Noah Mickens
Encyclopedia
Noah Howard Mickens is an American performance art
ist and showman from Portland
, Oregon
. He is primarily known for his contributions to vaudevillian
revival and as a ringmaster
and master of ceremonies
for several theatrical circus troupes. Mickens has worked in a variety of performance media, including scrap-metal percussion, singing, butoh
, drama, circus arts
, rock opera
, and as a fashion model. Several of his collaborative projects have been combinations of two or more of the aforementioned art forms. Mickens has also composed, directed and produced a number of theatrical productions.
Mickens has also worked as a show promoter and publicist for various venues in the Portland area, including Someday Lounge, Dante's
, The Jasmine Tree, and the Rotture-Branx venue complex.
Mickens has described growing up in Los Angeles
with his mother and his brother, Sam Mickens (a vocalist, guitarist, and composer for such bands as The Dead Science
, Xiu Xiu
, and Parenthetical Girls
). In an interview with The Portland Monthly
, he said he was taught to juggle at age 14 by a homeless man named Robert.
:“I began to meet other people who were into that sort of thing,” he recalls, “and I started to think of myself as a circus performer.”
Mickens began singing in local punk
and pop
bands bands in Los Angeles, among them Poor Old Timer, which he described as "blues-inflected punk music".
In 1996, Mickens moved to Portland, OR, and quickly became involved in a variety of theatrical and musical endeavors, including Nequaquam Vacuum (latin for "the void does not exist"), an improvisational "post-asiatic chamber noise" ensemble, which he formed in 1999 with Tyler Armstrong and Travis McAlister. In 2004, Oregon Public Broadcasting
filmed a short documentary on Mickens and Nequaquam Vacuum for the station's Oregon Art Beat program. The program showed Mickens, Armstrong and McAlister performing alongside butoh dancers from the PAN Butoh troupe.
Mickens also began organizing avant-garde
performances through underground networks of artists. One such network was 36 Invisibles, which Mickens founded in 2001. Under the name 36 Invisibles, Mickens arranged and promoted performances by a variety of artists, usually at the Jasmine Tree, a small tiki bar near the Portland State University
campus. He was also heavily involved with the Radon
collective, another loose affiliation of avant-garde artists for which he was considered the "Portland Liaison ". From roughly 2001 to the present day he has recorded and toured with Stooges
saxophonist Steve Mackay
and the Radon Ensemble, composed of Radon members from around the world. In 2001, he also began collaborating with 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts
, a Portland-based performance group founded by Lisa Newman and Llewyn Maire, and served on its board of directors. 2Gyrlz produced an annual month-long event, the EnterActive Language Festival, a multifaceted performance art showcase. His band Nequaquam Vacuum is listed in the 2Gyrlz archives as an EnterActive participant as early as 2002, as well as 36 Invisibles, and the PAN Butoh troupe, with which he was also involved.
After traveling by bus with The 999 Eyes Freakshow on its first tour in 2005, Mickens moved to Seattle to further pursue his study of butoh
. He played music, danced, and acted in a great number of shows during his relatively brief stay in Seattle: Die Wandlung with Implied Violence, The Greasy Demon Heat Cycle with The Villainaires Academy, and numerous butoh and musical collaborations with PAN, Death Posture, his brother Sam Mickens, and others.
In April 2006 Mickens was hired by Someday Lounge, a performance-art oriented nightclub in downtown Portland started by Kris and Eric Robison, two brothers who owned the adjacent Backspace Cafe and were interested in hosting the EnterActive Language Festival and other "experimental, progressive performance art". He left Seattle and became creative director and booker at Someday, and frequently performed and acted as emcee for events there. In February 2007, the Portland Mercury
reported that Mickens had been suddenly fired from Someday Lounge
Since then, Mickens has worked as an independent producer, director, and actor in numerous productions; including the opera Queen of Knives
composed by Eric Stern, the dark fairytale operetta series Bogville co-directed with Tiare Tashnick (aka NagaSita), an outdoor butoh production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
co-directed with Mizu Desierto; and his main project, Wanderlust Circus
, co-directed and -produced with Nick "The Creature" Harbar.
, hook suspension
, and butoh
) with circus arts and live music. This collaborative project also featured vocal performances by Portland-based tuvan throat singer Enrique Ugalde, with whom Mickens has frequently collaborated, providing musical backing for Ugalde's solo project Soriah. In Societas Insomnia, Ugalde played the role of The Sun.
In 2005 Mickens toured with a newly-formed underground freak show
, then called the 999 Eyes ov Endless Dream Carnival and Sideshow of the Damned (now simply known as the 999 Eyes Freakshow), for which he performed as ringmaster and master of ceremonies.
In 2006, during his time at Someday Lounge, Mickens threw his efforts into performing with another vaudevillian project. Originally called Batty's Hippodrome, the show was a revue of circus arts, featuring a variety of performances, with Mickens playing a character named William Batty
, loosely based on the Victorian England circus proprietor of the same name, who created Batty's Hippodrome in Kensington Gardens
. Mickens performed as a slightly menacing Batty in bright suits and heavy stage makeup, leading press to make comparisons to The Joker
.
Early in the history of Batty's Hippodrome, Mickens began collaborating with Nick "The Creature" Harbar, who had recently wrapped production in San Francisco on a Romani dinner circus called Circo Romani. After his departure from Someday Lounge, the two consolidated their show under the name of Wanderlust Circus
, with Mickens as the ringmaster.
Mickens' circus began doing regular events at the Hippodrome Circus Arts Center, a rehearsal and performance space for circus arts in SE Portland; of which they were the co-directors. Batty's Hippodrome performed at the grand opening November 17, 2007. When the Hippodrome Circus Arts Center closed, Mickens and Creature moved Wanderlust Circus to the Bossanova Ballroom; and from there to its present home at The Alberta Rose Theatre.
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist and showman from Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. He is primarily known for his contributions to vaudevillian
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
revival and as a ringmaster
Ringmaster
The term ringmaster may refer to numerous things:*Ringmaster , the leader of a circus* Ringmaster , the manager of a horse show ring*Ringmaster , a film starring Jerry Springer and Jaime Pressly...
and master of ceremonies
Master of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
for several theatrical circus troupes. Mickens has worked in a variety of performance media, including scrap-metal percussion, singing, butoh
Butoh
is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup...
, drama, circus arts
Circus skills
Circus skills are a group of pursuits that have been performed as entertainment in circus, sideshow, busking or variety/vaudeville/music hall shows. Most circus skills are still being performed today. Many are also practiced by non-performers as a hobby....
, rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
, and as a fashion model. Several of his collaborative projects have been combinations of two or more of the aforementioned art forms. Mickens has also composed, directed and produced a number of theatrical productions.
Mickens has also worked as a show promoter and publicist for various venues in the Portland area, including Someday Lounge, Dante's
Dante's
Dante's is a nightclub and live music venue in Portland, Oregon, United States, that opened in February, 2000. Since opening, the club has hosted numerous internationally-famous bands, solo-acts, troupes and performance artists....
, The Jasmine Tree, and the Rotture-Branx venue complex.
Mickens has described growing up in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
with his mother and his brother, Sam Mickens (a vocalist, guitarist, and composer for such bands as The Dead Science
The Dead Science
The Dead Science is an experimental pop band based in Seattle, Washington.The band consists of guitarist/vocalist Sam Mickens, Jherek Bischoff on bass and Nick Tamburro on drums. Jherek Bischoff's brother Korum was the drummer from the band's inception in 1999 through 2005...
, Xiu Xiu
Xiu Xiu
Xiu Xiu is an American avant-garde group originally from San Jose, California. The band is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Jamie Stewart, who has been its only constant member since its inception in 2002. His current bandmate is Angela Seo...
, and Parenthetical Girls
Parenthetical Girls
Parenthetical Girls is an experimental pop band formed in Everett, Washington, and based currently in Portland, Oregon...
). In an interview with The Portland Monthly
Portland Monthly
Portland Monthly is a monthly news and general interest magazine which covers events and culture in Portland, Oregon. The magazine was co-founded in 2003 by siblings Nicole and Scott Vogel. Nicole had previously worked for Cendant Corporation and Time Warner, and Scott had been a journalist at The...
, he said he was taught to juggle at age 14 by a homeless man named Robert.
:“I began to meet other people who were into that sort of thing,” he recalls, “and I started to think of myself as a circus performer.”
Mickens began singing in local punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
bands bands in Los Angeles, among them Poor Old Timer, which he described as "blues-inflected punk music".
In 1996, Mickens moved to Portland, OR, and quickly became involved in a variety of theatrical and musical endeavors, including Nequaquam Vacuum (latin for "the void does not exist"), an improvisational "post-asiatic chamber noise" ensemble, which he formed in 1999 with Tyler Armstrong and Travis McAlister. In 2004, Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon Public Broadcasting is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of Oregon as well as southern Washington. With its headquarters and television studios in Portland, OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF translators, and over...
filmed a short documentary on Mickens and Nequaquam Vacuum for the station's Oregon Art Beat program. The program showed Mickens, Armstrong and McAlister performing alongside butoh dancers from the PAN Butoh troupe.
Mickens also began organizing avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
performances through underground networks of artists. One such network was 36 Invisibles, which Mickens founded in 2001. Under the name 36 Invisibles, Mickens arranged and promoted performances by a variety of artists, usually at the Jasmine Tree, a small tiki bar near the Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
campus. He was also heavily involved with the Radon
Radon
Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days...
collective, another loose affiliation of avant-garde artists for which he was considered the "Portland Liaison ". From roughly 2001 to the present day he has recorded and toured with Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
saxophonist Steve Mackay
Steve MacKay
Steve Mackay is an American tenor saxophone player, best known for his participation on The Stooges' second album Fun House.-The Stooges:Mackay was familiar to The Stooges from his work in Detroit's avant-rock pioneers, Carnal Kitchen...
and the Radon Ensemble, composed of Radon members from around the world. In 2001, he also began collaborating with 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts
2 Gyrlz Performative Arts
2 Gyrlz Performative Arts is an artist-run presenting group, based in Manchester, England...
, a Portland-based performance group founded by Lisa Newman and Llewyn Maire, and served on its board of directors. 2Gyrlz produced an annual month-long event, the EnterActive Language Festival, a multifaceted performance art showcase. His band Nequaquam Vacuum is listed in the 2Gyrlz archives as an EnterActive participant as early as 2002, as well as 36 Invisibles, and the PAN Butoh troupe, with which he was also involved.
After traveling by bus with The 999 Eyes Freakshow on its first tour in 2005, Mickens moved to Seattle to further pursue his study of butoh
Butoh
is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup...
. He played music, danced, and acted in a great number of shows during his relatively brief stay in Seattle: Die Wandlung with Implied Violence, The Greasy Demon Heat Cycle with The Villainaires Academy, and numerous butoh and musical collaborations with PAN, Death Posture, his brother Sam Mickens, and others.
In April 2006 Mickens was hired by Someday Lounge, a performance-art oriented nightclub in downtown Portland started by Kris and Eric Robison, two brothers who owned the adjacent Backspace Cafe and were interested in hosting the EnterActive Language Festival and other "experimental, progressive performance art". He left Seattle and became creative director and booker at Someday, and frequently performed and acted as emcee for events there. In February 2007, the Portland Mercury
The Portland Mercury
The Portland Mercury is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon. It serves to chronicle the ever-changing Portland music scene, and generally includes interviews, commentaries, reviews, and concert dates...
reported that Mickens had been suddenly fired from Someday Lounge
Since then, Mickens has worked as an independent producer, director, and actor in numerous productions; including the opera Queen of Knives
Queen of Knives
Queen of Knives is an opera in two acts by the American composer Eric Stern. The English libretto was written by the composer. The opera premiered in Portland, Oregon on May 7, 2010 at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center...
composed by Eric Stern, the dark fairytale operetta series Bogville co-directed with Tiare Tashnick (aka NagaSita), an outdoor butoh production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
co-directed with Mizu Desierto; and his main project, Wanderlust Circus
Wanderlust Circus
Wanderlust Circus is a theatrical circus troupe based in Portland, Oregon, which began in 2006 and since 2009 has had a branch in San Diego, California. The two organizations collaborate to produce shows up and down the U.S. west coast.- History :...
, co-directed and -produced with Nick "The Creature" Harbar.
William Batty and Circus Revival
In 2004 Mickens performed as ringmaster in Cicuri Curajul, his first foray into organizing a circus. Cicuri Curajul, a "fake Romanian circus", performed at the Crystal Ballroom April 25, 2004. In the same year he began organizing another project, a ritual performance troupe called "Societas Insomnia" (latin for "Nightmare Company"). Societas Insomnia told, in several installments between 2004 and 2007, a story of otherworldly creatures within a living nightmare, combining "ritual performance" (including fire performanceFire dancing
Fire dancing is a group of performance arts or disciplines that involve manipulation of objects on fire...
, hook suspension
Suspension (body modification)
A suspension is the act of suspending a human body from hooks that have been put through body piercings. These piercings are temporary and are performed just prior to the actual suspension.- Method :...
, and butoh
Butoh
is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup...
) with circus arts and live music. This collaborative project also featured vocal performances by Portland-based tuvan throat singer Enrique Ugalde, with whom Mickens has frequently collaborated, providing musical backing for Ugalde's solo project Soriah. In Societas Insomnia, Ugalde played the role of The Sun.
In 2005 Mickens toured with a newly-formed underground freak show
Freak show
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
, then called the 999 Eyes ov Endless Dream Carnival and Sideshow of the Damned (now simply known as the 999 Eyes Freakshow), for which he performed as ringmaster and master of ceremonies.
In 2006, during his time at Someday Lounge, Mickens threw his efforts into performing with another vaudevillian project. Originally called Batty's Hippodrome, the show was a revue of circus arts, featuring a variety of performances, with Mickens playing a character named William Batty
William Batty
William Batty was an equestrian performer, circus proprietor, and longtime operator of Astley's Amphitheatre in London. Batty was one of the most successful circus proprietors in Victorian England, and helped launch the careers of a number of leading Victorian circus personalities, such as Pablo...
, loosely based on the Victorian England circus proprietor of the same name, who created Batty's Hippodrome in Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens
Kensington Gardens, once the private gardens of Kensington Palace, is one of the Royal Parks of London, lying immediately to the west of Hyde Park. It is shared between the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The park covers an area of 111 hectares .The open spaces...
. Mickens performed as a slightly menacing Batty in bright suits and heavy stage makeup, leading press to make comparisons to The Joker
Joker (comics)
The Joker is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain published by DC Comics. He is the archenemy of Batman, having been directly responsible for numerous tragedies in Batman's life, including the paralysis of Barbara Gordon and the death of Jason Todd, the second Robin...
.
Early in the history of Batty's Hippodrome, Mickens began collaborating with Nick "The Creature" Harbar, who had recently wrapped production in San Francisco on a Romani dinner circus called Circo Romani. After his departure from Someday Lounge, the two consolidated their show under the name of Wanderlust Circus
Wanderlust Circus
Wanderlust Circus is a theatrical circus troupe based in Portland, Oregon, which began in 2006 and since 2009 has had a branch in San Diego, California. The two organizations collaborate to produce shows up and down the U.S. west coast.- History :...
, with Mickens as the ringmaster.
Mickens' circus began doing regular events at the Hippodrome Circus Arts Center, a rehearsal and performance space for circus arts in SE Portland; of which they were the co-directors. Batty's Hippodrome performed at the grand opening November 17, 2007. When the Hippodrome Circus Arts Center closed, Mickens and Creature moved Wanderlust Circus to the Bossanova Ballroom; and from there to its present home at The Alberta Rose Theatre.
Writing, production and directing work
Mickens has been listed as director and/or producer of several live performance works, mostly in the Portland area, and performed in each production:- Societas Insomnia (2004–2007) (director and performer)
- Day of the Zombie (January 13, 2007 and July 25, 2008)(A rock opera written by Dan Abbott, and co-directed with Noah Mickens, who also produced)
- A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
(July 26, 2008) (co-directed with Mizu Desierto) - Bogville (2008–2011) (co-directed with Tiare "NagaSita" Tashnick)
- Queen of KnivesQueen of KnivesQueen of Knives is an opera in two acts by the American composer Eric Stern. The English libretto was written by the composer. The opera premiered in Portland, Oregon on May 7, 2010 at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center...
(an opera composed by Eric SternEric SternEric Stern is the Director of Operations for the Career Development Office at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law . Before re-locating to California, Stern worked at The George Washington School of Law. He is the former Executive Director of the National Stonewall Democrats. Eric...
, directed by Noah Mickens)