Samson Y Hiss' Carnival of Psychos On 26 September 2025
Friday, September 26, 2025, 1900 - 2100
Calamitous carny, Samson Y Hiss, the award-winning composer and record-holding one-man band, brings his psychotic ooze of circus horror, opera, and theatre to Oakland. The theatrical experience features an original story, operatic vocals, circus performers, stunt artists, overhead projectors and a live band.
Patient 51 escapes an insane asylum, falls headfirst into a traveling carnival and flees across the desert from the authorities-a wake of vultures. Patient 51, a newly committed anarchist, endures experimental shock "therapy." There's Manhattan, the militant head nurse who turns patients into guinea pigs. And Joplin, the carnival fairy and fearful employee of a traveling sideshow. Carnival of Psychos isn't a place, but a theatrical escape hatch into terror and lunacy.
Carnival of Psychos is an original theatrical performance featuring a live band of carnies. The last show Hiss staged in Oakland, One-Handed Witch, sold out and then shook the knickers off the country from here to Salem, MA. Now the carnival is coming, and with it ... madness.
Story
The concept for this experience came after a trip to the Fremont Psychiatric Hospital and a call for an extraction. "5150" refers to an involuntary hold in a psychiatric facility for people who are deemed dangerous, or are gravely disabled from a mental health breakdown. Passing from the waiting room through a security door and encountering a carnival of noise, inspiration struck like a barbed needle.
Music
Hailing from Oakland, Hiss' credits include One-Handed Witch, Poison Circus and Circus Screams, film and theatre works about witchcraft and mental illness. His cacophonous music is a roller coaster ride from beginning to end. The melodies dance and the trills thrill. Each piece of discordant music utilizing electric organ, saxophone, tuba and percussion featuring artists: Paul Dab (SF Opera) and Jordon Danley (OakTown Jazz).
Opera
Art songs, the hinges and catapults of a Hiss theatrical story, are performed by opera stars from the Bay Area and beyond. Stars from La Boheme and Willy Wonka. Joining the cast of Carnival of Psychos bringing the drama and window-shaking vibrato: Alex Taite (SF Opera), Nina Jones (SF Opera) and Adam Green (California Theatre).
Circus
Reputation precedes the hijinx and disaster follows the mayhem. Injecting Carnival of Psychos with reimagined classic acts and new sideshow stunts are masters of their craft, artists: Dizzy From Earlier (The Ruckus Revival) and Renee Sedliar (Circus Center).
Shadows
Immersed in a world of light and shadow, Italian shadow puppet artist of One-Handed Witch fame, Rita Deiola (Svegliati Europa) creates silhouette frames to be performed with an overhead projector for Carnival of Psychos. Life is breathed into psychotic scenes.
Early Bird Tickets: $20
General Admission Tickets: $25 ($30 at the door)
VIP Tickets: $50 (front row seat, monogrammed kazoo and theatre candy)
Website: www.samsonYhiss.com
Category: Arts | Performing Arts | Theatre
Patient 51 escapes an insane asylum, falls headfirst into a traveling carnival and flees across the desert from the authorities-a wake of vultures. Patient 51, a newly committed anarchist, endures experimental shock "therapy." There's Manhattan, the militant head nurse who turns patients into guinea pigs. And Joplin, the carnival fairy and fearful employee of a traveling sideshow. Carnival of Psychos isn't a place, but a theatrical escape hatch into terror and lunacy.
Carnival of Psychos is an original theatrical performance featuring a live band of carnies. The last show Hiss staged in Oakland, One-Handed Witch, sold out and then shook the knickers off the country from here to Salem, MA. Now the carnival is coming, and with it ... madness.
Story
The concept for this experience came after a trip to the Fremont Psychiatric Hospital and a call for an extraction. "5150" refers to an involuntary hold in a psychiatric facility for people who are deemed dangerous, or are gravely disabled from a mental health breakdown. Passing from the waiting room through a security door and encountering a carnival of noise, inspiration struck like a barbed needle.
Music
Hailing from Oakland, Hiss' credits include One-Handed Witch, Poison Circus and Circus Screams, film and theatre works about witchcraft and mental illness. His cacophonous music is a roller coaster ride from beginning to end. The melodies dance and the trills thrill. Each piece of discordant music utilizing electric organ, saxophone, tuba and percussion featuring artists: Paul Dab (SF Opera) and Jordon Danley (OakTown Jazz).
Opera
Art songs, the hinges and catapults of a Hiss theatrical story, are performed by opera stars from the Bay Area and beyond. Stars from La Boheme and Willy Wonka. Joining the cast of Carnival of Psychos bringing the drama and window-shaking vibrato: Alex Taite (SF Opera), Nina Jones (SF Opera) and Adam Green (California Theatre).
Circus
Reputation precedes the hijinx and disaster follows the mayhem. Injecting Carnival of Psychos with reimagined classic acts and new sideshow stunts are masters of their craft, artists: Dizzy From Earlier (The Ruckus Revival) and Renee Sedliar (Circus Center).
Shadows
Immersed in a world of light and shadow, Italian shadow puppet artist of One-Handed Witch fame, Rita Deiola (Svegliati Europa) creates silhouette frames to be performed with an overhead projector for Carnival of Psychos. Life is breathed into psychotic scenes.
Early Bird Tickets: $20
General Admission Tickets: $25 ($30 at the door)
VIP Tickets: $50 (front row seat, monogrammed kazoo and theatre candy)
Website: www.samsonYhiss.com
Category: Arts | Performing Arts | Theatre
Starting Price Per Person
$ 25.00 USD
Other Information
Where
Oakstop California Ballroom
1736 Franklin Street
Oakland California 94612
United States
( Multi-Purpose Events Venue )
1736 Franklin Street
Oakland California 94612
United States
( Multi-Purpose Events Venue )
Event Organizer Contact
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Event ID: 254714
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