ABOUT US
Stacy Dawson Stearns and Roy Johns’ Dolls on Balls pictured.
Cabaret Voltaire is a Dada inspired cabaret in honor of the original Cabaret Voltaire, originated by Hugo Ball and Emmy Hennings in February, 1916, in Zurich, Switzerland at Spiegelgasse 1.
“DaDa is beautiful like the night, who cradles the young day in her arms.” - Hans Arp
“DADA speaks with you, it is everything, it envelops everything, it belongs to every religion, can be neither victory or defeat, it lives in space and not in time.” - Francis Picabia
“Dada is the sun, Dada is the egg. Dada is the Police of the Police.” - Richard Huelsenbeck
The current Los Angeles inception is very faithful to the original Cabaret, bringing together a wide range of daring artists and everyday people from the worlds of performance art, music, spoken word, dance and original novelty.
The cabaret is produced by Christian Jon Meoli.
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Joe Fria as Hugo Ball in the play “THE DADAists” written by Christian Jon Meoli (2003)
The current Los Angeles inception began in very much the same fashion as Zurich and is very faithful to the original Cabaret, bringing together a wide range of daring artists and everyday people from the worlds of performance art, music, spoken word, dance, original novelty and everyday life.
As the young Hugo Ball had approached Herr Ephraim, owner of the Meierei, Christian Jon Meoli approached James Underdown, executive director of The Center For Inquiry West, where The Steve Allen Theater is housed. Meoli said, ” Please Mr. Underdown, let me have your theater. I want to start a cabaret…that was done nearly ninety years ago in Switzerland.” But unlike Herr Ephraim, Mr. Underdown looked at Meoli with a skeptics eye and a thick Bullshit meter to match…he was on the fence. Meoli pulled out a copy of Hugo Ball’s diary FLIGHT OUT OF TIME and read a quote to Underdown.
“Art is indebted to total skepticism…”
Soon after Underdown agreed and our cabaret had a new residence.
Our endeavor is a labor of love and thrives as a community platform for the Los Angeles, Hollywood and Los Feliz area with a goal of organically achieving ‘creative inquiry.’ The cabaret is proud to be in residence at The Steve Allen Theater, housed in the auspices of The Center for Inquiry West and is thankful to the many staff for all their help.
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A fluidity and freshness thrives at the Cabaret. Every cabaret is unique and original and never the same show twice!
