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In the
age of strip joints, sex clubs and Internet porn, men have forgotten
what it’s like to be teased. They’ve gotten used to
instant gratification at the click of a mouse. Burlesque troupes
bring the audience back to the era of pin-up girls and vixens who
shimmy and shake in banana skirts to live bands and hooting audiences.
Audra Wolfmann, aka Odessa Lil, is
one of the people leading the way to a resurgence in San Francisco’s
burlesque scene. She’s busting down doors and making the boys
take note.
“Odessa Lil wasn’t so much
born as she was coughed up like a hairball,” Audra said of
her character. “She is the detritus of my muddled upbringing:
all antiquated borscht-belt humor, nervous sexuality, female anger,
and put-downs. As far as I know, she is the world’s only stand-up
[dominatrix] and prefers to enter a party while riding a man like
a horse.”
Odessa Lil gets the crowd all hot and
bothered, taunting, teasing and occasionally spanking them in order
to rile them up for the next act.
“In a lot of ways, an emcee
is just a carnival barker, getting the audience to ‘step right
up’ and enjoy the show,” Audra said of her role. “The
emcee also sets the tone or the theme of the performance with their
character and their introductions to the performers. They can make
a pretty good mascot who conveys the spirit of the show.”
Traditionally, burlesque emcees have been
male. King Fish, a well know male emcee, welcomes Audra.
“She is doing this in an almost
exclusive boys’ club,” he said. “She has extensive
knowledge of old comedians and vaudeville acts. I always try to
be there and support anything and everything she does.”
Audra got her start in a burlesque review
she created called “SpeakEasily.”
“I had been looking for a way
to synthesize my writing and my need to perform,” Audra said.
“My opportunity arose in 2004 when a dear friend bought an
ailing historic nightclub in a very bad part of Oakland and offered
me every Tuesday night to do whatever I wanted there.”
She booked nights of vaudeville style
variety acts, burlesque dancers, and named it after one of Buster
Keaton’s most unfunny movies, “Speak Easily.”
The venue — Max’s Mile-High
Club in Oakland — that was home to SpeakEasily, closed last
year, but that has not stopped Audra, who is determined to get her
message to the masses.
“I continue to produce and emcee
my own and other peoples’ shows once a month. I’ve produced
shows for charity (the San Francisco Tenants’ Union twice),
film festivals, film openings, rock shows, jazz shows … you
name it.”
Along with the rest of the Speak-Easily
crew, and longtime collaborator Chris France, Audra is currently
working on a show called “Basement Burlesque.”
“We’re taking burlesque to
TV!” Audra said, waving her arms in the air. “I want
to bottle and distribute the chaotic magic that we created on the
stage. What better place to do that then where no one will see it
… public access TV!”
Basement Burlesque was taped in March
at Benders Bar in the Mission district. The atmosphere was tense
but fun. Five dancers graced the stage throughout the evening, performing
for a small but appreciative crowd.
Audra and Chris co-wrote the show over
the course of two months, working on it whenever Audra could tear
herself away from her day job as a bank customer service rep. One
of the show’s skits she wrote detailed a misunderstanding
involving a man barging into an occupied bathroom stall while its
hungry occupant picked up a candy bar that he had dropped next to
the toilet bowl.
Chris elaborated on their partnership.
“I was there for the first SpeakEasily and Audra needed more
meter dancers and I joined up.” Meter dancers are men or women
that audience members pay to dance with. “I have worked with
her over 30 times and she is a close friend. She is not a flake
and she gets things done.”
Cherry Lix, the first dancer to take the
stage at Benders, said “Audra is one of the best emcees in
terms of keeping the crowd laughing, keeping the tempo of the show
going, and is a master of off-the-cuff commentary.”
Rose Pistola, another of Audra’s
longtime collaborators, also performed in the show. Rose described
their relationship as “Mommie Dearest meets the Facts of Life.”
“Audra is sort of like the house
mother of the burlesque community in San Francisco,” she said.
“I enjoy working with her on the stage just as much as behind
the stage.”
The taping ended at around one in the morning.
Becoming and maintaining her role as an emcee is a labor of love,
and Audra is determined to not let burlesque sink back into obscurity.
“The performers and the audiences
may tire of nostalgia, and the scene may disintegrate if we’re
not careful,” Audra said. “I’m going to get all
Nostradamus here for a second and say that we’re going to
see a lot of fusion in burlesque ... more dancing singers, stripping
poets or something. But it would be really exciting to see someone
take the format and rip it a new one.”
E-mail Desmond Miller at desmondmiller@yahoo.com
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