2012-03-23/24 Imperial House of OPA

Back in January, I was asked by The Imperial OPA Circus to help an amazing group of performers put on a production as their Stage Manager and I was happy to accept.  For over two months we rehearsed and I helped herd my favorite cats and help bring this amazing production come to life!

The script was written by Luke, known mostly to the audience as that amazing juggler with the awesome mustache, and Tim Mack, the ringmaster, who worked tirelessly to make the amazing ideas and script come to life.  The show was amazing with a wonderfully twisted plot, an amazing live band and aerialists who cover trapeze, lyra, silks and Spanish Web as well as all the acrobats and dancers.  There is no way you'd be able to see a show of this caliber anywhere else for this cheap.  You're practically stealing your seat when you buy a ticket to any Imperial OPA show as they are often a third or less then the travelling Cirque de Soliel shows and you're supporting local Atlanta artists.  


The plot was a cross between Rocky Horror and a morality tale which seems to be a running theme of the OPA shows.  Not only are they entertaining to watch they have a good positive message that you can take away from all the amazement. A Man and Woman break down on the side of the road in front of The Imperial House of OPA and discover a circus inside the house and all of the dreams they thought they had lost along the way in order to make it in the corporate world.  In the end everyone discovers a path to follow their dreams which is the best advise you can give, find a way to follow your dreams and you'll find happiness!



Ironically, as I am in school for theater right now, I had to write a paper about a live theater show and was given permission to write about this particular show as far as the technical elements so if you're interested in how we took a nearly abandoned theater with well loved (broken and damaged) equipment and made this amazing production please keep reading!

From January 25th through March 24th I worked as the stage manager for The Imperial OPA Circus’ production of The Imperial House of OPA.  There were many challenges with working on this production including the space itself.  The Arts Exchange, where our rehearsals and shows took place, used to be a school and is now an artists’ complex that has fallen into a bit of disrepair over the years.  Though we spent time working on it last fall, we still had more work that needed to be done such as finding additional lights, bringing in and running lines for the PA, etc…

The lighting has been its own issue since the beginning.  As the space is wired but many of the dimmers do not work, some of the lights are shot due to frayed connectors, and others do not work for reasons unknown.  In order to make-up the difference we moved the lights around to get the most coverage on the stage, added clip lights to the front of the stage to create foot lights and help add additional lighting to the stage.  We covered most everything with gels of blue, amber and magenta in order to blend the lights on the stage and help create the mood.  Someone was also kind enough to bring in four LED lights that could change color so we used golds and greens in the first act and turned it to blues for the goldfish ballet in the second act.  We also had access to an older light that we had found and were able to get a new lamp for it and mount it to the booth so we could have a working spot light for the production.  Thanks to an abandoned giant gold disco ball we were able to simulate goldfish swimming around the theater during the large “aerial explosion” towards the end of the second act.  I am by no means saying that our lighting was perfect, but Myron placed the lights to get the maximum amount of coverage and controllability.  He was able to create a seemingly high tech lighting design through what we had available and what we were able to be scrounge up.

The sound was mainly used for the band and for a few special effects as we did not mic the performers.  There were a few actors that made me wish we had left the choral mics on throughout the whole show, but over all I do not think they were necessary.  The band sounded great during the first act, however, the second act had three routines that were done through CD instead of with the live band and the transition back to the band after the prerecorded music seemed to cause an issue with the sound.  Though we tried to correct it I feel that Gary, who was running sound, was unable to hear the problems that we could hear in the back of the theater.  There were a few moments where, for dramatic effect we put an echo on the hanging choral mics for during the dream sequence and a very dramatic moment of someone screaming “NOOOooooo” so we put the delay to emphasize the drama of the moment.

The set was very minimalistic; it included an arm chair with ottoman and a table with a goldfish bowl and a hat rack DSR and DSL a small platform with a small table and two chairs.  Other than some fabric draped on the back wall that was the extent of set pieces.  The costumes were done by Dee Dee, and I think that over all she did well with creating a consistent aesthetic.  The only costumes that did not seem to blend as well were ones that were brought in by the performers themselves.  Also, for one of the dream sequence bits there was a giant paper mache goldfish that Tim wore to represent the spirit of one of the characters long dead gold fish.  As a result a few moments of the show had a weird balance between amazing professional circus acts and elementary school arts and crafts which somehow totally worked.

Over all I really enjoyed working on this production and am very proud with what everyone was able to accomplish with our very limited resources.  The performances were amazing and we had sold out shows.  I do wish we had been able to have a longer run due to the amount of time and energy that we put into that production, only two nights seemed a bit of a letdown.  However, we have discussed these issues and hopefully the next show will be even bigger and better than the last one.

What people don't realize about running a festival....

is that it's scary as shit.  This year marked our 2nd Annual Southern Fried Burlesque Fest here in Atlanta, GA.  It was amazing, it was spectacular, it was truly breath taking and it almost didn't happen.  It costs us around $17,000 to produce Southern Fried Burlesque Fest 2011, so last year we were in the hole around $5,000 (maybe more, I'd have to check) at the end of the weekend.  (And no, Ursula Undress and I do not get paid and have, in fact thrown personal money into it that we know we'll never get back)  We knew it was a risk, but we did it anyway because we love burlesque, we love the community, we love being able to offer classes and performances that you cannot normally find in Atlanta and most of the Southeast.  We also really wanted it to all be in one location so people wouldn't have to find rides, stay at different hotels, etc... so people could actually spend time together and make actual friends.  A wonderful person who wishes to remain anonymous loaned us the money for the deposit this year we were able to start on 2012 while we finished paying off all the bills from 2011.  Thanks to a fundraiser with The 2011 Queen of Burlesque, Miss Indigo Blue, in November we returned the loaned hotel deposit then and SFBF 2011 was paid off in December of 2011 thanks to a very successful Tits for Toys for Tots show by Syrens of the South.  So we started 2012 at zero towards SFBF 2012.

As people purchased weekend passes we bought everything we knew we had to have: air fare for the guests we flew in; actual badges (you have to admit, they were awesome); programs; and miscellaneous items like the crowns, ink, labels and paper for the printers, etc....  Come February we were starting to freak out, what if no body came to the festival, what if we bought 144 t-shirts (the shops minimum) and no one bought any, etc....these are all things that every producer is terrified of, but with an $18,000 bill, it's that much more terrifying.  There was some praying, some soul searching and many, many back up plans for the what if scenarios, but people came!

People didn't just come, but people came in droves.  People volunteered and we had help this year! (Last year we had, and I am not exaggeration, 4 volunteers)  The shows were amazing, the class schedule was amazing and everyone who came brought a special part of the festival with them and made the entire weekend magical.  So thank you!  Seriously, I mean that will all of my little black heart, THANK YOU!  I won't lie, we still didn't break even.  Syrens is going to throw in money to help cover the difference (that's the point of owning a production company, right, to help with productions?) and there's a chance that Ursula and I may have to turn tricks (I'm kidding) but we were so close and that's with starting at zero on January 1st.

So what does this tell me?  We're definitely doing it again next year!  With not having as much to pay off from the previous year 2013 should be much easier for us to put together.  Less heart attacks all around for everyone.  We've learned a lot this year from issues that have come up and we think that we're finally getting in a position to make it truly amazing as we have some of the very best volunteers in the world so it is not all on myself and Ursula.  So next year should be bigger and better then 2012, just like 2012 was bigger and better then 2011.

However, you guys will have to be patient as one of the big things we learned was pay off the previous year before starting the next one, so please be patient while we do that and then we'll be announcing next year's Southern Fried Burlesque Fest!

PS. Please note that these are my opinions and not necessarily those of Ursula or anyone else as I didn't ask them, lol.

2012-02-10 Vixens Valentease Burlesque Show

I don't even know where to start for this amazing show.  Multiple times the phrase "We're getting the band back together" was used in reference with this show.  As with any group of people, real life sometimes gets in the way and people grow apart, have kids so they don't have as much free time, get promotions at work, etc...  Our little burlesque family is no different.  With many births in the last few years and just general life happening many performers that used to be Syrens of the South regulars had not been able to perform with us for a while, the stars aligned just right so we could have a bunch of our old guard (in some cases original guard) in a show together.  Awalim Tribal Bellydance, Chad Sanborn, Emmalucious, Hepcat Mike, Hotsie Totsie, John Carney, Kira of Cross-Cultural Dance Company, Lah Lah Lucious, Rosie Palms, Ursula Undress and myself all felt like we were in a family reunion!  We were joined by some of our newer adopted family as well, including Brandy Noir, Kittie Katrina, Lola LeSoliel, Ruby Redmayne and Sunny Midnight which made the evening that much more enjoyable.

The whole evening was just so magical, the house was packed, every act was amazingly on, people laughed during John Carney and I's "Cake or Bed?" skit.  Chad killed all his magic routines.  Ziah and Magda from Awalim rocked the crowd after we got back from intermission and it just was amazing.  I am so lucky to get to work with such amazing performers and so grateful that I have the opportunity to do so! Valentine's Day is all about the love and that's exactly what we had with this group of performers.  We raised boxes and boxes of food for the Atlanta Community Food Bank and many of the performers even chose to donate part or all of their pay.

Syrens of the South's Tease Tuesdays

So each Tuesday since November 29, 2011, Syrens of the South Productions has a free burlesque show at Bull Frogz in Kennesaw, which is just North of Atlanta.  Yes, you heard me correctly, a FREE Burlesque show OTP (Outside The Perimeter for those that don't live in the ATL) each week from 8-10pm.  If that's not enough incentive, each Tuesday also comes with $2 beers and $3 well drinks not to mention very tasty and reasonably prices food as well.  I highly recommend the Mozzarella sticks, in case you needed a recommendation.

Though the line-up changes each week to keep the show fresh, regulars to the Tuesday Tease stage include John Carney, Emmalucious, Katherine Lashe and Rosie Palms.  There has also been performances by Chad Sanborn, Edie Akimbo, Kittie Katrina, Princess Jessikat, Sally Strumpet, Stormy Knight, Ursula Undress and the belly dancing gypsy: Willow.  What can you expect on a Tuesday night?  Many of the performers have been using this venue as a way to test out new numbers and experiment with old numbers.  So not only can you get a sneak peak at what is to come, you can also see some acts that have been packed away for a while getting the dust blown off of them.  Also, as this is an OTP performance and at an all ages restaurant, the ladies always wear full coverage panties and under boob is always covered.  They know there are a lot of fans who can't get into the normal 21+ bars to see the show, so now is your chance to get a peek at these lovelies.

Our ability to continue having this show completely depends on the amount of people that show up each week, so if you would like for Syrens of the South to keep having a FREE weekly show in an area that does not normally get burlesque, please come out and grab a drink and catch a show!

Here is a peak at some of the acts that have been happening for the past two months:

2011-12-31/2012-1-1 Imperial OPA Circus with Cake at The Fox

Back in November, a few weeks after wrapping up Boodeeni, my other half received a text that he would be opening for Cake on New Year’s Eve at The Fabulous Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta.  At the time, it was a far off concept and it didn't seem real to either of us.  It wasn’t until he heard it announced on the radio on his way home from work at the beginning of December that it really started sinking in.  Shortly thereafter, I was asked to be the stage manager for this amazing show and ran rehearsals through December to get the show in order and help organize some of the best talent in the Southeast.  It is always an honor to work with these performers and they never cease to amaze me as to what they can accomplish in a very short period of time.

Saturday, December 31, 2011, started pretty early for everyone.  Rigging for the aerialists began at 9:30am with brief moments for them to familiarize themselves the set up before the other opening act, Wolf and the Tuba, and the headliners, Cake, needed to take the stage for set up and sound check.  B and I did the idiot check before leaving the house.  All of his drums and such were packed in the trailer so we wandered over to Zach’s house, the tuba player, to pick him up along with Hiron, otherwise known affectionately to the band as the Keebler Death God, who is the guitarist, lead saxophone, band leader and writer of most of the songs.  We had one more stop before heading over to the Fox; we were off to pick up Mike, aka Brutus, and accessories such as the tumbling weight, the Widow Maker and the Baby Maker.  Once we were loaded up in the car with the trailer packed to the ceiling we were off to the Fox!

Once at the Fox we loaded everything in while Cake was on stage with their sound check.  We were crossing back and forth trying to be as quiet and sneaky as possible to not disturb their sound check.  It was a very surreal experience to be standing on stage, with Cake playing and looking into the 5,000 empty seats that would later be filled by screaming fans.  Once we got everything in we all went down stairs into the catacombs to the OPA dressing room.  Everyone was getting dressed, stretching, putting on make-up and preparing for the run through, which would be our first time actually working on the Fox stage.  We were going to be dividing the show into two acts, one at 8:30pm and one at 10pm, with Wolf and the Tuba going on in between the acts and Cake going on after the final act.  The run through was amazing!  We ran through as many acts as possible in our time frame. We worked with the Fly system for dropping and raising the lyra (aerial hoop), the trapeze and the silks, to make sure we had everything timed correctly to keep the show moving as smoothly as possible.  We had 30 minutes for each act and there was no room for error.

Act one opened with an intro from Tim and the entire cast coming out on stage while the band played “OPA Swing”.  It was a high energy way to start the show and give the audience a taste of what was coming for them throughout the night.  At the end of the song the stage was cleared except for the next act which included Rose going up on the lyra with Meredith and Angela who would be belly dancing to a CD of the song “Erase” by Beats Antique (used with permission of the band.)  The CD had a few skipping issues but Rose and Meredith kept it together through the whole piece and made it look beautiful and the audience had no idea there was a technical issue.  Next were the jugglers, Safety Third, performing to the band playing “Sketchy Gypsy”.  They started with balls and then switched to rings before the music went to double time.  Once the music went to double time Steve, as Father Time, came out in a tiger stripped suit with his walker and began doing balancing tricks and hand stands on both the floor and on his walker.  Next came a fountain of feathers with Musee du Coeur performers: The Chameleon Queen, DeeDee Chmielewski and Desire Evoquer entering with red and white feather fans only to reveal Jacosa hiding behind the cascade of fluff before she rose up to the trapeze to perform while The Chameleon Queen did a beautiful fan dance, backed up by her Musee sisters as the band played “Cutie Pie Malonga.”  After a very solemn and delicate finish monkeys burst onto the stage scaring off the beautiful ladies, clearing the area for Brutus, The Iron Behemoth, and his lovely assistant Petunia showing off their beast master skills.  With creatures such as Discount Monkey, Expensive Monkey, Picasso the Geometric Gorilla and rounding out the show with the evil vultures, these beast puppets showed both amazing puppetry skill as well as a wonderful comedic vaudeville skit done by Brutus and Petunia who also wrote the bit.  Next up was Lauren, who flipped and twisted herself on the aerial silks while the band played “Beaten Tracks” and The Chameleon Queen and DeeDee danced Sky Writers over the audience.  Closing out the first act was Todd and Amber doing their AcroYoga hand balancing act.  The band played “Troup Enters” while they spun each other around with the finale being them balanced while Tony, the expensive monkey, dove between their balanced bodies and Brutus, Petunia, Steve, John, Rose, Dee Dee and Jacosa created a human pyramid behind them to frame their amazing feats of feet!

After the first act everyone had approximately one hour to change clothes, smoke cigarettes, and get ready for act two while Wolf and the Horn played and managed to fill up the stage and get the audience hopping with their two person band. 

Act two opened with a welcome from Tim and then immediately went into Safety Third juggling clubs with assistance from the beautiful Desiree Evoquer and the band playing “Puppy Dog Stomp.”  They quickly tossed the clubs back and forth, starting with four and working their way up to ten clubs flying back and forth across the stage.  Next came Lauren back on the silks with a slower, what appeared to be more difficult and was definitely full of some amazing acts of skill.  Dee Dee came out and did a beautiful veil dance while The Chameleon Queen and Desire fluttered on the sides with silk fans to extend the beauty coming from the aerial silks while the band played “Sinking Stars.”  After Lauren lowered herself to floor it was time for Brutus and Petunia to re-enter with their amazing feats of Strong Mannery which included a fight over the tumbling weight while the band played “F F#” and giant weights for a lift off before creating sexy voltrons with their unpaid gypsy harems to try to outdo each other. In the end they decided to work together and even the unpaid gypsy harems seemed please.  Next was another bought of AcroYoga to “G Thing” with all the spinning and lifting you could imagine with Tony bouncing off a Spring board doing a flip over the two of them, which was a very spectacular ending.  Next was Jacosa’s time to shine on the trapeze while Rose did an acrobatic fabric dance on the floor.  Jacosa twisted and swung in amazing angles while keeping herself precariously balanced as the band played “Moondoggie” during all of her tangles and turns.  The Belly dancers returned to the stage with their tribal dancing and ended with Fire Fans, balance candles and Tim coming on stage with a flaming sward.  It was a very spectacular way to end the show.  The final act was the bows while the band played “Bella Chow” and the entire cast came on stage and took a bow that waved across the stage and then the cast danced around the stage bringing up the energy of the audience before Cake took the stage. 

The band was totally amazing and hit all the cues, even the ones we had trouble hitting due to technical difficulties.  Their professionalism and skill helped move the show along and create a seamless line from act to act that kept the show going.  As I was the only person running props and working with Larry “the Fly Guy” to get all the aerials in, there were a few moments that there was more than I could do by myself.  All of the performers were wonderful and willing to help me by hopping in and assisting me in getting tumbling mats placed, set props, etc… They were truly amazing to work with and all so willing to help out so that everyone’s act went well, not just focusing on their own.  I am very pleased to say that we were 30 seconds under in our time in the first act and almost one full minute under in the second act.  In fact, everything went so well that Cake asked all of us to be on stage for the countdown at midnight so that’s how we all rang in the New Year.  It was an amazing moment, just being on stage with Cake and the rest of the OPA while 5,000 people celebrated with us is the most amazing way I’ve ever spent a New Year’s Eve.  If this is any sign as to how the rest of the year will be, by all means, bring on 2012!

2011-12-17 5th Annual Tits for Toys for Tots Burlesque Show

On December 17, 2011, Syrens of the South Productions had a stage full of new performers and some seasoned veterans in an attempt to collect toys for the less fortunate in their 5th Annual Tits for Toys for Tots Burlesque Show.

I got there around 5pm and that's about when the toys started flowing in.  Though the doors didn't open until 7pm, we had advertised that  even if you could't make the show we would accept toys from ANYONE who was willing to swing by and drop them off through out the night.  Before the doors even opened we had already collected around a hundred toys which was an excellent start to the evening.  Back stage, the Tease U Level 1 students were pacing and preparing for their showcase and the old pros were laughing and applying make-up, it's amazing what a little experience does for your backstage attitude.

At 8pm it was time for the students to strut their stuff!  I, Katherine Lashe, took to the stage to introduce my newest batch of students.  Opening the show was Princess Jessikat who wowed the audience not only with her tease, but with her singing voice as well.  Next came our favorite little murderess Sally Strumpet who's red right hand not only stole her clothes, but may have stole the show as well.  On a more serious note, the Rev Robin Sexton (yes, she's really ordained) came on to bring sexy back to the pulpit and not only made much of the audience laugh so hard they were in tears, they also were falling over each other for a sprinkle of her holy glitter so they could be baptized in the church of burlesque!  Keeping the audience laughing was Edie Akimbo who went through spontaneous puberty right in front of the audience's eyes and flashed everyone her rhinestoned beaver!  Then came Stella Doll, who did a reverse strip, showing us how a lady gets ready for a night on the town making putting it on just as sexy as taking it off!  Closing out the solo acts was Sarah Femme who did a classic strip tease to a modern song, the blend of traditional movements to non-traditional music made it a whole new kind of act.  While the students prepared for their group number burlesque performer and teacher Ruby Redmayne took the stage to cheer them on dressed as a cheerleader.  Not like a regular cheerleader, but the cheerleader of your dreams who had strategically placed letters placed all over her very encouraging form.  The Tease U group routine closed out the show with all six students strutting their stuff with a shimmy and shaking of their money makers.  Each student showcase is better then the last and I am extremely proud of all of these ladies for sticking with it for their stage debut!

The main event kicked off with Kisa von Teasa of Knoxville's Salome Cabaret being "that girl", you know, the one that goes to the holiday party and has way to much to drink before being inappropriate.  Luckily for us taking your clothes off in public is absolutely appropriate at a burlesque show and she totally rocked the drunk girl chic!  After Kisa staggered off the stage, Rosie Palms took us to Christmas Island with a promise of beaches and palm trees covered in lights an ornaments to celebrate the holiday in more welcoming weather.  If you couldn't imagine it on your own, Rosie was having no problem heating up the stage to make you feel that beach heat.  Jacqueline Trade took us back to WWII with a beautiful classic strip tease waiting on her honey to come home for the holidays and closed with his entrance and a very passionate kiss on stage.  Selia d'Katzmeow from North Carolina showed the audience how to stay warm in the winter weather while raising the temperature by taking it off on stage.  Next came hometown honey Talloolah Love, through not a holiday number, it was too fabulous to turn away.  She debuted her Southern Peach routine that only made the audience want to take a juicy bite out of her when she was done!  Spinarella's Bella took the stage by force with a giant group number that had a pimping Santa Claus that was thrilled her knew where all the bad girls lived.  With assels, chair work and very well rehearsed choreography this dance routine made the audience go wild and ended with Mrs. Claus busting Santa for his indiscretions and brought it home with her own assel twirling skills.  Closing out the first half was Burlesque Legend Gabriella Maze who did a blend of classic strip tease and robe work before doing some very naughty things with Cookie Monster.  It brought down the house with awe and a laugh before we broke for intermission.

During the second half of the show I handed the MC reigns over to Kisa von Teasa so I could change it to something less comfortable so I could take it off on stage.  Opening the first act was Lah Lah Lucious who sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and then revealed a very naughty outfit with paddle under her robe for when Santa arrived.  Next I came on stage to show my love of Dr. Seuss with my holiday tribute to the Grinch.  After me, Selia d'Catzmeow came back on stage in plaid pajamas and showed that taking it off and putting it back on it a great way to warm up those winter nights, especially when you get to open presents!  Speaking of presents, Lola LeSoliel came out as Santa Claus and handed candy canes to the audience before showing everyone what she really wanted for Christmas which was a boa, a boa made out of money that is!   Putting the ass in class was Pearl E White who did a tribute to the Marine's that would make anyone think boot camp sounded like a good idea, especially with the boots she was wearing.  She somehow managed to be tasteful and trashy all at the same time and rounded out the act with her assels.  Next came a more traditional routine by Ursula Undress with the bumpiest version of "O Holy Night" I've ever heard.  By the time she was done shimming out of her clothes the audience knew why they should fall to their knees and rejoice.  Fonda Lingue came out as Suzy Snowflake with an elegant and beautiful routine, this King of Boylesque is truly the classiest of ladies.  The finale was a very sensual and stunning routine by Burlesque Legend Gabriella Maze who definitely gave us all something to put on our holiday wish lists.  She was wonderful to watch and her grace and poise was truly a window to days gone by.

The whole show was amazing and I am always surprised and blessed by the amazing performers that I get to share the stage is.  Special thanks to Kisa von Teasa for splitting the MC duties with me.  Kisa is a hilariously quick witted MC that rolls with the punches as well as she can roll down her stockings and keeps the audience begging for more.  We raised over 300 toys for Sgt Lopera to take back to be handed out to children all over the Atlanta area.  All the performers take a special joy in being on stage and it's that much more amazing when we do so for a good cause.



Next show: Vixens Valentease Burlesque Show benefiting the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Friday, February 10, 2012 at The Five Spot Doors at 8pm, Show at 9pm, $20 or $10 with three cans to be donated to the food drive!

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

So if Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris got busy while Joss Whedon watched, the baby would be Dylan Dog.  Dylan Dog is a Private Investigator that used to specialize in the super natural before a tragedy made him give it up and go back to the regular world.  He's got smart-ass comments in life threatening situations, a comedic side-kick and, as per usual, there's the beautiful female client that walks into his office that ends up being the love interest.  It wouldn't be a PI movie, supernatural or not, if there wasn't the damsel in distress that was more then meets the eye.  Did I mention that it takes place in New Orleans?  Of course it does, it's got supernatural things in it, where else are they going to live other then New Orleans.

I'm a huge fan of vampire, werewolf, zombie, and other supernatural themed movies, and this one had them all.  Over all, I would absolutely recommend this flick.  It's not terribly serious or scary, but it is a fun time that has a nice take on the whole supernatural world.  Honestly, I'm kind of hoping that it'll have some sequels.  With these kinds of movies it's really easy to set up for it.  The fact that they didn't limit themselves to just werewolves, vampires or zombies you can go a lot of different directions or even ad in new subsets of monsters.  Seriously, you should buy this movie!

UPDATE: Apparently it's based off a comic book, so I must find it!