MISCmedia by Clark Humphrey » Blog Archive WHAT I DID THIS WEEKEND

»
S
I
D
E
B
A
R
«

WHAT I DID THIS WEEKEND

August 22nd, 2011 by Clark Humphrey

Saw rePRODUCTION, a one-night-only burlesque revue at Theatre Off Jackson, a benefit for NARAL Pro-Choice Washington. The dozen or so acts were even more whimsical and comedy-based than most neo burlesque routines. This only made them more, not less, sexy. The sequence of stripping-to-pasties performances was broken up with a male stripper, a male puppeteer, a female acrobat (doing an aerial suspension routine from TOJ’s lowish ceiling), a drag king MC, and M/F and F/F duets. The acts’ themes included sex ed, contraception, female ejaculation (yes, there was prop-activated “squirting” into the audience), breast self examination, unicorn-on-woman fantasy sex, menstruation, STDs (with a dancer who strips off her bottom garment to reveal plastic toy “crabs” on her G string), and an anti-abortion protestor who winds up needing the procedure herself (performed un-preachy). It was a lovely time, ecstatically pro-sexuality and pro-empowerment. Because I sat in the front row, I had the following tossed at me from the stage: A stripper’s silk glove; a baby doll; condoms; a (thankfully fake) used tampon.
Attended, and briefly participated in, E Meets West, the Elvis karaoke spectacular at the Feedback Lounge, down in West Seattle’s fabulous Fauntleroy. The magnificent Helen Anne Gately was there, large & in charge. The thing about Presley “tribute artists” is the amount of creativity and individualism available, within (and perhaps because of) the discipline of a fixed repertoire of songs and the range of the Presley stage personae (from 1954 leather to 1977 glitter).

One Response

Randi writes:
August 23rd, 201112:59 pmat

Oh, so it was you who was so kind as to return my tampon! Thanks, Clark–glad you enjoyed the show. xo RR