Duncan is a versatile performer ranging from classical to musical theater and has performed across the Pacific Northwest with notable musical theater ventures are Whizzer (Falsettos) who’s performance was “emotional centered” or Tony (West Side Story) in which his voice moves “effortlessly between strong and proud and tender and sweet.” In the area of acting he performed Mitia (Burnt By the Sun) and gave“truly superb acting.” Additionally a special spot for new work he has workshopped Lauren Goldman Marshall and Roger Ames new musical Abraham’s Land, new educational tours, and Pamela Gerke’s Nightengale. Along this vein of new work he has a passion for collaborative devised work with cabarets.
Devised Cabaret
Devised Cabaret’s intent is to get performance artist professionals together to craft a show that explores personal themes and connect audience to our shared humanity through storytelling, singing, acting, in a connected narrative.
Two’s Company Three’s Complicated was a co collaboration with Duncan Clark Menzies, Anna Galavis, and Becky Peterson and produced by Lesser Known Players at Rolling Bay Hall on Bainbridge Island, accompanied by Jeff Caldwell. The piece explored the ins and outs of love and friendship through musical theater, opera, and jazz.
Crazy In Love: A Devised Cabaret was produced by Duncan Clark Menzies and brought together Seattle based performer Bobbi Kotula, LA based Michael Strauss, and Texas based director David Garbarkewitz, accompanied by Matt Goodrich to perform a work exploring our personally defined pursuit of love through original song, celtic folk, musical theater, and pop numbers. This was produced in tandem with Drawn Together Arts and The Art Spirit Gallery, fiscally sponsored by the Music Conservatory of Coeur d’Alene, and funded by the Avista Corporation.
Cabaret Sample
The medium of cabaret allows for personal creativity and storytelling to be unhinged that that is exciting .
Opera
Graduating with a Vocal Performance degree from University of Idaho, Duncan has always had a passion for opera since first seeing Mozart’s Barber of Seville in sixth grade. He has performed opera educational tours such as Papageno in The Magic Flute For Kids, Count Almaviva in Barber of Seville (abridged), and Opera Chorus roles in La Traviata, Faust, and La Boheme.
Performance Posts
PRIDE
When we are around people who embody pride; pride for the space they live in, pride about their areas of interest, proud of the artist process and their creations we feel a sense of expanding welcoming space.
Decentralization
We must decenter ourselves because there are cultural worlds unchartered, peoples unexplored, selves we do not know, and art unexamined. There is a part deep within which cries out to open yourself and look and truly see and be seen. be seen in the self examination and be seen in the listening to the other.
Deportation
I wanted to go on vacation to reset, to disturb my routine, to remind myself of the multiplicities of possibility, to disconnect, to disassociate from what I know. To stop, to pause, cease from the grind, be away from my phone. I got all the benefits of everything listed above but not in the way…
I often notice my dampened curiosity by my relative familiarly. How can place play a role in making us more open and cultivate curiosity.
We find ourselves at a threshold between one year and the next or one season to the next. With the approaching spring its a time of renewal, new life, growth, and turning our attention from the inward winter months to the outward connection around us. We see our society changing, our political climate changing, our…
Blindness
I am blind to the future. I am blind to what it hold. I am blind. My next steps are shaky, my mind fluctuating with anxiety and hopeless joyful abandon. One moment fully present, the next wrestling with the great unknown. The only console is find a way to create; to have some control or…
An Extraordinary Human: Michael Louden
We met in at a coffee shop after a callback in Seattle. He asked about the coffee I was having and conversations progressed about theater. And then, in our first interaction he asked if my last name was Menzies. And I thought, “this random person in this coffee shop knows me, how in the world…
While I was in Busy Making Plans
The sun had just set when I arrived at Roxy’s, a cozy little campsite in the heart of Slab City. The Steward of Salvation Mountain had recommended it to me, and I was eager to see what all the fuss was about. As I approached the hearth in the front of the camp, I saw…
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Duncan Clark Menzies 