You’re invited to a celebration of the spooky season with the Keegan community, featuring Burlesque performances by the DMV’s spiciest troupe, The Naughty Menagerie, and hosted by Christina A. Coakley and Shadia Hafiz! Enjoy specialty cocktails and mocktails, appetizers, raffles, and a costume contest with prizes for Naughty, Nice, and Funny — all to support The Keegan Theatre.
Doors open at 6:30 pm
Show starts at 7:00 pm
All tickets $45
What we think when we hear the word burlesque is the Minsky era of the strip tease: usually performed by a woman for male audiences in New York’s roaring 20s era. You might be surprised that this burlesque variety debuted at the end of the genre’s golden age.
Burlesque is a lot older than we believe it to be. Its roots date back hundreds of years and often included variety and humor — a history rooted in satire and making fun of established aristocracy. Not catering to it. Burlesque’s resurgence in the 90s, and much of burlesque today, still alludes to the Minsky era. Chorus lines. Exclusive hotel entertainment. Themed corporate parties.
What we see in our burlesque world are excited audiences and people eager to celebrate gender expression, sexuality, parody, and diversity. What we don’t see is venues and producers giving the people what they want.
Many venues still hire one type of person for gigs, and in the 21st century, we still see shows all over the world cast primarily thin white femme bodies in sparkly outfits. This is sexy! But there’s a whole world they’re missing out on. That’s why we created the Naughty Menagerie.
An animal by trade, but an icon on the stage, this nonbinary beauty has been blazing through the burlesque world for over a decade. An autodidact, Fox began their training at the notorious Crazy Russian nightclub on the outskirts of Baltimore, MD, eventually joining Washington, DC's Chocolate City Burlesque & Cabaret (after a stint with Black Market Burlesque). More recently, you may recognize them from appearances with Haux Hive's Taste.Touch.Feel, Pretty Boi Drag, Sax Saturdays, and Monarque After Dark. Whether climbing poles, in front of a camera, or behind a sewing machine, they are passionate about what they bring to an audience.
Aquarius Moon is a Maryland native that loves sunflowers, crabs, and a whole lot of ass! A performance artist, creative director and disability advocate, Ms. Moon is known for spreading joy and fabulousness everywhere she goes. She can be found performing weekly in Philadelphia, New York City, and across the country as a full time traveling showgirl.
As the Goddess of Diamonds and Pearls, Luna Rei breathes air of the riches for the poor broke bitches. Gracing stages from the DMV and beyond.
Allura Flame is a Washington DC based burlesque performer. Allura has sparkled on various corporate, private and club locations throughout her performance career, including the National Harbor, Natural History Museum, Hirshorn Museum, The Howard Theater, Atlantic City, Atlanta and The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Currently, she can be seen at night life venues and dinner theaters throughout the DMV. Allura creates professional costumes and accessories for herself and other performers within the industry. She’ll invite you into her world - fusing her 15 years of professional dance training with her love of classic burlesque. She is “your slow burn with a spark”.
Miss Gorgeous Michael is a new drag performer inspired by the bright colors and crafty aesthetics of the club kid scene. Their looks blur the line between queen, king, and clown, and they're excited for their second opportunity to kitten in a burlesque show!