Paco Fish and his lovely ladies prepare for GOURMET RISQUÉ at Open Stage January 14, 2012

Get ready, Harrisburg! Glitterama Productions & Sticky Buns Burlesque—Baltimore’s most outrageous and daring variety & burlesque shows—have teamed up to create a new scripted burlesque show, GOURMET RISQUÉ , which will be playing two performances in Harrisburg, one night only. Shows are both on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM at Open Stage, 223 Walnut St. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Tickets are $18 and can be purchased at the door or online by clicking here. 

There’s one striptease smorgasbord guaranteed to satisfy your salacious sweet tooth: GOURMET RISQUÉ. From the sultry, sweet, and sleazy atmosphere to the discreet and oh so attentive service, a visit to Gourmet Risqué will leave you licking your lips and hooting for more.

The Cast of GOURMET RISQUÉ go for the gold in the burlesque show at Open Stage Jan 14.

Written by Sticky Buns Burlesque with special guests Viola van Wilde – former company member of Gilded Lily Burlesque and Baltimore’s enigmatic variety charmer Greggy Glitterati, GOURMET RISQUÉ lovingly sends up and pays tribute to stereotypes, tropes and traditions encountered from the finest gourmet dining rooms to the rowdiest diner kitchens. Make your reservation and join us for a feast of burlesque, physical comedy, skits and song.

Sticky Buns Burlesque – Baltimore’s beloved new burlesque troupe – merges striptease with theatre and storytelling. Founded by Paco Fish – former emcee and veteran performer with Gilded Lily Burlesque – and Marla Meringue – MICA graduate in fiber arts and experimental fashion – Sticky Buns Burlesque explodes the boundaries of classic American striptease and traditional variety. Sticky Buns performs regularly in Baltimore and DC and has appeared in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Raleigh and Charlotte. Sticky Buns Burlesque’s third original show melds physical comedy, parody, song, skits, traditional and quirky striptease, oversized props and original costumes into a unified spectacle of Burlesque Theatre.

About the Performers:
Glitterama!’s writer/producer/performer Greggy Glitterati is tickled pink to help Sticky Buns Burlesque birth their pipin’ hot new show for 2012, GOURMET RISQUÉ!

A former member of Gilded Lily Burlesque, Viola Van Wilde has performed her charming and theatrical burlesque in Baltimore, DC, New York, and as far afield as Madison, WI. Gourmet Risqué is her first burlesque appearance since shifting her focus back to acting in 2010. Melissa O’Brien is president of the board of the Mobtown Players and is a proud member of the Baltimore Rock Opera Society.

Paco Fish is a dynamic performer of spoken and physical comedy, burlesque and circus. Paco began performing on stage with Baltimore’s underground Stolen Heart Cabaret in 2005 and was a member of Gilded Lily Burlesque from 2008 to 2010. In 2009, Paco competed in the Burlesque Hall of Fame’s “Miss Exotic World” pageant in Las Vegas, and has performed from Boston to San Francisco and Montreal to Kansas City. Paco Fish is the reigning king of the Great Southern Exposure Burlesque Pageant in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Marla Meringue is a costumer, artist, and performer. Her work deals with issues of femininity and eroticism by creating characters and sumptuous outfits, and doing bizarre and wonderful things with both of them. A true maker, she uses labor as a way of working through ideas and creating intensely-crafted garments and objects. She performs frequently in Baltimore and Washington D.C. and toured the country in the summer of 2010 with the Schlapentickle Family Burlesque and Revue. Marla won 2nd runner-up in the 2011 Baltimore Beauty Pageant.

Gigi Holliday began her burlesque career after graduation from Baltimore burlesque icon Trixie Little’s Bootcamp in May 2010 with a double major in Class and Sass and a minor in tit-illlation. Offstage, she may have a mild-mannered alter-ego but when she takes it off Gigi Holliday busts out! She has graced the stages at the Red Palace, Creative Alliance, Ottobar and Wind-Up Space. Rocking the mic or performing a steamy strip, Miss Holliday relishes the spotlight heating her up and melting her milk-chocolate beauty all over the audience.

Burlesque artist, femme-cee and actor Shortstaxx is known for her originality and over-the-top theatricality. Staxx has shimmied all over Baltimore and DC and in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, PA. Last year she won 2nd runner-up at the inaugural Baltimore Beauty Pageant created by Baltimore burlesque legend Trixie Little. Shortstaxx femme-cees and performs in Tilted Torch – a Washington D.C.-based fire/variety show going into its third year. A veteran actor in experimental and independent productions, Kris Roth appeared in Cherry Red Productions’ final show The Aristocrats.

DAVID SEDARIS’ THE SANTALAND DIARIES SLAPS OPEN STAGE SILLY FOR THE HOLIDAYS! Stuart Landon Squeezes into Elf Knickers this Holiday Season.

Nothing says “holiday spirit” like temper tantrums and sozzled Santas! Open Stage mixes up their offerings this holiday season with very adult fare in David Sedaris’ wickedly funny THE SANTALAND DIARIES, playing November 25th – December 17th. Open Stage regular and staff member Stuart Landon will don the green velvet elf costume and take on the one-man show. Open Stage presents this new holiday offering as part of its Subscription Series at The Angino Family Theatre. The comedy opens (of course) on Black Friday.

In 1992, brilliant American humorist David Sedaris debuted THE SANTALAND DIARIES on National Public Radio, delighting listeners with a cheeky look back at his experience of moving to New York City and finding a job as Crumpet the Elf at Macy’s SantaLand. Four years later, Tony Award-winning director Joe Mantello (Love! Valour! Compassion!, Wicked, The Vagina Monologues, Glengarry Glen Ross) adapted the short story into a one-­‐man show that has since become a modern Christmas classic. Sedaris has received great critical acclaim, including being named Humorist of the Year by Time Magazine in 2001. In 2004, two of Sedaris’ works were nominated for Grammy Awards: his reading of Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim was nominated for Best Spoken Word Album, and Live at Carnegie Hall was nominated for Best Comedy Album.

The play’s main character, David, arrives in the Big Apple with grand hopes of “going straight from Penn Station to the offices of One Life to Live” and becoming a famous soap opera writer. With his lofty career aspirations quickly frustrated, however, he accepts a dare from his roommate and applies for a job as a department store elf. David’s journey takes the audience through the application process; his days of Elf Training; and an entire holiday season filled with thousands of visitors to SantaLand, a variety of difficult Santas, the politics of dealing with elf coworkers, and his struggle to survive an often humiliating job during the crassest, most over-­‐ commercialized, and sometimes depressing time of year without losing his sanity or heart.

“Even if you’ve seen THE SANTALAND DIARIES before, you’ve never seen it like this,” said Executive Artistic Director Donald L. Alsedek, who is directing the comedy. “You owe it to yourself to see Stuart Landon in candy cane tights.”

“What makes THE SANTALAND DIARIES so delicious,” expounds Landon. “is that underneath the cynical, sarcastic, and often biting crusty surface of the Sedaris world-­‐ view lies the cream filling of redemption: it’s not too late. But the SANTALAND dish is slathered in hot sauce and won’t rot your teeth.”

The design team of THE SANTALAND DIARIES includes scenic design by Jim Woland, who designed Open Stage’s [title of show] and AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY last season, as well as costume design by Open Stage Resident Costume Designer Gwen Alsedek.

Stuart Landon is a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma A. Max Weitzenhoffer Department of Musical Theatre. In addition to THE SANTALAND DIARIES, Landon has appeared at Open Stage in A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Fred), LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Seymour), WELL, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (Hedwig), DOUBT (Father Flynn), [title of show] (Hunter), and COURT STREET CABARET. His productions with other companies include LUCKY STIFF, OKLAHOMA!, THE FULL MONTY, CLUE, INTO THE WOODS, THE ODD COUPLE, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, NUNSENSE A-MEN, FOREVER PLAID, MY WAY, THE LAST FIVE YEARS, HAIR, and CHESS. Landon has also worked at Millbrook Playhouse, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma City, Findlay Summer Stock and Houston’s Theatre Under the Stars.

Performances of THE SANTALAND DIARIES take place November 25 to December 17 at Open Stage of Harrisburg’s intimate Angino Family Theatre, located at 223 Walnut Street on the street (S) level of the Walnut Street Garage in downtown Harrisburg. The street entrance is off of Court Street. Join Open Stage for 3rd in the Burg on December 16!

The theatre lobby opens one hour prior to performance. This season is funded, in part, by the Cultural Enrichment Fund, the capital region’s united arts fund. Open Stage of Harrisburg is a Constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for American theatre.

Evening Performances (8pm): November 25, 26, December 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17.
Sunday Matinees (2pm): December 4 & 11
Post performance Talkback – December 4th Sunday Matinee.
Opening Night Performance & Party: November 25
Limited $15 tickets are available on Thrifty Thursdays, sponsored by PSEA, on December 1, 8, 15

Admission is $29 Regular and $21 Student (with valid ID)
Online: www.openstagehhbg.com
By Phone: 717-232-OPEN (6736)
In Person: at the Open Stage Box Office, located at the theatre, 223 Walut St. (Hours: M-F, 12:30-3pm)

THE SANTALAND DIARIES is recommended for mature audiences due to language.

Next up at Open Stage: The bawdy variety and vaudeville of GLITTERAMA! and STICKYBUNS BURLESQUE as they mix it up in Gourmet Risqué on January 14, 2012! Also, February 3-25, August Wilson’s MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM plays on the Angino Family Theatre stage. February 25 also marks the 13th annual production of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, playing at Whitaker Center!