By Michael Flores

After working on Bettie Page Uncensored for so long, I wanted to develop a new show -- a tribute to the last days of striptease and burlesque. A fun show combining actors with live entertainers, improv and scripted material. Megan Pedersen, head of the New Directors series at Chicago’s Playground Theatre, had heard of my ideas for a burlesque show and had been thinking about doing something along the same lines. Sarah Masters, Bettie in the play and movie Bettie Page Uncensored, and Ronald Bruce Meyer, who played Estes Kefauver in the stage production, agreed to join the project. Enter Katherine Lee and Jason Powers, along with Chicago-area variety entertainers, and Burly-Q! was born.

Sarah Masters plays Stormy Weather, the dancer who has finally made it to the top of the bill just as burlesque is ending. Katherine Lee plays Kandy Kane, the young stripper just starting out. Jason Powers is the comedian Harry, hoping to make it to the nightclub scene. Ron Meyer plays Jack the bartender and manager of Jack’s Kit Kat Klub. The acts include magicians, comedians, strippers, singers and more. Every week, several entertainers revolve roles in the show, so no two weekends are the same.

People that know me know that I have always been interested in "show biz", as well as in the working-class theater of B-movies, wrestling and exotic dancing that I have always championed as head of the Psychotronic Film Society. Now I get to put on a show as fun as a Sinister Cinema '50s striptease film. Because the show changes every weekend, even if you’ve seen it before you can come back for a new variation.

It doesn’t hurt that if you’re 21or older, you can BYOB! Burly-Q! (also being developed as a film) plays until Saturday, April 28, and then will re-open on Friday, May 11, and run Fridays and Saturdays until May 26. The show starts at 10:30 pm, and the Playground is at 3341 North Lincoln in Chicago. Tickets can be purchased with a credit card over the Internet at www.ticketweb.com, or call (773) 250-3004 for reservations (cash only at the door).

I guess I always wished I had grown up in the old burlesque houses, and Burly-Q! is really my chance to live out that fantasy. Burlesque was the fun, bawdy (but couples-friendly) night out that the nightclubs and strip clubs eventually buried. But its lively brand of risqué, goofy humor has become a part of our pop culture landscape. If you’re coming to Chicago, you have to see Burly-Q!

Cheers,

Michael Flores