The Submarine Show
May 22 + 23
Doors 7:30 | Show 8PM
Tickets $20-40
Deep beneath the ocean's surface, two intrepid explorers have just crashed their submarine — and that's only the beginning. What follows is an epic, madcap journey from the ocean floor all the way to the sky and back again, as our heroes navigate the impossible with nothing but their bodies, their wits, and their boundless imagination. Watch in wonder as a vivid world teeming with flora and fauna erupts before your very eyes — conjured from thin air, built from absolutely nothing.
This is physical comedy at its most fearless. Nonstop, breathless, and gloriously absurd, The Submarine Show will have you doubled over in laughter one moment and leaning forward in genuine suspense the next. Jaron and Slater's signature brand of storytelling is pure kinetic adventure — not a single word is spoken, every moment is discovered live in the room, and no two shows are ever the same.
Since its debut in 2009, this award-winning comedy has toured the world to rave reviews and standing ovations, captivating audiences across continents. The Submarine Show has claimed "Best of Fringe" at the San Francisco International Fringe Festival, Fringe NYC, and the Kansas City Fringe Festival, and was named a "Hot Pick" by the Edinburgh Scotsman. Seventeen years and counting — and it's still making waves.
Artist Bio
Jaron Hollander (he/they) is a Bay Area native and performer, teacher, and director of circus, physical theatre, and puppetry whose work lives at the intersection of the athletic and the deeply strange. A graduate of UC Santa Cruz and the Dell'Arte School, Jaron has trained at CircoArts New Zealand and under the legendary Lu Yi at the Circus Center in San Francisco. Co-founder of Kinetic Arts Center in Oakland and a recent recipient of an MFA in Puppet Arts from the University of Connecticut, he has spent decades building spaces where bodies tell stories that words cannot. Having trained in theatre school, clown school, circus school, and puppet school, Jaron has performed all over the world — including with Cirque du Soleil. The Submarine Show remains his absolute favorite thing to do — a joy born equally from the show itself and from the irreplaceable creative partnership he shares with Slater. Jaron currently calls Seattle home.
Slater Penney (they/he) is an Emmy award–winning performer and creator working at the intersection of physical theatre, dance, clown, mime, and puppetry. With training spanning UC Santa Cruz, the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and an MFA in Dramatic Arts from UC Davis, their work blends rigorous technique with playful, imaginative storytelling.
Slater has been performing professionally since the mid-1990s, with appearances ranging from immersive theater and devised performance to international festivals and even TEDx. In 1999 they answered an ad on craigslist for an audition at Tech TV, and one year later they’re getting an Emmy Award for “Body Performance for Motion Capture”. In 2004 they auditioned with broken fingers for a puppetry gig, and then went on to perform with Liebe Wetzel’s “Lunatique Fantastique” for nearly a decade. And in 2010 Slater teamed up with ex Cirque du Soleil clown Jaron Hollander to make a ten minute improvisation about being in a submarine, and 4 years later their original work “The Submarine Show” grew to 75 minutes of madcap physical comedy and has toured widely, including a run at the Edinburgh Fringe and beyond.
Slater is known for creating expressive, character-driven performances that often rely on minimal text, exploring humor, vulnerability, and the strange edges of human behavior. Alongside their performance career, they are an experienced teaching artist and facilitator, working with students and communities of all ages and backgrounds to build confidence, creativity, and physical awareness through movement-based practices.
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