THIS WEEKEND: Undead Burlesque!

It'll be a lot like this, but sexy.
Once again it's time for the vixenous vamps of the Orange County Undead Underground Burlesque Society to present their annual celebration of All Hallows Eve with their new show "Night of the Living Dolls." We can't say for certain, but it's a good bet that the evening's festivities will include: faux-pagan rituals; skimpy costumes; huge fuck-off bat wings; innuendos of a sexual nature; Halloween pop-hits of ages past; pretty girls; recondite voodoo rites; tongue-in-cheek references to some of your favorite scary movies; fake blood; and a plethora of burlesqueing. Bring your own candy and costumes, if that's your thing. And be sure to make your reservations early, as the show always sells out.

WHERE: The Hunger Artists Theater in Fullerton
WHEN: Friday and Saturday Nights, October 24th thru November 1st, 2008 @ 11:00pm.
COST: $15 (though you will be annoyingly unable to find that information anywhere on their website)
MORE INFO: http://www.hungerartists.net/ocubs/

The Register Profiles the Orange County Undergound Burlesque Society

Photo by Armando Brown

The Orange County Register has a great article on the Orange County Underground Burlesque Society (founded by our very own MEG), which captures the group's appeal nicely:

OCUBS' most recent show, "Once Upon a Corset: A Tale of Two Pasties," played last week to sold-out houses at Fullerton's Hunger Artists Theatre, the group's regular home. The crowd was astonishingly varied: a retired couple, a group of boisterous middle-aged women, kids in their early 20s. There were a few loudly appreciative young men, but they were a small minority. Just in case anyone got out of line, a refrigerator-sized bouncer who calls himself Joe Smash sat conspicuously near the edge of the stage, looking comically menacing.

Those interested in skin and raw titillation would be well advised to go to the beach rather than an OCUBS show. There's no R-rated nudity. And for these women, the sexiness is just one part of a far more ambitious entertainment package that combines clever writing, verbal as well as physical comedy, and creative costumes...

"Humor is one of the top priorities," said Fox, who -- more modestly dressed and without her plummy British accent -- is known by day as Melanie Gable, an Idaho native and the group's founder. "That's not the case with a lot of other burlesque shows. I think the cleverness and the humor are what we have to offer above all."

LINKS:
"Burlesque Performers Strip for the Fun of It" by Paul Hodgins of the O.C. Register
OCUBS Slide Show at the Register
OCUBS Website
OCUBS MySpace Page

The Sea Will Crush You, If You Don't Know How to Swim

Last weekend I caught the Rude Guerrilla Theater Company's production of Nocturne by Adam Rapp. It's maybe the best play I've seen all year: dark and tragic, involving and moving. It's a monologue-play -- here expanded to include brief speaking roles for two additional actors -- in which an unnamed narrator simply and eloquently describes the deterioration of his family following a tragic accident when he was a teenager. Scott Barber's performance in the lead role is note-perfect, never overplaying scenes which in lesser hands could devolve into melodrama. What keeps the play from becoming a depressing morass is both the inherent wit of Rapp's script and Jay Fraley's even-keeled direction -- just stylish enough to keep you engaged, but not so flashy as to be distracting.

Eric Marchese of the Orange County Register puts it well: "Nocturne doesn't ask for our empathy -- it just is what it is. Were it to press harder for emotion, we might not feel much. Because Rapp's writing is so restrained, he lends the play power, making it easily the equivalent of the biographical fiction of Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote."

WHERE: The Rude Guerrilla Theater in Santa Ana
WHEN: Saturdays August 23 and 30 at 4:30pm; Sundays August 24 and 31 at 7:00pm
PRICE: $20 general admission / $15 seniors / $10 students
MORE INFO: Rude Guerrilla Theater's Website (scroll down for info.)
Orange County Register Review

THIS WEEKEND -- Belletristic Bibliophile Burlesquers

This weekend sees the return of the Orange County Underground Burlesque Society, a secret coven of burlesque artisans who, despite their name, practice their craft in an above-ground well-lit performance space, readily accessible to the public.

Their current show, "Once Upon a Corset... A Tale of Two Pasties," is billed as a loving tribute to all things bookish in nature. Via sexy dancing. Which is, frankly, a method of commendation that I feel should be more widely practiced in the literary community (New York Times Review of Books, please take note).

And no, the show doesn't feature any nudity. Pervert.

(Disclosure: Tragically Hipster's very own MEG is OCUBS' founding, er, father. We would have featured it here anyway, though, because it's awesome.)

WHERE: The Hunger Artists Theater in Anaheim
WHEN: This Friday and Saturday, August 15 and 16, 2008, @ 11pm.
COST: 15 smackers.
RESERVATIONS (heavily recommended): (714) 680-6803
MORE INFO: OCUBS Web Site
OCUBS Official MySpace Page