Two birds drawn in blue and red on a photo of a swing. Strange Bird, Queer Bird - Grapefruit Lab

Rattlesnakes are low to the ground and full of surprises. Like hearts, their jaws never give up. But do you think rattlesnakes ever get to feel what it's like to fall?

— Strange Bird, Queer Bird

A playful and intimate exploration of love, comfort, and home in a world on fire.

Text taken verbatim from letters, phone messages, journal entries, and poems between Julie Rada and Lars Reid are combined with original dance (Kate Speer, Allison Blakeney) and live music (Teacup Gorilla) to create a poetic reflection on blossoming love in a time of isolation.

This show is collaboration with many Colorado artists. Set and costumes are designed and constructed by Annabel Reader and Dan Huling of the Colorado Shoe School, and the show is co-produced by Buntport Theater.

In The Press

As per usual for Grapefruit Lab… this show will be a mixed media affair imbued with great creativity, humanity, humor and warmth.

— Tom Murphy » Queen City Sounds & Art

With audiences hungry for connection after a period of isolation, the hope is to reframe the collective trauma of recent years to reveal something that looks like hope.

— Toni Tresca » Boulder Weekly

An original and achingly beautiful story of two queer strangers who find love from a safe distance during the pandemic shutdown. The story is told with an affecting underscore by the local indie band Teacup Gorilla alongside the choreographed dance of two human birds.

— John Moore » The Denver Gazette

Production Photos

Bower bird dancer kneeling in front of a red-lit chair-and-branch nest surrounded by blue paper planes Two bower birds dancing in blue light and haze, behind a nest of chairs and branches Two bower birds side-by-side on forearms and knees in saturated pink light Lars at a mic, in front of Mia playing bass An arm reaches out in twisted gesture from a nest of chairs and branches Bower bird dancers twisting and untwisting on yellow swings Julie and Lars at a mic, in front of the band Julie clutching their head in distress at a mic One bower bird dancer holds a match to light the other as they dance Al as a bower bird, dancing on a swing, arms wide in green light A bower bird dancer swings in a haze of blue light A bower bird dancer in blue light, hunched and facing away Julie at the mic, singing to Lars who is weaving a cone out of branches Bower bird dancer folded at the waist, Julie and the band in the background
Photos by Kenny Storms

Press Photos

Two birds drawn in blue and red on a photo of a swing. Strange Bird, Queer Bird - Grapefruit Lab Julie handing Lars a pinecone, as they sit together in yellow swings null Kate Spear and Allison Blakeney mid-dance, moving like birds Kate Spear and Allison Blakeney mid-dance in boiler suits and aviator helmets Close up Lars on a swing looking up and smiling A pine cone on a yellow swing Alison Blakeney in a boiler suit and aviator helmet, with denim ruffles, watching something