About Us

“Audiences bored with vanilla strip tease will not be disappointed…If you like burlesque and you’re not boring, check out Girlie-Q. It’s funnier, dirtier, and the main course is still mams and gams!”
-Being Totally Sweet in Chicago

Our History

Girlie-Q Productions is the company name for the shows produced and directed by JT Newman, aka Ms. Bea Haven. With a keen curatorial eye, high production values, and a camp sensibility, our shows–beginning with the critically-acclaimed Dyke Mic (Chicago’s first queer girl open mic) at Bailiwick– have been in production since 2000, making us the longest-running burlesque and variety troupe still in existence in Chicago today.  Our signature show, Girlie-Q Variety Hour launched in 2004 and will be celebrating its sixth anniversary this May.

Girlie-Q’s long history means that many of Chicago’s well-known burlesque and variety performers got their start in our shows and classes.  Today, burlesque is big business in Chicago and Girlie-Q has been an integral part of fostering the community that made that possible.  We like to think of ourselves as the foremothers of Chicago’s neo-burlesque scene.  And we don’t mean to brag, but if you’ve heard of them, they probably got their start with us.  There are a few (noteable, nationally famous) exceptions to this, but not many.

Featuring some of the edgiest burlesque, a stunning variety of dance and movement forms, live music, hilarious comedy, vaudeville and variety performance in town, Girlie-Q is Chicago’s most artistic burlesque company. The shows mix genres and cross boundaries, flirting with radical sexual art one moment, “lowbrow” performance interests the next, and classy, classic burlesque the next. Never content to do just one thing, our shows dig up the strange, the bizarre and the fantastic for an unforgettable evening. Girlie-Q is guaranteed to titillate, entertain, dazzle…and make you think.