One dark and stormy night, four burlesque beauties converged upon The DC Arts Center and stripped down to reward a bevy of dedicated literary aficionados for braving the horrific weather. Equally terrifying were the stories the women told, of ghosts, monsters and murderers, and while the tales sent chills up the audience’s collective spine, their fears were strangely soothed by the bodacious bodies of the storytellers. A mystery indeed…

So began the eerie and tantalizing “Naked Ghouls Reading,” the inaugural run of Naked Girls Reading DC, and what a night it was! Each performer, despite the lack of actual clothing, managed to embody the spirit of Halloween perfectly, with founder Cherokee Rose as a witch, Cherie Sweetbottom as a Poe-era gothic steampunk, Gigi Holliday as an angel, and I, Roma Mafia, as a gory burn victim. Naked Girls Reading was an entirely new experience for me; while I’m no stranger to being naked, I’m very connected to my physicality, so it was unusual to be engaging in a kind of performance where I sat motionless on stage. However, I’ve always been a book buff, even working in a library for a number of years, and so the idea of combining two of my favorite things – nudity and tomes – made me want to dive right in. And you know what they don’t tell you? How difficult it is to actually be motionless for extended periods of time! I had an entirely new respect for art models after the show, when my body had convinced itself that it’d run a marathon.

Regardless, NGR was a wild success. Our extremely appreciative audience members air-dried as the ladies sat regally onstage, sipping wine and enjoying each others’ company. The scary stories ranged from ironic to ghastly, with the performers frequently playing off one another, and the lovely Cherokee Rose even donated her naked tarot card reading services during the intermissions! Never had predicting one’s future seemed so appealing. All in all, a memorable evening was had by everyone, and the Naked Girls can’t wait to titillate more of our capitol’s citizens with their fairytale-themed show on November 16th!