It’s been 20 years since the fall of the American Republic as we knew it. 20 years since free elections, freedom of speech, freedom from religion. The resistance has been pushed deep underground.
But it’s time to celebrate!
Because something else happens while you’re underground… your roots grow strong.
artwork by Andrew Lawrence Schiff
Saturday, April 25, 2026 @ The Phoenix Theatre, Minneapolis
The Resistance Cabaret is a rambunctious, full-throated evening of music to keep us energized through the ongoing fight against authoritarianism and rising waves of fear in our country.
Featuring a lineup of professional musicians from across the Twin Cities vibrant music scene.
Presented in part of Earth Week at the Phoenix Theatre.
THE ARTISTS
CLICK ON THEIR IMAGES FOR MORE INFO
MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS
YKATIRINA (KATIA) CARDENAS
Katia is a multi-genre vocalist, actor and international touring artist specializing in jazz, who performs throughout the region at venues and festivals, including the Twin Cities Jazz Festival. She leads a swing band, Katia & The Upswing, and has sung with show bands like Boogie Wonderland, Blue Water Kings, and Casablanca Orchestra. She's also produced and performed tribute shows honoring Sara Bareilles and The Ladies of Lilith Fair. She’s a regular attendee of local jazz jam sessions, and over the last year, has appeared on stages across the US and Europe. Acting Credits: Teatro Del Pueblo (Voces Latinas: A Broadway Musical Revue; Help Wanted; Coco’s Barrio), Pangea World Theater (Sueño, House on Mango Street), Theater Unbound (Girl Group), Eat Street Players (Red Tureen).
Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Katia has been an engaged member of the Twin Cities music community for almost 20 years as a performer, curator, event organizer, program director and arts administrator, working in various at arts organizations that proudly promote diversity, equity and inclusion, including: TIgerLion Arts, Pangea World Theater, Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Dakota Foundation for Jazz Education, Walker West Music Academy, and more.
Learn more at KatiaCardenas.com & IG @katiasinging
JOE CAREY
KATHRYN CESARZ
Kathryn Cesarz is a theatre artist, clown, director and performer developing new works of theatre. She has made theatre in Milwaukee, NYC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Northern California, Scotland, England, Bali, and Mexico, in venues as varied as street corners, 400-seat theatres, and in the B-yard gym at Pelican Bay State Prison. Recent projects include Fox & Beggar's Tigre! Tigre! and Portraits of Curiosity at Cahoot?! Physical Theatre, where she is an Artistic Co-Director of the company. Originally from Wisconsin, Kathryn holds a B.S. from the University of Evansville and an M.F.A. from Dell’Arte International School. kathryncesarz.com
TOLU EKISOLA
toluekisola.com
Writing: www.royalcoilsblog.wordpress.com
Activism: www.caareproductions.org
Community engaged actor, writer, and producer; founder and executive director of CAARE Production Company & Outreach Center, Tolu wields the arts and digital media to activate global citizenship, empathy, and mobilization for Black and Indigenous people in her community. She has performanced on stages and behind the scenes at Mixed Blood Theatre, Yellow Tree, Nebraska Shakespeare, History Theatre, UC School of Medicine, and Indeed’s Rising Voices. Tolu holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California Irvine and a Minor in ASL from the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
marzipanik/RYAN HILL
Performer, producer, writer and educator for ensemble-created art for almost three decades. Ryan’s work has been seen on stages in the Twin Cities, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, and Beijing. marzipanik was founded in 2016 in Oakland, CA as a way for the solo ensemble performer to explore his personal style for the first time. The pandemic pushed that exploration into visual art and digital video exploration. He was founding Artistic Director of Sandbox Theatre in Minneapolis, where he led creation of fifteen new productions from 2005 to 2013. He has worked with seminal director Robert Wilson and appeared in the 2012 production of Woyzeck at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. A prolific playwright, some of his over 300 plays are even good, including the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Festival winner The Ferry. He’s also a former Fulbright Scholar having worked with avant garde theatres in Berlin. Currently he’s a chicken & cat dad.
Maxi
Maxi (aka Wayne Laberda) has been a regular performer, host, and comedian within the Minneapolis drag scene since 1998. She has graced the stages of Club Metro, Gay 90's, Black Hearts, and The Saloon, and currently performs regularly at Roxy's Cabaret, Lush Lounge & Theater, and Chanhassen Dinner Theater.
Outside of drag Wayne is a clothing and costume designer. Making costumes for some of the biggest names in drag: Miss Richfield 1981, Bebe Zahara Bonnet, Mrs. Kasha Davis and more. He's extremely excited to be a part of this production and can't wait to see what more is to come from marzipanik.
KAITLEN OSBURN
Kaitlen Osburn [she/her] is a theater artist and arts administrator who wears many hats. Production highlights from her career include an original devised tragedy; an election night hullabaloo; and, shockingly, a recent high school production of Cats. Kaitlen has authored over 30 plays for youth, a full-length musical, and is currently the Drama Program Director at Roseville Area High School. She has an MFA in Ensemble-Devised Theater from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater and has studied clowning, bouffon, improv, puppetry, and commedia all around the nation. She is passionate about native plant gardening, the BWCAW, and playing kickball. You can often find her performing around the cities in the rad 80s/Americana cover-band Jeremiah & the Non-Prophets.
JC SANFORD
ANDREW LAWRENCE SCHIFF
Andrew is a visual artist, fashion designer, and professional baker. He holds multiple art degrees from UCLA and Otis Parsons. His first career was designing menswear in New York, which eventually brought him to Minneapolis. He juggled that work with creating costume designs and establishing a guiding visual aesthetic for Sandbox Theatre. When he finally broke out of corporate design, he built a second career out of his love of baking and founded Oak&Fig Baking in his home town of Oakland, CA. His luxury cake and sweets business thrived in the hyper competitive Bay Area market. After another relocation back to Minneapolis, he now focuses on taking care of his family, home, and obsessing over his dahlia garden.
ANDREW SCHUFMAN
Andrew Schufman is a singer, photographer, and full-time father based in Minneapolis. He holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Emerson College and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from NYU. His photography lives at fieldandtown.com. Love to Isaac, Ezra & family and gratitude to Ryan for the opportunity!
music
photography
GREG SCHUTTE
Greg Schutte is a Minneapolis based drummer, producer and composer. As a touring drummer, Schutte has toured and performed with Ryan Bingham, Mickey Hart Band (Grateful Dead), Chastity Brown, Stephen Stills, Gloria Gaynor and more. He performed on B.B. King’s 2002 U.S. “Summer Blues Fest” with The Shane Henry ;Cyndi Lauper’s 2006 “Body Acoustic World Tour” with Minneapolis Reggae Pop group The RULE. He owns, operates and produces music at Bathtub Shrine Recording in Minneapolis.
ERIC SELIGMAN
Eric Seligman is a musician and sociologist based in Minnesota's Twin Cities. As arranger, he has worked with the Laurels String Quartet, Annie Humphrey, Barbara Cohen, Adam Levy, Cliff Notez, and Anjimile. As a composer for dance, he frequently works with choreographer Ilya Vidrin; their piece Proxies will premiere at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in summer 2026. He was a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter in the indie-classical Baby Cleo. As a sociologist, he has taught at the City University of New York and written for Prison Policy Initiative and Theoretical Criminology, and he organizes the Carceral Political Economy Conference.
JACQUELINE ULTAN
Jacqueline Ultan is a singularly creative cellist, composer & improvisor who’s unique versatility is reflected in her many current artistic collaborations that include: Duo CORDA; The Laurels String Quartet; Chris Lynch’s Dust Of Suns Ensemble; Barbara Cohen and Little Lizard; The Starfolk; The Shabby Road Orchestra; Vertighost and Hover.
Jacqueline has recorded and collaborated extensively with theater, dance, pop, rock and new music artists including: Dan Wilson, Semisonic, Chastity Brown, Ondara, Soul Asylum, Prof, Annie Humphrey, Kill The Vultures, Roma di Luna, The Jayhawks, and many others. Jacqueline has received a McKnight Performing Artist Fellowship; MacPhail Artist & Commissioning Grants; MRAC’s Next Step Grant and a State Arts Board Arts Tour MN grant. As a composer, Ultan co-wrote music and performed in TED Talks! conferences in Minneapolis and L.A. and co-wrote an original duo cello score for a production at Theater Latte Da. Jacqueline is also honored to have been a six-time artist in residence at Tofte Lake Center in Ely, MN. Also a dedicated teacher on the faculty at the MacPhail Center for Music, Jacqueline holds a Masters Degree in Performance from Yale University.
BRENDA VARDA
Brenda Varda - writer, director, songwriter, musical director, musician, performer, (and some other stuff) - is a recent transplant back to the Twin Cities, from Los Angeles (and Chicago, San Fran, St. Louis, NY). A native Minnesotan, she has performed in theatre (regional, Los Angeles), Improvisation (Second City), film, commercials, and TV - and has written 20+ scripts for stage, including musicals, solo shows, full-cast epic plays, and one-acts. As the founder of Wordspace in Los Angeles, she hosted workshops and events for writers of all kind - spoken word to screenwriting - and also ran Singers Workout LA, coaching professional theatre artists. She is currently establishing www.sci-arts.org in the Twin Cities, creating collaborations for performing artists/writers and scientists looking to share stories.