Shimmy LaRoux

Here's what you need to know about Shimmy LaRoux: she is genuinely having the time of her life up there, and it shows.

A Chicago burlesque performer, host, and teacher, Shimmy brings the kind of energy you can't fake — equal parts classic Hollywood, playful chaos, and "yes, I absolutely just did that." She's been called a bad girl with good home training, which is probably the most accurate thing anyone has ever said about her.

She was crowned Miss Burlesque World 2022. She's been named one of the Top 50 Most Influential Burlesque Performers in the World five times over. She's a two-time Mover, Shaker & Innovator at the Burlesque Hall of Fame. In 2023, she headlined the Baby Grand Festival in Cape Town, South Africa — the first Black performer to do so.

She's also a two-time International Playboy Playmate and FHM Cover Model, which she mentions mostly because it still makes her laugh a little. When Shimmy walks on stage, you're going to leave with a smile on your face, your shoulders a little looser, and the distinct feeling that you needed exactly that.

Moose Knuckle

A gender fuck neo-burlesque performer with a drag sensibility and sideshow flair, dubbed ‘the best name in Neo-burlesque’ by Foxy Tann, they’re Chicago’s favorite glamorous freak and the patron saint of painting tops… inspired by John Waters films, bearded women from sideshows of yore, and various lichens- they’re they creator and cofounder of Problematique Variety Cabaret, Chicago’s punkest variety show, and are here to confuse and arouse… it’s Moose Knuckle!

The Scarlet Séance

With her name inspired by Klaus Hargreeves from the Umbrella Academy, The Scarlet Séance began her career pole dancing in 2013 in California, then moved to Chicago, entering the performance scene with pole, burlesque, and recently, fire eating . She is a regular performer with the Windy City Witches.

Madame Latte Mortez

Madame Latte Mortez is a Drag Queen Burlesque Entertainer who resides in Las Vegas, NV but born and raised in the Crypts of Chicago.

Thorne Von Nosh

Thorne Von Nosh is Denver’s Polesque princess and Winner of the Pink Venom Competition! Thorne is also one of the producers of Denver’s only Queer Strip Club! Thorne is a full time stripper of 5 years, pole instructor and burlesque performer of 3 years! Surrender to desire and let this Hex Girl put her spell on you!

Sabina England

Sabina England is a deaf poet, performer, playwright and filmmaker. She writes and performs by using American Sign Language, combined with dancing, mime, burlesque, poetry and comedy. In 2024, she wrote and acted in her full-act stage comedy play called "Deaf Alien Babe Goes to Hollywood!" which premiered at Atlas Theater in Washington DC. Sabina also wrote a few plays that were performed in London, England but her true passion is performing onstage. Sabina has performed in NYC, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Francisco, just to name a few. She also writes poetry and she is a curator for REELpoetry Film Festival which showcases the written form of poetry in video.

CRYPTITS

CRYPTITS has been performing for around three years now (or perhaps millennia, who is to say). They are members of the burlesque troupes Foxy by Proxy and the Lawrence Burlesque Society and have competed in local competition shows such as The Nerve (2025). They are varied in performance style, and is always performing something new, something strange, something altogether different.

Vivian Meretrix

Vivian Meretrix, the Sorceress of Shimmy and the Head Hottie from the Illumi-Naughtie, is an Ordained Priestess and Sacred Dancer, who has performed at national occult conferences as well as local Chicago burlesque stages. In 2023, she formed The Illumi-Naughtie Occult Burlesque creating shows that titillate and educate, combining spiritually-based performances and occult history and ideology. Past shows include Rites of Spring, Divine Devils, Hermetica, Dark Divinity Rising and more! She will be your host for the evening, along with the fabulous Frater Fabulosa!

With Special Guests

Stella Mortadella

Stella is a Chicago-based burlesque performer, instructor, choreographer, and producer. She is the founder of the Windy City Witches, Chicago's sluttiest queer coven. She was an instructor at Siren Chicago for the entirety of its existence, and has been able to teach hundreds of students all over the world, through her Burlesque Babes performance series, her specialty workshops, and her signature seasonal class, Witch Shit.

Kao Ra Zen

Kao Ra Zen is a Chicago-based interdisciplinary artist, performer, poet, curator, educator, and cultural organizer whose work moves through hip-hop, spoken word, experimental performance, music, film, theater, and movement. His practice combines socio-political inquiry and existential reflection with an approach he describes as “piecemeal syncretism”—drawing fragments from music, literature, mythology, spirituality, politics, comics, cinema, popular culture, memory, and lived experience to create new artistic languages and temporary mythologies. Working both independently and collaboratively with musicians, dancers, filmmakers, visual artists, and writers, Kao creates performances that blur boundaries between artistic disciplines while building unexpected relationships between artists, audiences, and ideas.

Our acolyte kittens, Nox Stormweaver and Loki Deadman (Jean-Pierre Vidrine) will be offering one card tarot readings before the show and intermission. Our stage manager will be Ramona Romance.