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The Neo-Futurarium's Ode To Tom Waits And Iggy Pop Will Have Clowns And Rock

By Chicagoist_Guest in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 2, 2016 5:31PM

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Molly Brennan (left) and Malic White, the co-creators of the Neo-Futurarium's new show, "Pop Waits." (Photo by Joe Mazza at Brave Lux, courtesy of the Neo-Futurists)

By Emilie Shumway

Steeped in the Neo-Futurists' autobiographical aesthetic, "Pop Waits"—a show inspired by icons Iggy Pop and Tom Waits—explores music and persona as a pathway through depression.

The subject is a personal one for the show’s co-creators and stars, Molly Brennan and Malic White. “We’re both people who suffer from clinical depression,” White said. “I think it’s a play about learning how to like yourself.”

"Pop Waits" is a love letter to Brennan and White’s favorite musicians, but it’s also their love letter to each other. Romantic as well as creative partners, their preferred modes of performance tend to complement one another. “The show isn’t saying that one form of theater is better or more powerful than another,” White said. “Just that you can accomplish different things as a performer in [different] modes.”

In anticipation of the premiere on Thursday, I spoke to Brennan and White last week. White goes by the pronoun "they."

What sparked the idea for this show?

Brennan: Coffee and Cigarettes is a series of films featuring combinations of celebrities—and there’s one that has Tom Waits and Iggy Pop in it. Now, we’re both fans of both of the musicians. I have a greater connection with Tom Waits and Malic has a greater connection to Iggy Pop. We were pretty fascinated by the clown dynamic of the two and status dynamic in the film and we were like, ‘Oh! We should do that. We should just like, stage this film.’ And then it expanded from there.

I was going to ask whether you each gravitated toward one or the other.

Brennan: Well, they’re reflected in our performance style too. I want things to be theatrical. I like puppets and I like props and I like costumes, and I like to build this little world. And when I watch Malic perform, Malic is super raw and bare bones. Malic’s power is their kind of ability to just be boldly themselves on stage. When we watch Iggy Pop perform, he’s just a raw nerve. He’s just doing. It’s not rehearsed and it’s not choreographed and it’s just gorgeous and strange and immediate. And you watch Tom Waits perform and there’s a similar level of energy and passion, but it’s much more crafted. I would say that’s reflective of how the two of us perform as well.

The show is very much about connection and transcendence and persona, but depression is often a really isolating thing. How does music work to get you out of that?

White: For me, music has always been instrumental in figuring out how to stay alive. Specifically in high school. I didn’t really experience the going-to-live-shows thing much. I was living about an hour outside Chicago in Indiana, listening to lots of punk rock, lots of riot grrrl, lots of queercore music. I didn’t have many peers who shared that musical interest. But I had the music! I had an awareness that if the music was out there, there was audience and there were other people like me.

Brennan: Thematically, Tom Waits writes about these very dark subjects, but he writes about them as if they’re beautiful. You know? He does this storytelling between his songs in concert, and the way he describes life, he’s in the shadows, he’s in the filth. And he sees it all as beautiful. So for a person who’s kind of clinically sad, being able to be like, ‘Aaand it’s beautiful,’ is really helpful. Instead of pretending to be happy or turning away from it. Being like, ‘Oh, being sad feels good, maybe?’

Okay, one last question—apart from being their names, is there an intended meaning behind ‘Pop Waits’?

Brennan: I mean, it’s catchy. I think people can interpret it different ways. There was someone who didn’t know what our source material was, and they were thinking it meant, like, ‘Pop music waits for something.’

White: The title kind of started off as a placeholder, but I liked the variety of ways it spoke to people. That’s why it stuck for me. And I love verbs. Give me a verb-y, two-syllable title and I’m down.

This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.

Pop Waits premieres at the Neo-Futurarium on Thursday. For tickets and more information, go to the show page.

Emilie Shumway is a writer living in Chicago. She can be found on Twitter at @emilieshumway.