#36 School’s In Session With Sailor St Claire, The Showgirl Scholar!

The Play Typer Guy

The showgirl scholar herself, Sailor St. Claire — also known as Stevi Costa, joins me to discuss her work at the Noveltease Theatre in Seattle and the state of theatre during what the government at least considers the post-covid period.

You’ll hear:

• How Noveltease Theatre uses burlesque to drive storytelling forward, harkening back to how burlesque started in the U.S. back in the 1880s
• How the theatre chooses what works to interpret and how to make it more gay, looking into how to create a queer reading or understanding of the story
• Stevi’s background in academics and literature and how it affects her interpretation of stories
• Her experience with the COVID shut down in 2020 and how the company handled the months/years to follow
• The challenges of rebuilding an audience after the shutdown
• The value of participating in a collective experience rather than watching entertainment at home in your robe
• And more!

Guest Info:

Sailor St. Claire (Stevi Costa) (she/her) is the Artistic Director of Noveltease Theatre whose mission is to create community through storytelling by reviving the historical artform of literary burlesque. Sailor has been putting her knowledge of the literary canon to more-than-scholarly uses as a performer, producer, and emcee since 2009. She is entrusted to steer the ship as the host of Emerald City Burlesque Revue and at Burlesque and Cabaret Behind the Pink Door, and has worked her wordsmithery on the grand stages of the Vogue Theatre at the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival and the Orleans Casino Showroom at the Burlesque Hall of Fame’s Movers, Shakers, & Innovators Showcase.

She is proud to have been a part of the production team for Sinner Saint Burlesque from 2013-2018, co-adapting and co-directing the troupe’s much lauded burlesque of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and was also part of the team of nerdy feminist superheroes that brought Bechdel Test Burlesque to the University of Oregon in 2016 at the invitation of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program. The Showgirl Scholar holds a PhD in English from the University of Washington, and once did a pin-up shoot atop her actual dissertation.

Although she loves 19th century American realism and naturalism with a fervor that confuses most, her favorite book is and will always be Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love.

Links, info you’d like to share with audience:

Novelties Theatre: https://novelteasetheatre.org/

Sailor’s Bio: https://novelteasetheatre.org/sailor-st-claire

Connect with Stephen:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SER1897
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ThePlayTyperGuy
Email: [e-mail]

Join the Player Typer Guy Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stephenrobinson