The Lesson
Perfume Genius & Kate Wallich
World Premiere
- Price
- $40 + $2 Convenience Fee**
- Genres
- Dance, Music
- DATE
- FEB 18-20 & FEB 25-27
- TIME
- THU-SAT, 8 PM
- RUNTIME
- Approx. 75 minutes
- COUNTRY
- USA
* Discounts available for REDCAT members, students & CalArts faculty and staff
Join the conversation in the REDCAT LOUNGE
About
Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) and Kate Wallich present a new evening-length music and dance work, The Lesson. Combining Perfume Genius’ experimental pop music with Wallich’s distinctive choreography, it draws inspiration from The Piano Teacher, the notorious novel by Elfriede Jelinek that was adapted into Michael Haneke’s celebrated film. The Lesson examines what happens when desire has nowhere to go, and what we are rehearsing when we practice “good behavior.” Moving through repression, longing, authority, and submission, it unfolds through unstable scenes where roles shift, boundaries blur, and the unsaid becomes manically physical. Created and performed by Hadreas, Wallich, Alan Wyffels, and Tate Justus, and featuring a score of new music from Perfume Genius, The Lesson continues an ongoing artistic dialogue between music, movement, and performance following Hadreas and Wallich’s acclaimed 2019 collaboration The Sun Still Burns Here, hailed by critics as “an otherworldly collaboration” (The Stranger). Premiering at REDCAT for an extended two-week run before a worldwide tour with performances in New York City, Paris, London, and more.
An otherworldly collaboration
—
The Stranger
The Lesson was commissioned by Seattle Theatre Group and the STG Performing Arts Series, with additional commissioning and development support from REDCAT, Liquid Music/Northrop, MASS MoCA, and WIP LA.
about the artists
Perfume Genius is the moniker of artist Mike Hadreas. Since releasing his debut album, Learning, in 2010 via longtime label home Matador Records, Hadreas has become one of the most acclaimed and distinctive voices in contemporary music, known for emotionally vulnerable songwriting, nuanced vocals, and boundary-pushing performances. His celebrated body of work includes Put Your Back N 2 It; Too Bright, featuring the breakthrough single “Queen,” which became a queer anthem and powerful statement of identity; the GRAMMY-nominated No Shape, which brought mainstream recognition to his work; Set My Heart On Fire Immediately; Ugly Season; and his most recent GRAMMY-nominated album, Glory (2025). Spanning music, live performance, and interdisciplinary collaboration, Hadreas continues to expand the possibilities of contemporary artistic practice.
Kate Wallich is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and founder whose work spans contemporary performance, public practice, and creative entrepreneurship. She is the founder of Dance Church®, the all-levels movement class that offers weekly classes in more than 13 markets across the United States, supports over 50 professional dance artists through ongoing employment as teachers, and has engaged hundreds of thousands of community members since its founding in 2010. Her choreographic works have been commissioned and presented by organizations including The Joyce Theater, MASS MoCA, Walker Art Center, On the Boards, Seattle Theatre Group, and ICA Boston. She is the founder of Studio Kate Wallich, a nonprofit arts organization that houses her choreographic practice, public programming initiatives like WIP LA, and artist development projects. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
Cast & Creative Team
Mike Hadreas - Director, Composer, Performer
Kate Wallich - Director, Choreographer, Performer
Alan Wyffles - Composer, Collaborator, Performer
Tate Justus - Collaborator, Performer
Amiya Brown - Scenographer
