Over the past 30 years, Tamarie Cooper has put on a summer show unlike any other theatrical one in Houston. Billed as musicals, but as she explains, pretty far from traditions in that genre, she delights in poking fun at all matter or things she finds amusing or frustrating.
This Friday, Tamarie’s Greatest Hits, Volume 3, hits the MATCH stage, the creation of Cooper and her fellow writer Patrick Reynolds. Asked if it will cover highlights from her three decades of performing these summer specials, she responds:” No because then we’d have to be in the theater for like two days.”
Asked what will be included, she says: “I feel like so much of this musical is not traditional as far as what the rules are of making a musical that I don’t know if anything is really off the table.
“I’m not going to have a colonoscopy on stage or something. But I might make jokes about it.”
The key ingredient, she says, if it’s a story she can find humor in. “And it’s not always something that has happened to me.it might be my feelings about things. When we did the whole show about Texas obviously there were a lot of musings about our state and the city we live in. “
Asked about themes in earlier shows, she says, “I definitely think in 2017 I probably should have just called that the triple X show because that one was pretty smutty. “ She hasn’t done a show since then that went quite that far.
Politics often provide a lot of material but at the same time, she doesn’t want to do just that.
“I want to avoid making it completely about politics cause I feel like first off the majority of my audience I’m probably sort of preaching to the choir. And right now politics it’s a fine line between spoofing and feeling bummed out or helpless.
Asked how she got into her association with Catastrophic Theatre and its predecessor Infernal Bridegroom, Cooper says: “I had been a dance major at HSPVA (High School For the Performing and Visual Arts.) And I did enjoy choreography. I had done a little bit of theater. We’d just started doing Infernal Bridegroom plays and I just decided I wanted to do my own show.
The initial show – a two-night affair at the 1996 Orange Show — was more dance focused. It played off her reputation a vintage clothing maven. “I did a fashion show of all of my personal clothing.” She talked about her had dating experiences and cooked the audience a pasta dinner. She presented what she calls “an exaggerated version of myself.”
The next year Infernal Bridegroom produced it. “We did a tour on a school bus that went to all my favorite folk art sites and places like Notsuoh.
By the third one it became more structured and was done at Stages theater. “The theme was I was having a cocktail party. That’s when it became more of a musical.”
Whether you’ve seen her shows before or not, Cooper assures any potential audience members that this is a good show to see.
There’s two acts. I would say this is a great intro into these shows. You’re really going to get a feeling for the best of the best. You don’t need any sort of guidelines. You’re not coming into a complex plot-driven piece here,” she says with a laugh.
“I know that there are people that have come to my shows over the years who do not see the world the same way I do politically. For the most part they’ve been able to enjoy themselves as well. It’s not just some one-two coming at you liberal Democrat festival. We can all find commonality in some of these embarrassing moments.”
Performances are scheduled for June 19 through August 1 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays at the Midtown Arts Center, 3400 Main. For more information, call 713-521-4533 or visit matchouston.org. Pay what you can.
