Sat. Sept. 22

The Naked Girls Reading craze careens on, hitting the Coolidge Corner Theatre Saturday 22. As the title of the event suggests rather succinctly, there will be naked girls reading. What's the wrinkle this time? Height. Mr. Srartch, impressario of all this checks in: "The average height of an American woman is 5’4” but the performers at 'They Might Be Giants' are far above average.  “All of the readers are at least 5’10” – and that’s in their bare feet, of course." Scheduled to appear are Betty Blaize, a burlesque dancer with The Boston Babydolls, who is 5’11”; Karina Valkyrie from Hudson, MA, a first-time reader who stands 6’1”; Legs Malone from New York City, who at 5’11” is billed as ‘The Girl with the Thirty-Four-and-a-Half Inch Inseam’; Lizzie Havoc, a local writer and bartender who at 6’3” is the tallest of the readers; and ‘Vita Lightly’, the alter-ego of former Boston Babydoll and professional model, Sarah Hartshorne, who is 5’10”.
 
“All told, we’ve got more than thirty linear feet of naked readers,” says Scratch. “If all our performers were laid end-to-end... it’d be a very different show.” (Smile, groan.) 
 
In contrast to their length, the naked girls will be reading ‘short-short’ or ‘flash’ fiction. The term comes from the 1992 anthology book "Flash Fiction: Seventy-Two Very Short Stories". Editor James Thomas stated that the editors' definition of a "flash fiction" was a story that would fit on two facing pages of a typical digest-sized literary magazine, about 1,000 words.
 
 “There’s something inherently powerful about a tall woman,” says Scratch “And the women who participate in Naked Girls Reading all describe the experience as empowering.  I expect the combination of the two will generate something special – for both the performers and the audience.” Show starts at midnight at tix for the 217 seats are $20 advance/$30 day of.
 
.Some background: “Naked Girls Reading” originated in Chicago and is the brainchild of Michelle L’Amour, burlesque superstar, author, and finalist on America’s Got Talent. Michelle said that Naked Girls Reading started out as a joke. The idea took off and she went on to buy nakedgirlsreading.com, open a studio, and began hosting monthly live events that are exactly what they advertise: approximately five naked women onstage, reading select works of literature in 15-minute spurts.

L’Amour’s small Chicago studio sessions brought attention to other cities including Seattle, Denver, New York, and ultimately Boston.  Boston-based burlesque producer and architect of the Great Burlesque Mr. Scratch, Boston Babydolls impressario, was intrigued by the Idea.  He got in touch with Michelle L’Amour and started Naked Girls Reading Boston Says Scratch "It's funny -- they're not totally naked.  Most of them wear lovely accessories -- scarves, jewelry, thigh high stockings, hats, gloves, etc. -- but the areas we consider to be "private" are indeed on display. It's an incredibly intimate experience.  Being read to is something that most of us haven't experienced since we were children, and it evokes all sorts of responses: feelings of trust, of being cared for, of being safe.  The fact that the readers are naked shows that they give trust to the audience, as well as asking the audience to trust them. For me, some of the selections being read are sexy, as are some of the readers.  But what I think of as sexy and what some other audience member thinks of as sexy are going to be two different things.  And that's one of the great things about Naked Girls Reading.  It destroys the stereotype of what is sexy -- or even that nudity has to be connected to sexuality at all."

290 Harvard St. Brookline 617-734-2500 www.coolidge.org/midnites