by Beth Accomando

August 6, 2025

Are you ready for “The Wulfeater“? This interactive musical theater experience makes its world premiere at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center San Diego this Friday, August 8th.

Brian and Danisha Jenkins have been bouncing around the idea for “The Wulfeater” for some 20 years but got down to serious work a couple years ago.

“The story is about a club that exists in a place called Cleveland,” Brian explained. “Cleveland is neither in the past, present, or future. That’s totally up to the audience’s interpretation. And when you come see ‘The Wulfeater,’ you get to spend a night in the club, immersed in all the fun and debauchery and I think very strange directions that the story takes.’

It’s a big, bold, in your face musical with a lot on its mind.

“We’ve started talking about this story throughout my time when I was getting my PhD,” Danisha said. “I have my PhD in nursing, and I studied biopolitics of power dynamics amongst institutions and how various groups of people engage in exploitation. Simultaneously, Brian was getting his master’s degree in women and gender studies. So we really talked a lot about subjugation of people, power, and how that’s wielded in different spaces in different times. And also the performance of gender is a huge piece in this story. It is definitely underpinned by abolitionist, feminist philosophies, and just this exploration of we’re all very unhappy with a lot of things that are happening in the world, and we’re really asking the audience to question themselves ourselves and question ourselves, how do we exist every day in upholding these power structures that are causing harm to all of us?”

“We’ve been pretty explicit in trying to position this play as not necessarily anti-Trump,” Brian added. “But asking people to think a little bit deeper than that. One thing we’ve talked a lot about is how this play is coming on the heels of the No King’s protests, where I think oftentimes people in America tend to see themselves as powerless figures, and that there is a group of ruling class people who are making all the decisions, and we have to put our hands up in the air, and we can’t do anything about it. This play asks people to think about the ways in which they may be actively participating in that oppression every day because it affords them privilege or something to gain in that. That is very much the focus of this play. We know that probably most people coming into this space are probably going to agree with us that we don’t love most of Donald Trump’s policies. I’m excited and I’m hopeful that we can get those people to maybe take it a step further and say, beyond Donald Trump, what have I witnessed in my entire lifetime that has been the same despite which president’s here? What does that mean for me, and how have I actively or sometimes not knowingly, worked to uphold that?”

“The Wulfeater” is dense with ideas but also sexy, fun and interactive. Attendees get to wait in line for the play along with the cast members who play the regulars of the club. Once inside you can order drinks from the bar on the set, and if you are in one of the VIP seats, you can be guaranteed a part in the show.

“The Wulfeater” (ages 18 and up) runs Fridays through Sundays through September 7 at Tenth Avenue Arts Center. General admission is $35.00, and a VIP table for four is $250.00.