Press
“Suffice it to say only the most pedantic of literary nerds couldn’t find something to enjoy in this love letter not only to Shakespeare’s rich, timeless words but to queer community and queer spaces. Camp in the best and truest sense, Noveltease’s Much Ado is a fearless and joyful exploration of lovers who are “too wise to woo peaceably” and of a community that’s too brave to love quietly.”
Jill Farrington Sweeney
NWTheatre.org
October 8, 2026
Featured In
“I walked away from Noveltease’s Orlando with a sensation burning in my chest—that all my past and future selves were contained within me, and that rather than judging these versions of myself, what if I loved each of them? What if I gave each of them a long, healing hug?”
Gray Harrison
The Evergreen Echo
May 6, 2026
“It all comes together to present a glorious marathon of glamor, camp, comedy, social-commentary and depictions of queer joy, even in the middle of strife and a difficult struggle for human rights, transporting us to an era where being queer had to be as bold a statement as you could possibly muster.”
Sameer Arshad
The Sound On Stage
Sept. 24, 2026
“Teasing out the depths of a story, literary analysis is much like burlesque. There are layers to uncover and nuance to discover. And in creating performance spectacle through their evening-length burlesque adaptations of famous texts, Noveltease explores stories that do more than entertain us. As we lean “deep into that darkness peering,” these stories can also hold even the underlying grief and madness, the horror, and the sensuous passions of life and death.”
Alyza DelPan-Monley
Seattle Dances
October 20, 2025
“‘We are interested in creating, first and foremost, works of theater. We are using striptease as a vocabulary for storytelling,’ said Jack, drawing a comparison to musical theater — only instead of breaking into song, performers with Noveltease burst into burlesque at moments of high emotion or when dialogue will not serve.”
Gemma Alexander
The Seattle Times
October 4, 2023
“The idea of “literary burlesque” may sound niche, but the rich themes found in the works Noveltease has adapted has meant the performers can center community, pleasure and parody without sacrificing intellectual depth or emotional truth. Combining classic literature with burlesque also means the performers can relax and play with the text. The laughter during rehearsals is a testament to that.”
Juan Jocom
Real Change News
April 16, 2025
“For one-hundred years, The Great Gatsby has been considered one of the defining American novels: a work that captures the idea that we are perhaps happier chasing rainbows than finding our pots of gold. Noveltease’s adaptation captures this theme by depicting some of its greatest emotional tensions through dance and emphasizing the narrator’s own chasing of the endless, impossible dream. With a talented large ensemble, solid production elements, and of course some alluring burlesque numbers, The Great Gatsby represents Noveltease at its finest.”
Anna Tatleman
The Sound On Stage
April 25, 2025
“ … a show like this illustrates what is so wonderful about this area. All around Seattle, on every street, in every square inch, there are artists creating work that is unique, challenging, and ground breaking. Making sure that the public has access to choose and take in every one of these art forms in every genre should be the goal that we all chase. A company like Noveltease is doing original and unique work, and it deserves to be seen.”
Greg Heilman
The Sound On Stage
April 5, 2024
“In fact, encouraging people to explore new literature is what they're hoping to do. Because while the troupe might dance, disrobe and get disorderly, they're readers at heart. And they want you to be, too.”
Ellen Meny
King 5 Evening
October 26, 2021
“…burlesque, which is ‘a vocabulary of revealing things,’ is ‘a great pairing with literature.’ Just as literary critics and authors who adapt books to other arts have to unravel the deeper meaning of a text, Noveltease’s dancers are metaphorically revealing a truth in these stories by revealing more of themselves onstage.”
Paul Constant
Seattle Review of Books
March 20, 2019
“… the local, literary burlesque company Noveltease Theatre found a new way to bring their next performance to audiences: make a film instead of a stage production. Known for taking books from the page to the stage, here they are taking Homer’s The Odyssey from page to screen. … It is almost certainly the sexiest adaptation of The Odyssey in the poem’s 2,800 year history. It’s innovating and the results are stunning.”
Chris Burlingame
The Sunbreak
May 21, 2021
“Tennessee Tease is aiming for something more ambitious than your typical burlesque revue. And there’s no denying that the tensions and passions threaded throughout Williams’ writing and private life will provide ample fodder.”
Tony Kay
The Sunbreak
August 13, 2015
“When people are reading, they’re kind of envisioning themselves as the protagonist, in a lot of cases,” the burlesque producer and choreographer Fosse Jack tells me. “They’re putting themselves in the protagonist’s shoes in order to really experience the adventure, and that’s what we’re doing with the Baron (Munchausen). There’s this idea that people read adventure stories because they want to go on that adventure with this person.”
Chris Burlingame
Journal of Precipitation
April 11, 2019