Don't try to pin down Ruby Western. The queer-identified artist dabbles in acting, painting, writing and stand-up comedy. It's the latter that largely inspired Western to produce and host an hour-long female queer variety show called Quite Right Tonight at the Annoyance Theatre.
"A lot of comedic spaces especially are dominated by white cis men and I myself have gone in there and felt uncomfortable and not listened to," Western said. "You're number nine of 12 and I'm, like, 'I'm not going to make a joke about my dick tonightsorry, I'm the only one.' So bringing together people who want to hear each other and want to speak to each other and have it be a conversational thingit felt really important."
For each performance of Quite Right Tonight, Western invites five different female and queer-identified performers to appear. For example, at the Oct. 12 performance there were two poets, a singer-songwriter, a standup comic and a burlesque dancer. Western then interviews each performer in the style of a late-night TV show host to ask about future projects and what they do for a living.
"I wanted to bring folks together because there are some amazing comedians and amazing musicians who would never be playing in the same space," Western said. "It's mostly a showcase space for people that I've seen and enjoyed."
In aiming to create an inclusive space, Western wasn't too picky about how the performers self-identify. For example, one performer on Oct. 12 mentioned she was in a relationship with a cisgender male.
"'Queer' means different things to different people. But it's this umbrella term. It's definitely this political identity or sexual orientation identity and so there are folks who I know who are cisgender females who are dating cisgender men," Western said. "They still identify as queer, while there are people who don't identify as a certain gender. There are so many possibilities and the whole spectrumI want to have everybody represented."
Western frames each show around a broad theme like "Beginnings," "Family" or "Dating." It's done with the hope that the performers already have work to correspond with it.
"Something that is important to people so they probably have something in stock about it," Western said. "And if not, they're welcome anyway."
This aspect played out Oct. 12 when poet Stacy Fox chose to ignore the "Dating" theme for one of her two poets read aloud. It was an alarmingly funny, yet poignant, poem about the time she was babysitting and the infant fell from a couch to hit its head on the living room floor.
In framing Quite Right Tonight, Western wanted to keep things fun through the show. That's why the show program is an unconventional bingo card for audiences to play along with during the show with the hopes of winning a prize.
Since Quite Right Tonight is staged in the Annoyance's classroom-sized Small Theatre, production values are understandably limited or makeshift. The non-conformist and rough-around-the-edges vibe is also in play, since not every performer was polished or spoke loudly enough during their interview portion with Western.
Nonetheless, Quite Right Tonight serves an important purpose for Western and hopefully for all the artists working in different genres that she has gathered together.
"As many spaces that can be made safe spaces for queer artists is incredibly important," Western said. "And so I had the opportunity and I wanted to make that happen."
Ruby Western's Quite Right Tonight continues at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Nov. 16 at the Annoyance Theatre, 851 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets are $8. For more information, call 773-697-9693 or visit TheAnnoyance.com .