THE BONNIES
I’m on Fire, You’re on Fire, We’re on Fire
MAR 4 – 7 | 7:30 PM
12th Ave Arts Mainstage |1620 12th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122
Presented through the Velocity’s Regionally Established Creative Incubator Program
I’m on Fire, You’re on Fire, We’re on Fire | About The Work
Seattle performance duo The Bonnies (Kaitlin McCarthy and Jenny Peterson) merge their decade of comedy dance experience with their “more serious” art practice to debut an evening length joyride of grotesque femininity, experimental indulgence, and the intimacy of a friendship 15 years in the making.
Inspired by the beloved absurdist 1966 Czech New Wave film, Daisies, The Bonnies harness their perceived femininity–the silly, slutty, trivial, and excessive–to craft a world where fantasies can play out on a larger-than-life scale: a candy-colored world of impulse and freewheeling femme chaos. In a collision of eras, The Bonnies pull from 60s cinema, Bruce Springsteen’s catalogue, the cultural phenomenon surrounding Lorena Bobbitt, and Jenny and Kaitlin’s fantasy bedroom dances–both adolescent and contemporary. Working their way towards euphoria, The Bonnies (and their giant rainbow monster puppet alter egos) teeter between vision and delusion, manifesting a shared destiny built from queer plutonic love.
Featuring original music by Jenny and costume/design by Kaitlin, I’m on Fire, You’re on Fire, We’re on Fire grapples with the morally complex territory of fantasy, violence, and vulnerability of desire, cloaked as a ditzy comedy routine.
ARTIST BIOS
THE BONNIES
REGIONALLY ESTABLISHED CREATIVE INCUBATOR PROGRAMS
Velocity’s Regionally Established Creative Incubator, Co-Productions, are for Seattle-based artists who want to collaborate with Velocity to share the development, production and presentation of a new full-length work. These artists have experience self-producing their own full-length work, and usually set specific goals for this program that help them grow their long-term artistic mission, vision, and audience, while increasing their work’s technical scale, budget, and impact.
ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION
12th Ave Arts is fully accessible for wheelchairs and walkers. The lobby and bathrooms are at street level, and seating is available without the need for an elevator or stairs. The venue is also equipped with an Assistive Listening Device.
PROGRAM SUPPORT
Velocity’s 2026 season is supported by 4 Culture, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, ArtsFund, and Creative West. It is underwritten by John C. Robinson, and Glenn Kawasaki Foundation. In addition, this work is generously supported by, Douglas Pearce, Gay MacGregor, and Peter Zachos.
Contact erin@velocitydancecenter.org to learn how you can be involved.
John C. Robinson
Glenn H. Kawasaki Foundation
The Bonnies
Kaitlin McCarthy and Jenny Peterson have been making strange performance works together in Seattle, WA since 2013. Often performing as “The Bonnies,” they gravitate to the grotesque/off-kilter/marvelous like moths to the flame. They have performed at Risk/Reward festival, WET’s Six-Pack Series, Velocity’s NextFest, OTB’s Open Studio, Boost Dance Festival, NEPO 5k, Seattle Intl Dance Festival, High F@ggotry, and other underground art salons and nightlife performance venues. In 2024 they premiered their first evening-length work, DRIVE WOLVES MAD, and toured it to Portland, OR and San Diego, CA.
One of us is tall, one is short, both are Type A weirdos. Jenny is a Seattle artist working in dance, photography, and music/sound. She grew up a competitive gymnast in the Chicago suburbs and has never recovered. Jenny boasts 17 years of performing professionally in Seattle, including with the Pat Graney Company since 2008. She holds a B.A. in Dance and Visual Arts from UC Irvine and is a licensed massage therapist. Kaitlin is a Seattle-based dance artist, teacher, and journalist. She has performed with countless local choreographers since 2010, including with Alice Gosti/MALACARNE for over a decade. A prominent dance writer about town, she edits the publication SeattleDances and specializes in teaching adult beginning dance. You can find out more at their respective websites: jennypeterson.com and kaitlinmccarthy.com.
*Photo by Jenny Peterson