Ouroborotopia (OR-oh-BOR-oh-TOH-pee-UH) is a new three-day performance festival coming to Humboldt County this summer on August 15–17, lighting up Blue Lake, Arcata, and Eureka. This festival, which will incorporate original live performances, multimedia art installations and music, takes its name from the ouroboros, the ancient symbol of a serpent eating its own tail.

Artists and audience members are invited to explore the cycles of utopia and dystopia, joy and grief, creation and collapse. In a time when the world is in flux, this festival asks: how do we build beauty, community, and resilience in the face of uncertainty?

Ouroborotopia is produced by Mystical A/V Club and proudly sponsored by the Humboldt Creative Alliance, Ink People Center for the Arts, and funded by Measure J.

...OUROBOROTOPIA SCHEDULE...

Friday August 15th, 2025

JurASSic! A Prehistoric Drag Cabaret and Apocalypse Afterparty

SEPTENTRIO BARREL ROOM, ARCATA CA

Big butts. Big teeth. Bigger feelings. A prehistoric cabaret of excess & extinction, featuring THE METEOR herself! Bring dollars to feed to the dinosaurs! Come for the show, stay for the Apocalypse Afterparty. Welcome to the jungle. For audiences 21+. Seating is limited and first come first served so show up early!

DOORS 7PM / SHOW 8PM

Saturday August 16th, 2025

Garden of Strange Delights

DELL’ARTE INTERNATIONAL, BLUE LAKE CA

A curiosity-sparking choose-your-own-adventure for the senses! Inside the Carlo Theatre, uncover wonders at our The Observatory, while outside The Living Lawn comes alive with roaming puppets, surprise encounters, and live musical performances on Dell’Arte’s lovely outdoor stage. With local tasty food, hands-on experiences, and unexpected moments blooming and blasting everywhere, this is your invitation to play, explore, dress up, and bask in the Blue Lake summer magic. Come curious…leave delighted. Recommended ages 16+, some acts may be disorienting or disturbing and/or contain adult themes and language.

11AM-4PM

Saturday August 16th, 2025

Sunday August 17th, 2025

CTRL+ALT+DELETE

NORTH COAST REPERTORY THEATRE, EUREKA CA

A Genesis story that launches in the early 1990s and ends abruptly at midnight on January 1st, 2000. The Devil and Angel download some significant software. The forbidden fruit is Gay! White Jesus performs live! A wild, episodic, multimedia spectacle driven by the desire for interconnectedness… and the temptation of codependent tendencies. For mature audiences only, recommended 18+. Seating is limited and first come, first served so show up early! Doors open at 7:15pm.

DOORS 7:15PM / SHOW 8PM

Saturday August 16th, 2025

The Afterfunction

SYNAPSIS, EUREKA

The end is nigh… again. Dance through it with local DJ Datura Prime, plus late-night performances and surprise installations peppered throughout the space. For 18+.

10PM-12AM

Sunday August 17th, 2025

The Triptych: Eat The End

Three bold works. One shared hunger for catharsis, chaos, and transformation.

Liminal is a butoh movement piece by Rachel Noel, tracing a soul’s journey through the shifting thresholds between life and death, human and otherworldly, seed and bloom. Barftopia, by Lily Linz, is a one-person explosion of devised theatre and abstract performance art—a grotesque, messy dreamscape told through fragmented text, movement, and sound. The Madness by Hera Has a Heart is a theatrical rock opera that rages against the wounds of mental health under late-stage capitalism, offering fierce, psychedelic punk as a path toward radical love and communal care.

Together, these three performances invite you to Eat The End…and find what grows in the aftermath. Intended for mature audiences 16+. Seating is limited and first come, first served so show up early! Doors open at 12:30pm for 1pm show / 3:30pm for 4pm show.

DOORS 12:30PM / SHOW 1PM

SYNAPSIS, EUREKA CA

DOORS 3:30PM / SHOW 4PM