Whedonesque Burlesque: When Nerd Culture Gets Sexy

It's a development that's been pretty evident to anyone who has been paying attention: The things that were once considered to be solely within the interests of "nerds" (SciFi, Fantasy, Video Games -- also "nerds" in the classic 80's Revenge of the Nerds sense) are now considered sexy. This is something that likely started happening when someone noticed that the female uniforms in those old school Star Trek episodes that Lt. Uhuru's and others wore didn't leave a lot ot the imagination. From there, through the Princess Leia bikini costume and past the Sailor Moon anime series, we have arrived in the era where burlesque companies dedicate entire evenings to and liberally lift from sources like The Forbidden Planet, the San Diego Comicon, and the Women of Video Games. Between these companies and the ubiquity of cosplay ("costume" + "play", usually characters from comic books and anime), it doesn't seem this phenomenon is going anywhere anytime soon.

This is something that Jessica Obrist, the woman behind Jo Jo Stiletto Productions, is planning to perpetuate further with her company's production of Whedonesque Burlesque, which sold out in less than 48 hours and takes place next Friday and Saturday at Theater Off Jackson. "It seems like performers are finally willing to let their geek-flag fly and audiences are responding," Obrist told Seattlest during a recent email exchange. "All over the country you've got Star Wars burlesque, Epic Win Burlesque, Geeklesque and many more. These shows are doing well. I'd like to believe it's because the performers are not 'faking it'....they truly are playing homage to the things they love."

"I think a great example of this is an act created by Sophie Maltease about her love of D&D [embedded below -- NSFW, it can't be stressed enough]. I frankly don't know the first thing about D&D, but I adore that act."

Obrist is kind of cagy when it comes to talking about what to expect at next week's homage to all things Whedon-y. The only thing she will officially tell us is that the picture of Sister Piston above is indeed a tribute to Firefly's Jane. Beyond that, she will only tease us with tantalizing little snippets of what's to come.

• Bad boys with a heart of gold
• The way [Firefly's] Kaylee's eyes roll back when she eats a strawberry
• Women kicking ass
• Vampires
• Awkwardness
• Hurt/Comfort
• Malcolm Reynold's chest(???)
• A list of character names that may or may not come into play: Spike, Willow, Oz, Jayne, River, other characters from Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible and much much more

It doesn't seem like nerd culture is something that Obrist is likely to abandon after Whenonesque Burlesque is all said and done. During this fall's GeekGirlCon, which will take place in Seattle, Obrist will be putting together a panel discussion entitled Nerd Burlesque: Translating Fandom to the Stage. "The panel will include a few performers from Whedonesque, as well as others from around Seattle and Portland.

"Hopefully we'll shed a little light on how we all have celebrated our nerdiness by disrobing in public."