The first-ever Tampa International Fringe Festival kicked off in earnest Thursday, offering a wide variety of performance craziness in venues across Ybor City. And it's at perhaps the most obscure of those venues — a tiny mixed-use space in a stylish new building on Ybor's southeastern fringe called Urban Phoenix Studios — that you'll find one of TiFf's most straight-up entertaining shows, courtesy of Brooklynite "Killy" Kelly Dwyer and her white jumpsuit and multiple musical talents.
Mock$tar is a one-woman-show, all right, but not in the sense of scripted theater; Dwyer is a vocalist and songwriter, and Mock$tar could be considered a concert or cabaret act — albeit one of a style you probably haven't experienced anywhere before. Using a few digital gadgets, her laptop and even her phone, Dwyer builds her songs out of loops of modulated vocal tones, app-made instrumental melodies, harmonies and mouth-made beats, weaving them in and out of an on-the-fly mix as she sings over the top. This isn't particularly novel, but Dwyer's unique approach, lyrical subject matter and stage persona — a tongue-in-cheek diva not too far removed from a cross between David Bowie and a drag queen — render the whole thing fresh and hilarious.
Dwyer warmed up the small crowd Thursday night with some comedic banter, a cutting (but accurate) critique of the wine and a quick peek at the Spanx under her jumpsuit, then launched into a bouncy number debating whether or not she turned a former boyfriend gay. From there she went on to cover hypochondria, robot envy, typecasting/prejudice, cannibalism and more, showing off her impressive vocal ability (lady can rap, too) and often stopping mid-song when a tangential idea or bon mot crossed her mind. Dwyer is obviously an experienced and at-ease performer, carrying off absurdity and winking grandiosity with an engaging casualness and effortlessly working the crowd; even the juxtaposition of using so much technology as the foundation of such an organic, loose and unpredictable show came off as charming.
That unpredictability practically ensures attendees to Mock$tar's two remaining shows this weekend won't see exactly the same performance that unfolded Thursday night — at one point, she was joined onstage for a couple of tunes by a friend and former bandmate from New York, and who knows if that's gonna happen again. But whatever comes out of Dwyer's mouth and off the top of her head should be well worth hearing and seeing.
Sat., May 13 @ 5:30 p.m.; Sun., May 14 @ 8:30 p.m., Urban Phoenix Studios, 202 E. 5th Ave., #103, Ybor City. $10 w/Festival button.
This article appears in May 11-18, 2017.