7   +   3   =  

Naked Girls Reading is Exactly What It Sounds Like.

In 2008, burlesque performer and entrepreneur Michelle L'amour was sitting around her Chicago home, reading in the nude.

Her husband, she says, stumbled upon her and found it to be a very inspiring image. That same day, he purchased a domain for a website called Naked Girls Reading. The couple planned to launch one or more virtual projects dedicated to the then-nebulous concept.

Over the next year, their idea evolved into a live show. The event was exactly what it professed to be — some naked girls, on a stage, reading. According to Miss L'amour, that first show was “unexpectedly magical.”

On Friday night at Quixotic World in Deep Ellum, the local Dallas chapter of the now-worldwide Naked Girls Reading franchise will put on its third-ever production of this same concept. Friday's event, called Southern Drawl, will feature various area burlesque performers reading three- or four-minute-long excepts from such Southern literary luminaries as Mark Twain, David Sedaris and even some Craigslist posters.

“This is sort of the cerebral side to stripping,” says burlesque performer Black Mariah, who also serves as Naked Girls Reading's Dallas producer and who argues that her event will offer more than just eye candy. “It's kind of a tongue-in-cheek take on all of it. Most of the women I work with are degreed. One of them is a published author. And all of them read. A lot.”

L'Amour, who now holds the working title of “Head Naked Girl,” backs that claim up. She says she's had more than one doctor, a lawyer and even a marketing executive shaking their stuff while reading in the nude for her Chicago-based troupe, The Chicago Starlets

“You're not going to make it very far in this [burlesque] business if you don’t have something to offer besides your body,” L'Amour says. “We just wanted to have a sensual event with girls reading literature they are passionate about.”

And, she argues, despite its provocative name and concept, Naked Girls Reading is a rather no-frills event. With minimal visual gimmicks, the ladies just disrobe, sit down and put on a 90-minute show, reading the pieces they love.

Still, the event has already drawn a dedicated crowd: Longtime fan Paul Lewis drives all the way in from Shreveport just to catch Naked Girls Reading shows here in town.

“In one respect, it is what it is,” Lewis says. “It's a lot of fun. It's not dry. There is a lot of interplay, and a lot of humor.”

Confirms L'Amour: “Naked Girls Reading sounds like what it is. It's beautiful women reading.”

Well, OK. But maybe it's a little more than that.

“Why would you pay to come see me read with my clothes on?” Mariah asks with a laugh.

Naked Girls Reading Dallas presents Southern Drawl will take place on Friday, January 25, at Quixotic World in Deep Ellum. Find more information here. Purchase advance tickets here.

Cover photo courtesy of Naked Girls Reading.

3201_2

3201_3

3201_4

3201_5

3201_6

3201_7

3201_8

3201_9

3201_10

3201_11

3201_12

3201_13

3201_14

3201_15

3201_16

3201_17

3201_18

3201_19

3201_20

3201_21

3201_22

3201_23

3201_24

3201_25

3201_26

3201_27

3201_28

3201_29

3201_30

3201_31

3201_32

3201_33

3201_34

3201_35

3201_36

3201_37

3201_38

3201_39

3201_40

3201_41

3201_42

3201_43

3201_44

3201_45

3201_46

3201_47

3201_48

3201_49

3201_50

No more articles