Picks of the Glitter: JOYstick! and the Secret Diaries of Anita Goodmann.
This weekend!
~ Written by Paul O’Connell (POC Photo)
This week in glitter land, two shows return in their second incarnations. First up JOYstick! Level 2 this Friday and Saturday (September 20 & 21) at the Columbia City Theater. JOYstick! originally premiered during last year’s epic Summer of Nerdlesque.
Miss Elaine Yes (Photo by Jackie Kingsbury)
“This year was about going bigger and better. Last year was amazing, but we wanted to expand more into a story that ties the show together, and we wanted to include games and gaming concepts that we weren’t able to do last year. We will be featuring everything form Q*Bert to Ezio Auditore,” says Steve Stone, who along with Kelly Clark, make up the production team Smooches and Science Presents.
For Steve, doing a burlesque show was probably inevitable, especially after seeing a certain popular nerdlesque show two years ago. “For as long as I can remember I have either had a keyboard or a controller in my hands. I got the itch to produce after seeing what Jo Jo Stiletto delivered with the original Whedonesque Burlesque. I was lucky enough to be a part of that show and it allowed me to see the true support that the nerd community has for the properties they love. I saw it as an opportunity to relate my love of video games to an audience.”
Lady Laycock (Team Captain)- (Photo by Jackie Kingsbury)
Steve met his future co-producer Kelly while they were both on staff at GeekGirlCon, “the yearly celebration of the female geek” which happens next October 19 & 20 at the Washington State Convention Center (check back here in the coming weeks for more info on the fabulous burlesque show at Re-bar that will kick off that event).
“The original JOYstick! allowed me to meet and develop a friendship with my business partner Kelly Clark. She and I clicked from the first meeting and our skill sets truly complimented each other. After the success of JOYstick! it didn’t take long for us to want to keep this going. After JOYstick!, we ended up trying something completely different with An Evening at Merlotte’s: Burlesque Inspired by True Blood (which was accomplished with the help of Lady Laycock). Kelly keeps me sane and she truly is the ‘Smooches’ to my ‘Science’.
Seraphina Fiero (Photo by Jackie Kingsbury)
JOYstick!
September 20 & 21
@ Columbia City Theater
Get tix HERE.
*****
Our next weekly pick from the glitter world is The Secret Diaries of Anita Goodmann: True Stories from the Queen of In-Between playing for three nights starting Friday, September 20 at Re-bar. This show was introduced last February at The Ballard Underground. Anita is no stranger to the Seattle burlesque scene, having hosted shows for over seven years as well as producing her namesake show The Anita Goodmann Experience. The Secret Diaries of Anita Goodmann chronicles Anita’s adventures experimenting with drag at the age of 37.
Anita Goodmann (Photo by Debora Spencer)
“I wanted to tell a story and give an account of this journey- which starts at a place where, as a man, I was definitely not my best self- and relate how I was able to turn my life around through the time I spent as Anita Goodmann. The experience of healing as a man while performing as a woman, and the strange course I took in doing it is the basis of the show. It includes some scenes that in retrospect I can’t believe happened, like performing for my uptight then-employers at the EMP Skychurch and dealing out some arch comedy in the process (the video of that is part of the show), and also more down to earth stuff- like how to parent when you are a single manwomanwomanman. Also, people assume a lot about drag queens, so I wanted to clue people in on my life as a heterosexual, punk rock loving, professional female impersonator who loves to do stand-up comedy. People are shocked when I tell them I don’t know any show-tunes, but can talk their ear off about The Replacements or Fugazi.
I asked Anita if there’s anything different in this newest production:
“For this show I am tuning it up a bit, losing a weaker segment and replacing it with a story that the audience was asking me to do if I were to remount the show. The audience wanted to know more about how I manage my relationship with my ten year old son when I have a gender-crossing stage persona. I dive into that more this time around, and have put a segment on gender communication that was too abstract aside, to be revisited later.”
Anita hosting the Bedroom Club burlesque show back in 2007 (POC Photo)
The Secret Diaries of Anita Goodmann: True Stories from the Queen of In-Between
September 20, 21, 22
@ Re-Bar
Get tix HERE.
Since these shows run on multiple consecutive nights- we suggest you check out both…
Burlesque Seattle Press 