‘Cabaret’ as Resistance: Jason Forbach’s Most Personal Role Yet

“I don’t think I had a lot of examples growing up of being an artist as a viable career,” Jason Forbach says. “It took me a while to be brave enough to be an artist, because I think it does require an immense amount of bravery.”

The now multi-hyphenate actor, singer, playwright and filmmaker took a winding path to figure out that Broadway was a calling. Having grown up in Kansas City, he went to college for journalism, dabbled in some photography and even put in some time working for an opera company, but nothing felt quite right.

“It was a search for identity. I feel like each [career path] has informed the next. It wasn’t like, oh, that was a mistake,” he says. “But it took me a while to get to New York and to be brave enough because it is the ultimate vulnerability. And being closeted for as long as I had been, it’s hard to make yourself feel seen. But the masks we all kind of wear — everyone, not just the queer community — are for protection.”

Now, having packed up his life in New York to spend the next few months in Minnesota, Forbach is peeling back the mask and bringing vulnerability to his role as Cliff Bradshaw in the Guthrie Theater’s current rendition of “Cabaret.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever played a role that I’ve felt so aligned with,” Forbach says, calling Cliff a conduit. The audience enters the Kit Kat Klub and Berlin during the Weimar Republic era through his eyes as an American reporter in search of inspiration and a new perspective on his life.

“It makes me think of moving to New York. It makes me afraid to be gay. It reminds me of the wild personalities I wanted to be around because it brought out more of my truth coming from a very repressed, conservative hometown,” he continues. “And it felt scary and it felt dangerous, and it felt hot. And that is how he is entering into this world. Cliff is the most interesting role to have at this point in my career because it just feels the most intrinsic to me.”

Forbach describes the world of “Cabaret” and the Kit Kat Klub as inherently queer, reaching for visibility and freedom against social constraints.

“I think it’s a powerful metaphor: when voices of conservatism or restraint enter into a dialogue, they want to silence the artists, and they want to silence the queer community first, because we are the truth tellers,” he says. “When this show was created, it was unlike anything else. And with each revival, we keep digging deeper. We keep mining deeper ideas of identity and sexual frankness and moral ambiguity and what all those things really mean.”

The cast and crew spent the first few days at the Guthrie working on music, costumes and piecing the show together. But Forbach says they were also intentional about reading through the show and discussing the issues that arise from the material. Audiences get to be the beneficiaries of that approach. Listed on the Guthrie’s website are sensory-friendly performances, post-show discussions and more resources to get a better understanding of what’s being shown on stage.

“I think the comparisons to what is happening globally and here in our country are impossible to ignore,” Forbach says. “And it is shocking, or maybe not so shocking, but it’s still under attack, and we still have to fight for these things. We can’t become complacent, you know.”

He shares that, for his character, the show concludes with a sentiment of asking what is worth fighting for.

“I hope it activates people,” he says. “I hope it’s thrilling. I hope it turns everyone on. I hope it feels wild and subversive, and then I also hope it feels like there’s a gut punch, and it’s like, okay, it’s time to do something. It’s time to act.”

“Cabaret” plays at the Guthrie Theater from June 21 to August 24. Visit guthrietheater.org for tickets.