with certain cities in America, like Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York. It’s more about the theme than the actual truthful experience. Mine is probably more on the serious side. It’s definitely serious and mostly musical.”
The slightly more serious tone of the show is understandable when you consider that Thompson is donating all the proceeds from his cabaret to Equality PA. He said the donation is meant to aid the organization in lobbying for equality for all Pennsylvanians.
“Pennsylvania is the only state in this area that will not allow same-sex marriage,” he said. “Being a born-and-raised Pennsylvanian, it is sort of sad. I thought, Why not donate to the cause and do it that way if I can?”
Quince Productions presents “Full House: A Series of Cabarets” June 19-23 in the Red Room at Society Hill Playhouse, 507 S. Eighth St. For tickets and more information, including a complete list of performers and performance schedule, call 215-627-1088 or visit www.quinceproductions.com.