This article has been corrected to reflect information about ticket sales.
By Morgen White | FāVS News Reporter
SPOKANE, Wash. — Adam Swensen went from preaching in front of a crowd at church to using comedy for deconstruction.
The Chameleon, a music venue and nightclub, featured Swensen’s first comedy show “Religious Traumedy” on Aug. 15. The space can accommodate around 50 people, and all seats were occupied.
“It was literally exactly what I wanted it to be, from silly weird little bits and segments, to having amazing drag performers, and amazing stand ups and music artists,” Swensen said.
Swensen had the idea for the comedy show in his mind for a while.
“I just started to think about it more, and any idea I had I would write down in my notes app,” Swensen said.
But the idea wasn’t put into action until Swensen became friends with Cam Joslyn, who is in charge of booking events for The Chameleon.
“He reached out to me and was like, dude, I want to expand what The Chameleon does and if you have any ideas for a comedy show, let me know. And I was like, I actually do have an idea,” Swensen said. “So we sat down, and I pitched it to him, and he grew up in the church as well, and he immediately got it, and he immediately knew what I was trying to do with it.”
“Religious Traumedy” included drag performers dancing to Christian music, a few classical Christian chords from guitarist of the Christian rock band “Falling Up,” Nick Lambert, musician Caroline Fowler, viral videos recreated into bits and nostalgic segments that many growing up Christian experienced or related to.
“I could literally just reference a moment or something that a lot of Christians have experienced, and people would just get it. There’s something so cool and beautiful about that,” Swensen said. “That’s why I wanted to start the show in the first place because whenever I meet folks with my background and who no longer believe, we have similar experiences and thoughts.”
Swensen is inspired by comedians who are able to get outside of the lines of what’s expected and do their own thing. Originality lingered in his mind as he created the show. Swensen started adding little details, like buying a gold offering plate with blue velvet at the bottom for tipping the drag performers, and played with sound cues as a part of his set. He cut up clips from an old viral video of Mark Driscoll who swore at the pulpit during a sermon over 15 years ago in Seattle and used it in his set.
“I had a conversation with him where he was just yelling at me. I’ve never done anything like that before, and it felt like it was exactly what I wanted to be exploring creatively as well as, getting to make fun of somebody who I do not respect,” Swensen said.
Swensen grew up in the Midwest with conservative and Baptist teachings that largely stuck with him through college, but in high school he did start noticing inconsistencies with the church and the gospel he believed in.
“I was very much concerned with the marginalized and oppressed. I got it from a lot of the books that I was reading, and just the gospel itself. That was, to me, one of the primary missions of Jesus to hang with the sinners, to minister to them and so I always felt called to associate myself with that. I didn’t feel like the church was actually interested in living out the gospel that I believed in,” Swensen said.
His parents cultivated a culture in Swensen’s family that promoted openness, but that openness has led to mental weight from laborious dialogue.
“I try to have less conversations around political things with them, just for my own personal boundaries, because I cherish my relationship with them. We are a very emotional family,” Swensen said.
Conversations in the past have led to crying, and since 2020, Swensen noticed the discussions got harder as he realized their approach to loving others did not match.
“My mom is the oldest of four, and she has four siblings. And they all have kids, who all grew up very Baptist in the Midwest. Every single one of my mom’s siblings, including herself, have a trans kid now, which I think is so fascinating,” Swensen said.
After his sibling came out as trans, he watched his parents try their best to work through roadblocks they had.
“Even though I don’t identify as a Christian anymore, I still very much want to care for the folks in my community, and they do as well,” he said. “It’s just the way that we do it is completely different.”
He met his now wife, Sarah Dixit, working at a Christian summer camp. She had a similar conservative Christian background as Swensen. But at the time, that didn’t mean they were on the same road in their faith journeys.
“I was really in the throes of my deconstruction, and just like, why are we doing this? I don’t want to be evangelizing to these kids coming to camp. I just want them to have a week in nature and be around the river and just have fun,” Dixit said. “He had just graduated from Bible college, so presumably, was going to start his journey being in that world.”
Despite their differences, eventually, the two started dating, which led them to difficult discussions around what faith, politics and values meant to them individually and as a couple.
“I think the biggest thing we learned alongside each other was holding on to this idea of loving your neighbor and if you take that to its true conclusion, it goes in alignment with being a very open and inclusive person,” Dixit said.
It was natural for them to start moving away from the church to live out their values in a different way.
“[It] turned out to be through rallies and through marches and through political advocacy,” Dixit said.
She pointed to James 2:17 in the Bible which states, “faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
While neither identify as Christians anymore they are practicing action. For Dixit that looks like running for Spokane City Council District 1. For Swensen that means campaigning by her side and putting himself out there to follow his creative passions.
“I’m hoping to do religious comedy every couple of months at The Chameleon. We have another day on the books. It’ll be harvest party themed,” he said, noting it will happen in October. “We didn’t celebrate Halloween, but we threw harvest parties, which were just Halloween parties with Bible characters instead.”
He also began writing for the new live talk show CONNORSversations premiering at The Chameleon on Sept. 19.
He hopes in future shows he can dive deeper into specific topics, like purity culture, sex education and communion.
“I’m hoping to just get really deep into the ins and outs of growing up Christian,” he said.
Tickets aren’t yet available on The Chameleon’s website, but “Religious Traumedy” returns Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance, and $25 day of the show.
