by Mark Van Streefkerk
Seattle is about to be teased, titillated, and thrilled at “What the Funk?!,” an all-BIPOC burlesque festival that kicks off this Thursday, Aug. 19, at The Triple Door. The festival includes three nights of shows and two days of workshops from a star-studded lineup of talent from the Pacific Northwest and across the U.S. Performers will be showcasing their scintillating skills all to the tune of the Funk, the whole Funk, and nothing but the Funk!
“What the Funk?!” will culminate in a closing night competition where a winner will be crowned the new Grand Master Funk. While the festival is sold out, there will be an after-festival CookOUT at Judkins Park on Sunday, starting at 1:00 p.m. and open to all. Find out more about the CookOUT and RSVP here. “We’re going to fire up the grill and cook until we run out of propane,” said Mx. Pucks A’Plenty (they/them and YAS QUEEN), the founder and co-producer of “What the Funk?!.”
Pucks is a Black, queer, nonbinary burlesque performer and producer (their production company Puckduction is co-producing “What the Funk?!” with Rebecca Mm Davis of the Stay Up Late show), who has compiled an impressive list of achievements since graduating from the local Miss Indigo Blue’s Academy of Burlesque only four years ago. They are also one of the co-founders of the Seattle Burlesque and Cabaret Co-op based out of Ballard.
YAS QUEEN says they watched a Netflix documentary A Wink and a Smile, which featured Miss Indigo Blue’s Academy of Burlesque in Seattle, and fell in love. “This is what I wanted to do,” Pucks said, remembering the moment. Not long after, they attended and graduated from the school and have since become a full-time performer and producer, all while surviving the pandemic and carving out spaces for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ burlesque to thrive in the Pacific Northwest.
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