Seattle art-mayhem maestro Ryan Mitchell conducts performance art that intentionally disquiets viewers with scenes both beautiful and disgusting. For one past work, he covered his arm with leeches while the cast did whippets; for another (pictured), a talking bouquet—known to friends as Kate Ryan—delivered less-than-flowery prose and dancers rose from beneath funereal piles of dirt…an hour into the show. So when Mitchell and his experimental troupe Saint Genet say their next act, Paradisiacal Rites, will be fueled by “blood, booze, and bands,” take them at their word.

Saint Genet: Paradisiacal Rites 
May 16–19 at 8, $20, On the Boards, 100 W Roy St, 206-217-9888; ontheboards.org

Published: May 2013