Openly gay performer Zachary Chiero will be one of the featured players participating in the Tribe of Fools’ Seventh-Annual Holiday Burlesque Dec. 17 at Shiloh Baptist Church.
Chiero, who has been with the troupe for five of its 13 years — his first show was “Heavy Metal Dance Fag” — teased over coffee and tea at a local Starbucks recently that he will be doing “a silly strip routine that involves Pokemon Go” and a guy he is trying to seduce.
That said, Chiero admitted that he, like the other core Tribe company members, is not a stripper.
“I queer it up by finding campy twists on a straightforward strip routine,” he said. “I try to maintain elements of comedy in the routine. We like to do a lot of inverting of the power structure.”
While the holiday show is titled a burlesque, and the Tribe promises “equal-opportunity nudity,” there are numerous acts involving comedy, song and dance.
“We have an incredible circus act joining us that will be using rope acrobatics,” Chiero effused. “There are straight-up comedy routines and clowning, as well as the burlesque and stripper teams.”
He also noted that a good portion of the show’s content is queer.
“I will be flirting with Dirty Santa (Peter Smith),” he said.
Dirty Santa, along with Nasty Frosty (Meghann Williams, who doubles as the show’s host) and Horny Rudolf, are recurring characters returning to this year’s burlesque show. Audiences who have attended in the past have been following their storylines, which have developed over the years. For example, Dirty Santa has had relationship difficulties and is going through a breakup. This year, the Tribe introduces Sexually Anxious Rudolf. Chiero indicated that he “usually ends up playing an elf helper, which I have a good time with.”
The performer, along with Williams and Tribe of Fool’s newest member, Tara Demmy, have structured the show and created the connective tissue that brings together a storyline and links the various individual acts. While the holidays are a general, unifying theme for the show, some skits have only a loose connection to the season, such as one about a man going home for the holidays who is stopped by a very thorough TSA agent.
“The show has an edge to it,” Chiero said. “It’s sexy and silly, but ultimately is about coming together and enjoying yourself in the company of others. We want it to be a really inclusive experience.”
The Holiday Burlesque will also have an interactive element as host Williams will directly address the audience, which Chiero described as “a rowdy and supportive crowd.”
“Something we talked about as a company in preparing for this show was that 2016 has been rough, particularly for queer people,” he added. “We joked about doing a ‘Fuck You’ to 2016, but we’re trying to turn that around and create a ‘choose your own tribe,’ so to speak, kind of experience. It’s nice to work in a company that reflects my feelings. Friendsgiving is more the route to go. It’s a reflection of what I want to do, which is choose the people I want to be around.
“This show allows us to work with fantastic performers who have worked on one of our productions before. In that larger group, there are skills sets from insane puppetry to acrobatics, to comedy and dance and burlesque, so it’s a great opportunity to get that family together again for the holidays.”
The performer is especially proud to be a member of the Tribe of Fools. Born in a small town in New York about an hour from Manhattan, he attended Muhlenberg College, which is how he came to know Philadelphia. He later toured with the Tribe’s artistic director, Terry Brennan, who encouraged him to stay and perform in Philly.
“I saw a lot of people I really respected making a living using their art and skills. I really appreciated that,” Chiero said, acknowledging the work of local performers Dito von Reigersberg and Brian Sanders, among others.
With his striptease in the Holiday Burlesque, Chiero hopes to connect with audiences. He said that a lot of his confidence as a performer comes from his willingness to do that but he also confessed, “I can’t think of anything I’m more nervous about. It’s nerve-wracking. Nobody can say while it’s happening they are blossoming and having a moment. Maybe they do.”
He paused for a moment and then justified his efforts: “But what is the most fun is knowing that I’m doing this and it’s causing enjoyment.”
Tribe of Fools’ Seventh-Annual Holiday Burlesque Show is 8 p.m. Dec. 17 at Shiloh Baptist Church, 2040 Christian St. For tickets or more information, visit http://burlesquetof.bpt.me.