Our History
Screaming Chicken began performing in 2003 with Gameshow Night, an R-rated parody of television game shows where audience members compete for prizes like tattoos and piercings in games such as The Cockring Toss and Strip Golf. Originally taking place monthly at The Cobalt, Vancouver’s infamous, and now defunct punk bar. Over the course of a year Gameshow Night grew in popularity and quickly gained a cult following of dedicated fans. Much to the chagrin of Vancouver’s punk and metal community, The Cobalt closed its doors shortly after Gameshow Night’s one-year anniversary, prompting the troupe to take the show on the road.
photo by Norm
The second season of Gameshow Night saw the addition of a number of new cast members and the teaming of the show with a group of local burlesque dancers to form the Taboo Revue. The Revue kept the focus on comedy while adding a much larger theatrical burlesque element to the show. This new show immediately began touring various venues in the Vancouver area and in the North West US where it met with strong support. Offering an alternative to traditional night life, The Taboo Revue quickly carved out a niche for itself. The new show helped generate a lot of interest in Screaming Chicken and with more people than ever involved, the company felt ready to undertake it's largest production to date - Ed Wood's Orgy of the Dead - LIVE! The show was previewed once in Vancouver to a sold out crowd and was a resounding success, finally getting Screaming Chicken critical recognition as a legitimate theater company.
More recently, Screaming Chicken has co-produced the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, created Vancouver's first school of Burlesque and written a feature play for the 2006 Fringe Festival. This creative group continues to expand and take on bigger and bigger projects.