The ventriloquist-comedian’s life: Las Vegas one day, Olympic Peninsula ports the next week.
Lynn Trefzger, voices and characters in tow, recently stopped in Vegas to entertain 1,500 executives at a US Bank convention.
She’s an old hand at this, having practiced her art since she was a shy 9-year-old looking through the Sears catalog.
There, she saw a dummy named Simon Says. And, like magic, Simon arrived at her house on Christmas, launching her career.
Now an entertainer at conferences, on cruise ships and in theaters around the country, Trefzger is on the North Olympic Peninsula for two shows: Thursday at Peninsula College’s Little Theater, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., in Port Angeles, and Friday night at the Bay Club, 120 Spinnaker Place in Port Ludlow.
In 7:30 p.m. performances at both venues, she’ll bring a motley bunch of companions: Camelot the tipsy camel; Judd the old man and relationship philosopher; Chloe the precocious 3-year-old and yes, Simon, a descendant of her first puppet.
These folks, Trefzger has noticed, have a way of charming their audience, regardless of age.
“At the beginning of the show, people watch me. But then they start to watch the character,” she said.
Things grow more interesting when the ventriloquist invites a volunteer to join her — or even throws her voice into a particular seat in the auditorium.
Getting kids on board makes the show, she added, since she never knows how they’re going to react to the hijinks.
Grown-ups can be a hoot, too.
“CEOs of companies will come up on stage, and they don’t look at me,” Trefzger said. They can be so enchanted that they talk only to the puppet beside her.
Tickets for Thursday’s show, which will have the Port Angeles bellydance troupe Shula Azhar opening, are $20 for adults and $10 for youths age 14 and younger.
The nonprofit Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts is the presenter, so outlets include JFFA.org, Port Book and News in Port Angeles and the Joyful Noise Music Center in Sequim.
For details offline, phone the foundation office at 360-457-5411.
Port Ludlow Performing Arts, another nonprofit concert presenter, has tickets at $24 for Friday evening at the Bay Club and via PortLudlowPerformingArts.com.
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for Friday’s show, which will have cabaret-style table seating at the Bay Club.
And before curtain time, patrons can see the display there of artist Gail Larson’s collages.
The Port Ludlow Artists League has mounted the show by Larson, a member of the national and Northwest collage societies.
Trefzger, who has a healthy stash of awards including Campus Activities Magazine’s “Funniest Female” prize, draws from an ever-changing source of material: her five children.
Her twin daughter and son, plus three more boys, keep her laughing and writing.
Yet hers “is not a kids’ show. It’s a family show,” she said.
This mix of ventriloquism and comedy is “something my parents thought I’d grow out of,” Trefzger added.
“And here I am.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
